SPEAKOUT

Tacky photos

I wanted to say that I thought it was pretty tacky to have the picture on the front of the paper of the body coming out of the river and the family member or friend in tears, and it was pretty tacky to have a photo of the little girl who got hit on Broadway. They hadn't even tended to her and the cameraman was there taking pictures of the accident. This is tabloid photojournalism, and it's pretty disgusting that the newspaper would put these kind of events on the front of the paper. I feel sorry for these people who have been involved. It's a little too gruesome for the front page.

Put up stop signs

I have a complaint about the new section of Mount Auburn Road connecting it to Highway 74. I drive a transit van and cross that intersection several times a day, and it is very dangerous crossing at Bloomfield. There is an electric pole nearly on the road, a dirt bank that is hard to see over and also a travel sign on one sign and a politician sign on the southwest side which needs to be moved. I have seen several wrecks there, and it hasn't been opened very long. Please put up stop signs in all directions or a traffic light.

Effects of violence

I am calling to answer a question Morley Swingle asked about domestic violence. Why is it worse for a man to break his wife's nose than to break a stranger's in a fight at the gas pump? Breaking a stranger's nose would be a random incident, while domestic-violence offenders commit their crimes repeatedly as the level of violence escalates. Bystanders who see a brawl between strangers may think the incident unfortunate but are unlikely to be scarred by it. On the contrary, the children who are bystanders to domestic violence suffer severe emotional scars and commonly grow up to be abusers or abused. Maybe Mr. Swingle should read more about domestic violence before further commenting on this damaging and far reaching social problem.

Stand up for God

I thought all public board meeting open with prayer or at least a moment of silence. I was very disappointed to be at a meeting this week where they didn't. I wasn't the only one who noticed. Christians, we must stand together if we are Christians. We must stand up for God. If we can't do that, how do we possibly expect our children to do that in this day and age? Think about it.

Try some asphalt

It is still the first half of July and the weather hasn't really gotten hot yet. Oh, it's been in the 90s, but we haven't been up to the 100s. And all over Cape the concrete streets are buckling and breaking. And the repair crews are out trying to patch concrete streets. They are hard to patch. You have to cut out the old concrete and try to save some reinforcing rods and then try to pour and make it come out even with the previous concrete. Why doesn't Cape try some good asphalt streets someplace and just see how we get along with it. If you put down a good layer of gravel and thick asphalt, asphalt won't buckle like concrete will. And asphalt has the ability to repair itself just a little bit. If a crack forms, the next time it gets real hot the asphalt will grow together again. It is easier to fix a water problem, because you can dig out and put a patch in or you can go over the whole street and do it over. Why don't we try a little asphalt street here and there and see if we like it better?

We do matter

I'm tired of people saying that we in Cape Girardeau area don't matter. It doesn't matter whether Time magazine, which I think is a pretty scummy magazine anyway, carries us in their magazine. News magazines aren't really news magazines anymore. They are more trash magazines. And it does matter if our gas prices are too high. It does matter if people in our communities around us are losing jobs. That is why we have legislators. If gas prices get too high and if too many jobs are being lost, we can put pressure on them to see what they can do about. Yes, Cape Girardeau and the surrounding communities do matter.