OpinionJanuary 13, 1998
SPEAKOUT
SO I see the Missouri Legislature is now in session. I wonder if they'll do any more this year other than work their mouths and draw their salaries. ACCORDING TO the dictionary, a liberal is characterized by favoring progress or reform and as being broad-minded, whereas a conservative is inclined to preserve an existing order and is opposed to change. ...
What will Legislature accomplish?
SO I see the Missouri Legislature is now in session. I wonder if they'll do any more this year other than work their mouths and draw their salaries.
We owe a lot to the liberals
ACCORDING TO the dictionary, a liberal is characterized by favoring progress or reform and as being broad-minded, whereas a conservative is inclined to preserve an existing order and is opposed to change. By these definitions, the liberals wanted to change the way people in the colonies were governed and wanted freedom from British rule. Liberals supported the workers who wanted the workweek reduced from the standard 70 hours per week of the 1800s and early 1900s. Liberals supported the women's right to vote. Liberals promoted Social Security and Medicare. Liberals promoted the GI Bill for education for those who served in the military. It seems to me we owe a lot to the liberals and should be very thankful for what they have done for the country.
Dog-cat photo provides some insight
I THINK the picture of Socks and Buddy with their master, the president, is a refreshing change. It is one of his better staged photo opportunities and presents an aspect of him we hadn't seen. It also give us good insight on how to handle a big problem.
Still remembers funny Speak Out comments
I THINK it would be a good idea to reprint the funniest comments made in Speak Out. I'll be happy to start you off with one, one that I still laugh about. It was the caller who referred to Arafat as the man with the tablecloth on his head.
Health care: Welcome to the club
I AM a teacher in the Cape Girardeau School District. I'd like to say to the doctors and hospitals: Welcome to the club. We patients have wondered for several years how the actual figures that Blue Cross says we owe for health care can be so high. We never get any figures to see where the actual costs are. We can't track our losses. They tell us the figure, and we have no idea where they got it. Confidential, you know. To the insurance companies Alliance's HMOs, we also say: Welcome to the club. We know the doctors and hospitals bills in Southeast Missouri are way above usual and customary fees for services as they are charged in other parts of the state. I guess the only way to get out of this merry-go-round is to move.
Eliminate debt, no tax cuts
I'M CALLING about the surplus and the debt. Why is it that all we seem to get on this subject is buried in editorials and on the back page. Why aren't the vast majority of news media at the forefront of this conversation? It was not more than two years ago that everyone was talking about the national debt and our grandchildren being strapped with that debt. Now, all of a sudden, there is a surplus in one year's income, and we have our lawmakers talking about tax cuts. Please, lawmakers and news media, get on board, on the front page, up front. Don't cut taxes. We're not looking to re-elect the same give-me people. Please, eliminate the debt. Take it off our grandchildren. News media, get on the front page.
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Get rid of cigarettes in the streets
I WOULD like to ask councilman Melvin Gateley, who can get the state out here and sweep these intersections from Kingshighway out to Route K? I bet there are 6 million cigarette butts at these intersections. Please, Mr. Gateley, if you know who to get in contact with, please do so. Let's keep Cape shining.
SEMO players get around the law
I JUST watched the 10 o'clock news. I heard the name of a SEMO basketball player who played in tonight's game. This same player's name was in the paper concerning a DWI and accident and leaving the scene not too long ago. I'd just like to know who SEMO's attorney is that can get SEMO athletes cleared of these charges without them getting kicked off the team. I know for a fact that the baseball program had some out-of-state players this fall with the same problem, but nothing was mentioned or no disciplinary action taken. Don't athletes have to follow NCAA regulations, or can SEMO pull strings to get around them?
School menus aren't nutritious
I JUST wondered about the Cape public schools. Have you noticed their menus lately? It looks like the money that we're paying for the schools, they would have better lunches than what they've got. There's nothing nutritious about pizza and hot dogs and stuff like that. I'd just like to know why the kids ain't getting fed better than they're getting fed today. They used to get a decent meal back in the '50s. Now they get pizza and hot dogs and stuff like. I was just wondering.
Putting the blame on the jury
IT'S NICE to know that the Cape County prosecutors have such little faith in the justice system that whenever they lose a case in court they blame it on the jury. I've just finished reading the second story in a month where assistant prosecutor Ian Sutherland has criticized the jury for not doing its job when an innocent defendant is acquitted.
Fix up old, affordable houses
I WANT to comment about the person who said they should tear down the old houses and get rid of the old buildings. I hope they never do that in Cape. I hope they rehab them and fix them up. Go down and look in these neighborhoods where they've torn down. All they've got is vacant neighborhoods. Where are people who can't afford these $300,000 homes supposed to live? Here's what they should do: Relax these license laws and all these permits in Cape, and you'll have rehabers go in and fix them up. The way it is now, they've got so many permits, so many licenses and things like this. I believe in inspecting them and making them safe, but make them get rid of all the red tape. What we've got is something like East St. Louis, Boston and Detroit have got, lots of rules and regulations. Therefore, nothing but a $300,000 can be built in Cape. But go in on the south end and north end and let the rehabers have these houses and fix them up. Set up some kind of grant program where they get to fix them up. Like St. Louis, they've got some where you can have the house for $1 but you have to fix it up. Let's get something like that going here in Cape, because how many people are going to build a $300,000 or even $200,000 on South Sprigg or even up in Red Star or somewhere like that? We're tearing down our heritage. And that's the problem all over the country in these places where they have nothing but ghettos. That's what they do. They don't fix up these houses. They tear them down, and you have a lot of homeless people.
Streets, sidewalks and priorities
I JUST wish that all you people who keep whining about the condition of the streets here in Cape that the city promised it would start working on in 1997 would just stop. Take a good look your inner self. Have you considered that this could be the same crew that was busy cutting all those trees? So just chill out and be patient. I'm confident that after the sidewalks have been saved, we'll get our streets repaired.
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