Speak Out A 09/20/02

They made us free

I'VE JUST finished reading the letter from Adam Cox, a teacher at Notre Dame Regional High School, who said we shouldn't have responded to the terrorist attacks with violence. Then he goes on to say that the kids of today will be better than those who have come before. Apparently he doesn't teach history or he would know that the ones that came before fought and gave their lives so this country would be free and people like him could spout their beliefs.

Big gap in parade

WHEN WE have parades, why is there a gap half a block long? That looks bad. I was standing next to some out-of-town folks at the fair parade, and they were fixing to leave because of the big gap. Someone in charge should stand where the people stand and see how bad it looks.

Cultural rankings

WHILE JIM Drury may not have been the most articulate person regarding his description of the lifestyle preferences for our area, he is essentially right. According to a copy of the Lifestyle Market Analysis, the top five lifestyle choices out of 69 for our designated market area are: 1. hunting and shooting, 2. Bible reading, 3. fishing, 4. vegetable gardening and 5. sewing. Attending cultural and art events is in the bottom five with only 7.4 percent of the population considering that an important part of their lifestyle. Only foreign travel, frequent flying, wines and snow skiing ranked lower.

Controlling speeders

I READ some comments about installing traffic lights on Route K. This should be done at both schools. Since it may take some time to install the signals, they should put up signs stating it's a school zone with a 15-mph speed limit from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Let's protect our children.

Hope for hepatitis

I TOO have hepatitis C. I went through the traditional interferon therapy. After 1 1/2 years of pure hell, I was deemed a non-responder. I can only assume I contracted hepatitis C through a blood transfusion almost 22 years ago at the birth of our daughter in Cape Girardeau. I currently live in Florida and for the past two months have been under the care of a holistic-naturopathic physician. Not only do I feel incredibly better, but for the first time in over 10 years my liver enzymes are closer to normal limits. Please do not doubt the success of natural medicine. Good luck to all of you who have been diagnosed with this silent killer. There is hope.

Standard of living

SOMEONE ARGUED that environmentalists are anti-free enterprise yet enjoy "the highest standards of living in the world." I disagree. The United States enjoys the highest per-capita income in the world and the highest per-capita GNP, but that does not translate to standard of living. For years, the United States has ranked near the bottom of the top 10 in overall standard of living behind Sweden, Canada, and Japan. This is consistently attributed to factors like our environmental state, the disparity between rich and poor here, our horrible education system and our health-care system.