Speak Out A 08/12/03

Time for help

I HAVE a neighbor who has cancer. This is very tragic for that person. It is also very tragic for the spouse. The spouse has the constant worry about the illness in addition to most of the housework, yardwork and grocery shopping. The spouse is employed, and that adds to the burden. Other neighbors and I have tried to help this couple as much as we can. Where are all the people from this couple's church who profess to be Christian? Come on, Christians. Quit worrying about how much bigger you build your house or what color carpet to install. Look around you and do God's work. Help someone.

Smoky restaurants

I WOULD like to second the recent comment about the lack of fine dining in a smoke-free environment around here. I am a new resident in Cape Girardeau. A few weeks ago, a business client was passing through, and I invited him out to supper. I made reservations at a restaurant. When we arrived, what with all the tobacco smoke, we felt like we were in a sleazy dive. I suggested we go over to nearby restaurant. You guessed it. Smoking there too. We went to the supermarket, bought a couple of steaks and ate at my home. You can't do any serious entertaining of business clients around here.

Recycling thief

THE RECYCLING effort by Cape Girardeau is good, but it also loses money. Of the material collected in recycling, aluminum cans bring in the most money, so I don't mind leaving sacks of soda cans for the recycling pickup. If it's good for the city and easy for me to do, it's a simple way to help out. But I saw a motorist pick up the three sacks of cans I had left on the curb. That was really pathetic.

More like Heidi, Sam

I AGREE that Heidi Hall is a very cool writer, but the coolest of all is Sam Blackwell. The Missourian would do well to hire more like both of them.

Change in thinking

SUDDENLY, criticizing the president is not Christian or the proper thing to do? When did this thinking change, and who changed it? The Republicans?

Read it again

I WAS appalled by the Speak Out that said homosexuality was wrong because of a passage in the Bible. Does it not say in the Bible that God loves everyone, no matter what lives they lead or what sins they commit as long as they love God? Maybe you people who are so narrow-minded ought to read your Bible again.

Not a benign partner

AS WE righteously continue our crusade against weapons of mass destruction around the world, we should remember that there is only one nation that shares the characteristics of having already used nuclear weapons and threatens to use them again to impose the will of its leader on other countries: the United States. Small wonder that the international view of the United States is not as a benign partner in the search for world peace but as a belligerent threat to international stability.

More input

LEAVE THE mascot for SEMO alone. Enforce the speed limit in the construction area at the Diversion Channel. Here's a slogan for Cape Girardeau: The Ever-changing City. If you don't like my city slogan, I think the idea for a contest is a great one. You would save lots of money, and the community would have input. What a concept.

No Names is good name

AS SHAKESPEARE said, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." So why not the SEMO No Names?

They can pay taxes

AS SORRY as I feel for the people who lost their homes during the Jackson tornado, I do not believe that property-tax relief is a correct measure for them. How about the losses for people whose houses burn accidentally or due to fireworks? The people of Bent Creek do not need financial help. They can afford their taxes.