Speak Out B 10/09/02

Misused road funds

WITH THE failure of Proposition B and all the media coverage about MoDOT's credibility, it is no wonder that Missourians do not trust MoDOT to wisely use additional highway funds. Here's a prime example: I live on a very busy state highway in rural Cape Girardeau County. About six weeks ago, MoDOT restriped our highway. Today they are preparing to resurface it with fresh oil and gravel. Why restripe a highway that is being resurfaced in six weeks?

Protesters within

OUR COUNTRY wasn't preserved and protected by the efforts of pacifiers, pacifists, protesters, draft dodgers, flag burners and those who think they can appease fanatics. We've always had those who think America is the real enemy or that the enemy will just go away. Can you imagine a protester in Nazi Germany, imperialist Japan, Iraq, Iran or China protesting against his own country? We will always have those who think they are special.

DDT's benefits

LET'S MAKE sure we understand this. DDT kills insects very effectively but doesn't kill people, dogs, cats or other mammals. That sounds exactly like what we want in an insecticide. It kills insects. Now, unless you like beneficial insects your house, it's the perfect insecticide for inside your house.

Thanks for picnic

I WANT to thank everyone that put on the picnic for the Smelterville reunion. That was a terrific thing, and I enjoyed it.

Teachers, be fair

I'M ABSOLUTELY appalled as the parent of a high school band member at the fact that so many teachers have tests on the days after a home football game when they know all the football players and all the band members had to be there for the game. I understand school comes first, but they also need to realize that band is a class. They have to march. They don't have a choice. Be realistic, be reasonable and be fair. Would you want your child treated this way? Think about that.

Photo on front page

SINCE WHEN does an individual's income define the type of individual he is? Some 1.2 million retired persons have had to return to the work force because Social Security does not pay enough to live on. I know at times we create problems for ourselves financially, but some of our elderly population couldn't attend school because they had to work to support a family. Do those kinds of people deserve to have pictures of their homes on the front page?

Hogging the money

EXCUSE ME, St. Louis, but it seems like for many years that rural Missouri has always taken a back seat to St. Louis and Kansas City regarding road revenue. We never get the roads taken care of that need to be repaired because you are always bellyaching and crying foul and threatening to use your political clout. We have some of the worst roads in the nation because you are always hogging the money.

Solution: Stay home

IF I had to go home and shower after having been in a restaurant where a smoker was, I would stay home.

Brilliant compromise

I SHOULDN'T, but I get a kick out of the way President Bush continually manipulates his right-wing buddies in the media. As an example, he gets them to make the case for an extremist position in foreign policy and then pulls the rug out from under them by coming to a sensible compromise with Congress. It's brilliant.