OpinionOctober 16, 1999
SPEAKOUT
I WOULD like to express my concerns for the Cape Central football players. These young men are playing their hearts out, but they feel that many in the community and school blame them for the losing season, like it's all their fault when, indeed, it's not. ...
Concern about football players
I WOULD like to express my concerns for the Cape Central football players. These young men are playing their hearts out, but they feel that many in the community and school blame them for the losing season, like it's all their fault when, indeed, it's not. I sat at the Cape-Sikeston game and watched them play. In my opinion, it has a lot to do with the plays being called by the coaches. Why, when a play we do is working, do we stop and do something else that continues to fail us? We have boys who know how to play, and they play their hearts out, and they continue to lose. It's not always their fault, as so many people think. There's some pretty tough guys on that Cape Central team. I'm also tired of hearing negativity from a few choice parents about players not making certain plays. I'd like to see them out there and see what they could do. I think Coach Brookins is great, but maybe we should look at a few new options in our strategy.
Use old factory site for juvenile center
HERE WE go again. Nobody wants anything next to them, referring to the juvenile center. Why not buy the old shoe factory property on Main? It won't bother old man river.
New fountain leaves sour taste
I REALLY enjoyed your article about the new SEMO fountain and the dedication. I just had to comment about a few of the well-educated, smart people we have up at that university. First of all, our new president said that the fountain adds beauty to this area and that the library had looked like a fortress that people didn't want to go in. And the front door of the campus was a mess. Well, it was a mess for two years because his workers couldn't do anything any quicker than that. Half the time nobody was there. I'm there on campus. I see it. There were weeks that went by when nobody did any work at all. That's why it was a mess. And if he thinks the library looks like a fortress -- it looked gorgeous! It had a nice grassy lawn with flowers and so on. You want to talk about looking like a fortress, go to the English building or the industrial technology building or the art building. None of those have any landscaping. It's concrete and a door or steps and a door. There's nothing of any beauty. To criticize Kent Library was pointless. You don't have to criticize something just to praise what's been done. The school says, "Now we've got a meeting place." Students don't meet at the fountain. They make fun of the fountain. I know. I'm there. As far as the guy who says it's a collaborative effort involving the university's facility-management crews and others: Uh-huh, yeah, it was. They worked there forever, two years. But my favorite is this Paul Klaus who says, "Welcome to little Niagara. It reminds you of Niagara Falls." Niagara Falls? Has he been there? Does he know what he's talking about? Not too long ago we had some gentleman who said we'd be the Harvard of the Midwest. Now we have Niagara Falls. What we have is people making fun of us for wasting so much tax dollars. This university should be ashamed of itself for wasting this much money on this type of thing when we need things for the students' use.
Trump is better than Clinton
IF DONALD Trump is not better than Bill Clinton in every way, then I am a 70-year-old pregnant pole-vaulter.
Go to work for your ideas
TO THE editors of the Southeast Missourian: If you want to change the ward election of city council members back to the citywide thing, get off your derriere and get out a petition and get it signed by all the voters and get it on the ballot. Quit bitching about your elitist attitudes and get out and work for your ideas.
Good examples of a spoiled society
SO LITTLE Billy was sent home from school because of construction dust. To make matters worse, construction noises occasionally disrupted his classes. Hey, parents, get a life! I seriously doubt that your precious child will be scarred for life because of this horrendous incident. These Speak Out whiners who continually complain about such trivial things as dust, cracks in the sidewalks, cigarette butts on the streets and countless other crises in their obviously boring lives are good examples of a spoiled society. They are unable to accept even the slightest inconvenience. Our ancestors must be looking down and shaking their heads. A nationwide depression might be in order to teach these middle-aged babies what's really important.
Emerson's vote was a betrayal
WHEN THE House took a vote on the health-care issue, you notice Jo Ann Emerson was one of the few representatives of the Missouri districts who voted no on it. Right then and there, you people who have elected her to Congress, was a big betrayal for the people who are in need of medical care to whom the insurance companies have denied treatment. Non-medical people denied treatment to a lot of people. Unfortunately, a lot of these folks die without treatment. So on Election Day, just remember Jo Ann Emerson is for the right-to-work law 100 percent. She's 100 percent for people coming in and taking union strikers' jobs while they're out. Think long and hard on Election Day. She is not for the working poor. She is not for the working people in general. She is for the insurance companies. They have her in their pockets. Let's get her out of office. We don't need a rich man's spokesman to represent our district.
