Speak Out A 05/31/03

A helpful hand

JUST A few words to express my thanks again to the young woman in white pickup who helped me start my truck on the Lowe's parking lot. She would not accept any pay. I did not get her name, but thanks again for helping a senior citizen when he needed help. You've proved there are still nice people in this troubled word.

Wonderful singer

REBECCA RAWLINS as the Little Mermaid is a wonderful singer. Congratulations to Rebecca and all the cast of the "Little Mermaid."

Homework concerns

SOME PARENTS say that students don't need a study hall and that students shouldn't be in all those activities and hold jobs too. Here's the other side. My daughter doesn't have a job. The only outside activity she's in is band. She has three advanced classes at Central High School. The teachers are told by the principal that they should assign a minimum of 30 minutes of homework every night in three to four classes. That's what I've been told by administrators. However, the teachers don't know who else has assigned homework. Almost every evening, sometimes even on Friday nights, my daughter has 30 minutes to an hour of homework for five or six classes. Her entire evening is caught up with homework. Sometimes she goes to bed at 1 a.m. My daughter ranks high in her class. If she had a study hall, it would relieve some of the pressure. The administration is making a blanket policy without looking at the needs of the individual child. Let's let the parents make this decision.

Drug pricing

I KEEP hearing about the drug companies and how much money they make and how much they raise the prices of drugs each year. I started as a pharmaceutical representative in 1958. Back in those times and for several years afterwards, when a drug company got its research money back on a drug it had released, the doctors expected the drug price to be reduced. Doctors would ask you when the company was going to reduce the cost of that drug. In recent years, drug companies have started increasing the cost of the drug, even in the first year after it's been released, and they continue from there on until it goes generic.

Bending study hall rules

MY SON graduated from Central High School last year, and my daughter is a student there. My son came back from college and saw the big fuss about study hall. He was in the honors program, and there were average students in study hall. When asked, one said, "The administration approved it after my parents called and complained." So superintendent Mark Bowles can say the administrators have not heard from any other parents, but that's because he doesn't know what's going on at the building. Principal Mike Cowan or someone overrode the policy and allowed students into study hall who were not advanced students. I would like to know why those policies are bent for some students and not for others.

Bike to work

THE ARTICLE about bicycling was good, but it overlooked an important use of the bicycle which the Missourian usually overlooks: viable transportation. There was no mention of two very important types of bicycle riding, commuting and touring. If these uses of the bicycle were stressed more, we would be less dependent on oil and healthier.

For the working man

I AM a working man who has four children. Under President Bush's tax-cut plan, I will soon receive a check for $1,200 because of those four children. Thank you, President Bush. I will also remember that it's the Democrats who fought against this plan. The Democrats claim to be for the working man. The truth is, it's the Republicans who want to let working men like me keep more of our own hard-earned money.

Spending creates jobs

SOME PEOPLE are saying the tax cut is for the wealthy. Here's who it's for. There are 4 million Americans who are going to get about $1,000 apiece. This is the third tax cut under President Bush. When you have tax cuts, people spend it. Instead of the government spending it, the people who earned the money spend it, and more jobs are made. The reason that the upper-income people get the breaks is because they pay most taxes.