Speak Out A 06/07/02

Unbalanced sentences

I'M BAFFLED. There was a woman who got 15 days for molestation of a minor. A man who stole a carton of cigarettes got 90 days. You serve more time for stealing a carton of cigarettes than molesting a child? Where's our justice system?

Admitting global warming

WHAT DO you know? Some people are just learning what some of us have known for quite some time: Global warming is real and poses a real threat. Some of the doubters are beginning to acknowledge this fact. Miracles never cease.

No rehabilitation

IN RESPONSE to "Accepting responsibility": Take off your rose-colored glasses and slowly back away. If you believe the prison system is going to provide psychological help for any person in the correctional system, you have been seriously misled. If the public had any idea how unmotivated or inactive the Department of Corrections is toward rehabilitating any of its offenders, you would be outraged at the government.

Pressure on police

SOMETHING CAN be done about the open drug dealing going on in the 900 and 1000 blocks of Jefferson. The next time you witness it, put pressure on the authorities by calling Speak Out instead of the police.

Self-congratulations

THOUGH ONE may agree with Missouri House speaker Jim Kreider's critique of Senate president pro tem Peter Kinder, the content seemed to take the practice of writing a self-congratulatory piece to a new level.

It's up to the bishops

THE CATHOLIC Bishops Conference policy draft is a good start. The bishops, however, have had solid guidelines in effect for years that were ignored. Unfortunately the new mandatory policy draft fails to provide a tool to remove those bishops who will ignore or fail to implement the new policies. Most priests are dedicated and trustworthy. The lack of trust facing the Catholic church is not due to the small percent of abusive priests. Rather, it's the irresponsible actions of some bishops so willing to scheme to cover up and reassign the abusive priests without the parishioners' knowledge.

Remember what works

THE GARY Rust column on former SEMO president Dr. Mark Scully was well done, especially the story about how Scully earned the respect of the Missouri legislature by saying SEMO didn't need $150,000 already appropriated to it and turning it back in to the state. From that day forward, Scully got anything he requested. It truly is remarkable that in Scully's 20-year tenure at the helm, SEMO grew more than fivefold in student enrollment and doubled the number of buildings on campus. Scully's fiscal prudence and insistence on keeping SEMO's tuition the lowest in the state were primary reasons for the growth. As it struggles with a tight budget, the board of regents should take some time to remember what worked for Scully.

Graduation etiquette

I DON'T have much money at the end of each month, but I sent seven monetary graduation gifts. Only two recipients have sent thank-you notes. That's sad.

Need police assistance

KIDS WERE drag racing in my neighborhood again. They know they are safe to do it in a quiet neighborhood, because there aren't any bars near here for the cops to sit and watch. I guess a little one will have to get killed before the cops come back to the neighborhood streets. We have people going 50 mph here, and the stop signs are a joke to most. Will this weekend be the one where they race, tear down all the mailboxes or just break into all the cars and steal stuff? It's up to our city's finest.

Beyond looking glass

A SOUTHEAST Missourian scribe verbally spanking the state legislature for cutting spending on a program and referring to the act as "a financial hatchet job"? The Southeast Missourian? No way. This is beyond Alice in Wonderland.

MISSOURI HOUSE speaker Jim Kreider's column criticizing state Sen. Peter Kinder was flawed. Kreider raked Kinder over the coals for making a new stadium for the Cardinals a top priority ahead of more money for public education. As has been pointed out before, there is no proven correlation between the amount of money spent on education and academic achievement. On the other hand, there are probably countless studies confirming the view that nothing equals the worthy educational experience a youngster receives as a result of a trip to the old ballpark -- unless it is a trip to the new ballpark.

Let them spend

SCHOOLS WOULD be doing a disservice to the business and corporate community if they started educating youth on the pitfalls of devil-may-care spending and runaway consumerism. After all, the young make up a major portion of the profit raked in by business, so we don't want teens and pre-teens to become too educated about the consequences of what they're doing, or they're liable to become parsimonious. That would not be good for the economy and would be, during these difficult times, downright unpatriotic.