Receive Daily Headlines FREESign up today!
Proud of Jackson band's job well done
THIS IS to the senior yearbook ghosts of the 1999 Jackson High School band. As the parent of one of your co-members, I would like to commend all of you on a job well done. My husband and I enjoyed all of your presentations, whether marching on the street or the football field or performing in concert. For a band said to be the pride of Jackson, it is a shame that the faces of your officers and members will forever be nameless in the 1999 Jackson High School yearbook.
Please help Scott City traffic jam
HELP, HELP. Someone please help the traffic situation in Scott City in the morning, trying to get onto I-55. I clocked it this morning, and traffic was backed up one mile from the light past the IGA store. How many people are going to be hurt? How many wrecks or someone killed before something is done? Surely, in this great age of technology, someone can straighten out this problem. We appreciate the problem with the lights at the other intersections, but something must be done about this. Someone, please help soon.
Commercials leave viewer dizzy
THE COMMERCIALS on TV today are getting excessive. They are long and slashing and ugly and have no beauty. No beauty at all. They make the eyes of adults and kids wobble. They're nerve-wracking and jittery. It's no longer an entertainment, but a health hazard. I wish that the powers that be would do something about it because after all, TV is very good for business.
Agrees with column on waterfall
I ALWAYS enjoy reading Joe Sullivan's column. Oct. 8's was especially good. I go along with what he wrote about the highest waterfall west of somewhere. Looking forward to your next column.
Thanks for help from police officer
I'd like to say something good about the police department. My car broke down last week, and an officer got out of his car and physically pushed my car to the side of the road. It was beyond the call of duty for him. I think he did a really good deed.
Concerns are now becoming reality
AS USUAL, some of the callers to your Speak Out column owe an apology to some of the other callers. A couple of years ago when the debate first started about partial-birth abortion, some people said this is just the first step in the killing of children or older adults who no longer have a useful purpose in society. Other callers said that's ridiculous, that it was grasping at straws. They called the original callers stupid and ignorant and alarmist. Yet I open your paper and see Kathleen Parker's editorial about a professor at Princeton talking about killing babies up to a month old that are deformed or somehow malfunctioned because they don't have a consciousness as yet. Isn't that exactly what those first callers to Speak Out talked about and were worried about? Maybe they weren't so wrong. Maybe they weren't so stupid or backward. I'm getting tired of Speak Out callers referring to conservatives as stupid and ignorant. Maybe we aren't. Maybe we're visionaries. Maybe we read our Bible and know what's coming.
Spend a day in this teacher's shoes
THIS IS in response to the caller concerning the construction at her son's school and his allergic reactions. I agree. It's very unfortunate that the construction is still going on. But there isn't a lot the schools can do about it if we are wanting improvements to our schools. If you have ever done remodeling or construction yourself, you know that it takes time. That's time that we must be tolerant of the interruptions and go on. But to the second part of her call, saying that the teachers and staff were already too spoiled, I invite you to spend a day with me. I'm a high school teacher, and I will expect you to arrive as I do, at 7 a.m. I have students that begin arriving at 7:10 to make up work or tests. My first and only break of the day is at 11:30. We're expected to be in our rooms between classes and ready for the next class to arrive, so no breaks until lunchtime. I then spend my prep time preparing for the rest of my classes, outlining chapters, locating resource material, making tests and running them off, grading papers and meeting with other students or administration. I also have students staying after school on many days. Almost every night I take papers home to grade and books to study. How many other professions require employees to spend their personal time doing work-related activities? I have very little personal time. Most of the teachers of the high school put in nine-to-10-hour days, five days a week. So before you can honestly say teachers are too spoiled at the Cape school system, I invite you to spend some time with the teacher.
Story Tags
Connect with the Southeast Missourian Newsroom:
For corrections to this story or other insights for the editor, click here. To submit a letter to the editor, click here. To learn about the Southeast Missourian’s AI Policy, click here.
Related
Advertisement
Receive Daily Headlines FREESign up today!
