Speak Out A 07/13/03

Police protection

I'M REALLY proud of the Cape Girardeau Police Department. The south end of town seems to have had a lot of trouble in past years. Now that area is getting police protection and should do much better. Just keep up the good work, Cape Girardeau.

We're here to help

NOW IRAQIS are learning what Americans have known for a long time when they hear someone say, "Hello, I'm from the United States government, and I'm here to help you."

Observation deck

CAPE GIRARDEAU wants to do something to get attention from the rest of the country. Why not build an observation deck along the top of that ugly floodwall? When we have people from out of state, the first thing they want to do is go see the river. The only way you can see the river is to go through that little hole in the floodwall. If there's a flood going on, the floodgates are closed. I've wondered for years why we don't have an observation deck all along the river. This wouldn't cost as much as they're spending on other things.

Consulting heaven

I KNOW how to solve Cape Girardeau's marketing identity crisis. Just call it "The City of a Consultant's Dream."

Better ways to spend

CAPE GIRARDEAU doesn't have an identity crisis, but it does have a financial responsibility crisis. How about having a local contest to come up with the slogan and spend $42,000 on something like pothole repair or items needed for the police or fire departments?

Going too far

HERE WE go again. Why is it if something happens to a firefighter or a policeman, they try to ban the culprit? I'm sorry that someone lost a house due to fireworks, but do we ban police cruisers when the police have wrecks, especially during high-speed chases? Or do we think ill of all policemen and fire personnel because they break the law? I've been shooting fireworks for 40-plus years and still enjoy them and always will. I got a bad burn from a flying rocket one time, but I didn't take it personally.

Still more billboards

CAPE GIRARDEAU County definitely needs zoning. Highway 25 isn't the only highway with billboards. There are four new ones on Highway 72. The billboards certainly do not raise property values.

Can't hear everyone

KUDOS FOR the new city council meeting format. Residents have the opportunity to watch our government at work. Anyone who wants to know how our problems are being dealt with by the mayor and council should watch Channel 5 on meeting night. One problem is the sound system.

A bad law

THE PRESIDENT of the Cape Girardeau School Board may call for an audit of the Cape Girardeau County assessor's office due to disappointment over the final reassessment numbers. This every-other-year assault on property owners has reached epidemic proportions which will, in time, force people out of their homes. Businesses will be closed. Farmers won't survive. Reassessment is a very bad law that must be addressed by the legislature as soon as possible.

Outlaw mulch piles

I UNDERSTAND that Jackson is considering outlawing bottle rockets over the firefighter's house that burned as a result of a bottle rocket that apparently ignited a mulch pile close to the house. I'm curious as to why a firefighter would have a mulch pile so close to his house, when that is the sort of thing that could spontaneously combust. Rather than outlawing bottle rockets, perhaps we should outlaw mulch piles.

Jailhouse art

INSTEAD OF giving amnesty to those who painted this filthy graffiti, as someone in Speak Out said, I suggest letting them paint again inside a prison cell. This would suit their crime and character just fine.

Watching movies

I WAS pleased to see that one of my favorite movies, "The Italian Job," is doing well at the movies. I feel that "Daddy Day Care" with Eddie Murphy deserves to be seen too, because it's one of the few movies you can take your family to. I guess the reason a lot of movies aren't doing so well is they're not worth seeing more than one time. You can rent movies cheaper. I think Hollywood needs to increase the quality a little more.

Money-saving idea

THE CONVENTION and Visitors Bureau is wasting $42,000 on the study to get a slogan for Cape Girardeau. It sounds like Cape Girardeau is spending money right and left when there are other ways to achieve the same effect. Why not have a contest with a $5,000 reward in which people in the area could put forth proposals for a new slogan? The chamber of commerce could choose the winner. If they gave a $5,000 reward, the CVB would save $37,000.

Changing a mindset

PRAISING THE artistic talent of this filth the graffiti artists paint is sick. While they break the laws of property destruction and decency, there are those who want to offer the graffiti artists amnesty so they could paint without the filthy words. This is absurd. That's why they have this trash all over the country. We are raising children with no sense of values, rules and, most importantly, respect for others. We don't need to pat them on the head and give them a time out. They need a swat somewhere else. They need a change in the mindset of parents of what is right and wrong. And they need love when they are very small children.

Handguns on an island

I HAVE a question for all people interested in guns. You are given a choice of two islands on which you will have to spend 10 years of your life. On each island are 10 people with assorted brains and physiques. The only difference is on Island 1 only one person has a handgun. On Island 2 all 10 people have a handgun. Where do you want to spend the next 10 years? Think about it.

School starts too early

I THINK that it's wrong that we have to go to school in August because we didn't get to have a long break. Cape Girardeau has never gone to school this early before.

Live and let live

I DON'T like parades that tie up street traffic before, during and after the parade, but I am not asking to ban the Christmas parade. Why do adults work so hard to ban huge activities that they enjoyed in their youth such as fireworks and gathering in the parks to play their music? Have adults of today become their parents of yesteryear? If there is no drugs or drinking, let teenagers have their fun. They will turn into griping adults soon enough.

No need to go outside

THIS MESSAGE concerns the mayor's comments about the $42,000 expense of getting an outside firm to do an analysis of what Cape Girardeau. Mr. Mayor and city council, you will never get another tax increase or anything passed as long as you pull stuff like this where you hire outside consultants for something like this. It is ridiculous. It's just pitiful to think that we can't use the people we are paying in the city now that have college degrees to come up with something without paying expensive fees. They'll be sorry they are doing things like this.

Ask Cape's residents

I DON'T live in Cape Girardeau, but I read the Missourian every day. I go to the doctor and shop in Cape. I read about the budget shortage, and then I read where a large amount is being spent just for someone to come up with a good marketing name for Cape. Why not have a contest for people who live in Cape? Offer a good prize. It would certainly cost a lot less money. Who else knows more Cape than the people who live there?