Speak Out A 07/24/03

Degrading activity

I AM disgusted after reading the article about Our House Bar & Grill in downtown Cape Girardeau. I thought we were trying to spruce up the downtown area. I find it degrading that young women would parade around like that for money.

Irrigation problems

WHAT CAN be done about farmers with irrigation wells that pull water from the home wells so they have to buy new pumps or put in more than one pump? Irrigation takes all the water.

Make it straight

I'M GLAD officials from Western Kentucky brought up the idea of taking Interstate 66 through their area. But they would do better to make an argument for what is best for the travelers on I-66. If I-66 is an east-west road from Springfield, Mo., to Paducah, Ky., and then on to Nashville, it makes sense for it to go as directly as possible from Dexter, Mo., to Wickliffe, Ky., to Paducah. Going north to Cape Girardeau doesn't make any sense, because you have to go back south to get to Paducah. That would be out of the way for the traveler on I-66.

Junk cars and weeds

I CAN'T help but wonder as I drive to work about a house right outside the city limits that has junk cars and weeds around a nice brick home. I wonder why the health department doesn't do something about this. There has to be West Nile mosquitoes there. Everyone else has their homes neat and clean. I don't see how people can stand to live around people like this.

Control those dogs

IS THERE a law against dogs wetting on your shrubs and your flowers? Every time some people go walking around here, the first thing they let their dogs do is mess up your shrubs. Is that being right to the people who plant the flowers and want them to look nice? I think there should be a law requiring people who want to walk their dogs to keep them off your shrubs. In Jackson, they don't care whether they do or not. I think it's about time.

Safe vantage point

PRESIDENT BUSH'S recent remark challenging the Iraqis to "bring it on" reminds me of the remark following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001: "You can run but you can't hide." Bush said this from his safe bunker to Osama bin Laden. Unfortunately, the soldiers who are the front line do not enjoy the president's vantage point. But then most regular Joes never have.

Arrest drug dealers

I WANT to suggest something that the police can do to stop drug dealers don South Sprigg and Ellis streets. If police know people are selling drugs, arrest them. If we don't have enough police to do it, then bring in the state highway patrol and the DEA. If that doesn't do, bring in the National Guard. These people are breaking the law. Put some of them in the pen for selling drugs, and it won't be long before we can take our streets back.

Stairs are a problem

I WENT to pick up commodities I had applied for at the Family Resource Center on South Sprigg. The facility is in the basement. I was informed a fraternity would be there to help. This has not happened. It is a very steep flight of stairs to the distribution center. While I was there, several senior citizens had to be helped up and down these steps . One woman's grandson did a lot of the transporting of these heavy boxes. There are many large areas on the street level. Why must senior citizens be compelled to use these dangerous stairs? Is it because we are old and low-income?

Listen to the people

I THINK the mayor and the Cape Girardeau tourism group had better listen to the people of Cape Girardeau regarding spending $42,000 for someone to come up with ideas to promote Cape Girardeau. If Cape Girardeau doesn't know what to do, then no one does.

Drawing a crowd

YOU HAD an interesting contrast in downtown businesses in the newspaper. Both businesses sell beer and both are restaurants. One business makes its own beer. At the other business, girls take their clothes off and ride a mechanical bull. Which one do you think will draw a crowd?

Fresh stripes at mall

I WANT to comment how nice the parking spaces are around the mall. It looks so nice with the freshly painted white lines.

Public relations? Boo!

THE CAPE Girardeau School District is considering creating a public relations position, and the school board discussed what duties this person would have. I thought we didn't have any money. If you walk into the district's administrative building, the offices are clean and beautiful and bright. Go to a school and see the principal's office and then go to a teacher's classroom. But let's create a public relations. I don't think so. Boo.

Enforce or remove

I WISH the speed limits on the I-55 construction would be enforced or taken down.

Poor taste, judgment

I WAS rather appalled by the article and photos of bikini bull riding. It reflects very poor taste and judgment. It is certainly not newsworthy unless you write for a tabloid.

Unfair criticism

I AM 83 years old. I can see to thread a needle, and I can step on the brake when I'm driving. Why in the world are they so against us old people? We don't have half the wrecks these young kids have, but we get punished because we're 80. Is that fair? I don't understand our world today. We worked hard our whole life, but when we get in the 80s, we're run down. Is that being honest with us?

What a disgrace

REGARDING YOUR article, "Bikinis on a bull": What a disgrace to Old Town Cape.