Speak Out A 09/04/02

Downtown park

REGARDING Eli Fishman's commentary that we need a park downtown: What, may I ask, is the matter with the Riverfront Park that everyone seems to be so proud of?

Punishing the abettors

YOUR EDITORIAL regarding the trillion-dollar lawsuit arising out of Sept. 11 was very interesting and well-written. However, I disagree that the lawsuit is contrary to national interests. Terrorists need money to support their activities. This lawsuit specifically punishes those banks which directly or indirectly laundered money for the terrorists. This is money that was used for U.S. residences, flight schools, training manuals, bombs and weapons. The banks might not have directly conspired with the terrorists, but their willingness to launder money, for a profit, directly contributed to the Sept. 11 attacks. The lawsuit serves the dual purpose of punishing this behavior and compensating the victims of the tragedy. In my opinion, the plaintiffs are being reasonable by only demanding a trillion dollars.

Support for police

I WOULD give the shirt off my back to the police officers. Their jobs keep us safe at night, so I believe they need a raise. People need to look at the bigger picture here. Money spent toward the police departments, schools, parks and recreation, fire departments and city administration do not cause crime. I would rather spend my hard earned money on something that makes Cape Girardeau a better place to live in, rather than on stuff that drives America down. I have a relative who works for the state government. If you knew how much money is spent on alcohol and drug treatment, you would reroute your thoughts of disgust toward the scum of the community.

Maintain what we have

THE MOST logical route for I-66 would be through Charleston and Sikeston, Mo. I am sorry if that hurts Cape Girardeau. However, do we really need new interstate highways when the existing ones cannot be maintained properly?

Children first

IT SEEMS that our justice system is in dire need of revamping. The charge of abandonment of a corpse carries up to five times the sentence that endangerment of a child does. Shouldn't the safety of our children be the No. 1 priority?

No new highways

WE DON'T need I-66. In fact, we don't need any new roadways. New infrastructure leads to more urban sprawl and, for reasons too lengthy to explain, vast losses of water. Improve what we have. Build no more.

No mass destruction

TERRIBLE AS they are, biological and chemical weapons are not weapons of mass destruction. For a variety of reasons, they don't come close to being able to kill people to the degree a nuclear device could. To say so trivializes the awesome destructiveness that could result from the explosion of a nuclear device, particularly in a heavily populated area. So, is Saddam Hussein currently in possession of weapons of mass destruction? Unless he has a hidden nuclear device, the answer is an absolute no.

Public radio is good

I RECEIVED a troubling letter from Traditional Values Coalition, which said it would like to try to get rid of public radio. Public radio brings me many hours of happiness. There's opera and Broadway music. There's just lots of interesting things on public radio.

Deport now, ask later

MY DAUGHTER withdrew from the University of South Florida in part to protest the employment of a nutty professor there thought to have ties to terrorism. For the Southeast Missourian to focus on the abstract and say that the case presents interesting issues pertaining to constitutional freedoms was so sterile and so removed from the reality we face it sent chills up and down my spine. In instances like this, particularly in the ongoing terrorist crisis, deport the likes of the professor forthwith and ask theoretical questions later.

Leaving the limbs

THE OTHER day President Bush said forests should be harvested to remove mature trees and this would lessen the dangers of forest fires. Now for the rest of the story. Only the trunk of the tree is marketable. All of the branches are removed and left on the ground where the tree is felled. These branches are left to dry and become fuel for forest fires. Instead of being a cure, what Bush proposes would add to the danger of forest fires. This is nothing but something to help the lumber industry.

Looking ahead

I AM really tired of all the nonvisionaries who are criticizing the mayor and city council about the proposed water park and the River Campus. Have any of you been to the water park in Farmington, Mo.? It is a beautiful, well-run facility. People, many of them from Cape, come from miles around. And they pay Farmington to use the water park. We also stopped and shopped while we were there. I've been to the Cape pool twice. A cracked, rundown, 1950s-era pool holds no fond childhood memories for me. It just looks dreary in a town that doesn't seem to care about improving itself. I think the River Campus could really bring in tourists who would spend money to see plays and go to arts festivals. They'd be staying in the hotels. Not to mention that it would improve a historic and beautiful area with a river view, something that's unique to our city.

Biological advantage

SCHOOLS IN the Cape Girardeau School District will never turn out National Merit Scholars to the degree that Columbia, Mo.'s Hickman High School can. Columbia is the home of the University of Missouri, a school heavily populated with the best and brightest professors in the Midwest. To their children they pass on their genetic endowment and provide a home environment conducive to learning. Thus, Hickman will always have a higher rate of National Merit Scholars than Cape. Nothing can be done to supersede that sociobiological advantage.

GETTING THE Southeast Missourian editorial staff to write much of anything positive about Labor Day must be worse than pulling teeth without a painkiller. But the Southeast Missourian's tepid tribute to the working men and women of the land paled in comparison to columnist Paul Greenberg's romanticizing of the condition of the working class. Get a grip, Greenberg. Read Barbara Einrich's "Nickled and Dimed in America" for a realistic view of the worker's plight.

Fear of retaliation

THIS IS in response to the person who called in about the shooting of the tigers. This was not an 18-month investigation as the press as stated. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents were aware of what was happening from the start in 1998. The so-called tiger trafficking that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants us to believe is going on in this country is one of their own making. If you would have come to the courthouse, you would have seen that Todd and Vicki Lantz did have remorse. The judge stated that there wasn't a dry eye in the courtroom and said he knows a heartfelt apology when he hears one. They have not been able to come forward in the press with their sad story for fear of retaliation from the federal government. The federal government doesn't want the whole story told, just what makes them look good.

EVEN WITH a 1 percent raise, Cape police officers are so woefully underpaid it is unbelievable that we have a functioning force. Councilmen Charlie Herbst's and Jay Purcell's votes against a measly 1 percent raise demonstrated nothing other than a disgusting decision to pander to tight-fisted voters who want top-notch law enforcement officers but don't want to pay them a decent salary.