SPEAKOUT

What about Missouri Street?

NOTHING about paving Missouri Street between Scott and Mississippi. The hazards created by detouring around this street are unlimited. The ruts get deeper and the gravel gets more dislocated day by day. This is one of the oldest streets in Cape. Why is this centrally located street being overlooked?

REPLY:

Paying for new streets

I'M CALLING about the sales tax for the streets. I notice in the paper that there are only two miles of streets in the city that are gravel. In the new part of town are subdivisions, and I think they should pay for their own streets. I have lived in Cape all my life. I have paved two streets. I paid for those myself, curbing and all. The city did not pay one dime on it. I think it's wrong for them to ask the people who have paved and paid for their own to have to pay for these new people.

REPLY:

Not enough asphalt

THREE INCH asphalt is the way to pave cemetery drives, not any street in Cape. The city and council do not have the taxpayers' interest in mind. In fact, they're missing a couple of dots in their dice.

License electricians

I'VE BEEN following the debate about certification and licensing of Cape electricians. Personally, I don't know what the fight is all about. Quite simply, unqualified, unlicensed and, in some cases, crooked electrician are a dangerous menace to our community. In my case, I hired a Cape electrician to rewire my house. My stupid mistake was to partially pay him in advance. With the job half done, he walked from job, leaving his trash and dangerous hot wires hanging and exposed in my basement. I took him to court, but he walked free. So the answer to this argument is clear to me. If I'm to trust my life and property to someone for pay, then he should qualified, licensed and monitored. If this bum had had a Cape electrician's license, then I could have pursued him beyond the judge right to the Cape city officials.

Apprenticeship snag

I DON'T believe that anyone would seriously oppose licensing of electricians. However, I believe the sticking point is the requirement of an apprenticeship to an electrician within Cape Girardeau. Any electrician who can pass the test and who has apprenticed elsewhere should be able to be an electrician within Cape. I don't see why our electricians within the city limits should get cheap labor due to a ridiculous licensing requirement. Strike the apprenticeship within Cape, and let's pass that bill.

Hummingbird advice

THIS IS the old hummingbird lover. If you really love them like we do, please, whatever you do, do not put red food coloring in the nectar. You can use a cup of water at the beginning of the year, with a quarter-cup of sugar, boil it for three minutes, cool, fill the feeders. You can increase it to a third-cup of sugar and one cup of water for this time of year. But do not add the red food coloring. It's not necessary, they don't need it. And according to the Missouri Conservation Department, it does something harmful to their intestines. Just try like we did. It really works. We do love and have our abundance of hummingbirds.

Packwood should go

WHY IN the world have they left Bob Packwood in Congress this long? His Republican cohorts have rallied to his side. and I'm sure he will try to stay. Of all things, that man is on the ethics committee. I don't think he knows the meaning of the word.

Tired of snakes

I'M GETTING tired of all these snakes down here in the south part of Cape. I'm going to send them to town.

Budgets and spending

I NOTICED the Speak Out caller who said taxes doubled in four years. I wonder if that's correct. Also, when I bought property in 1950 I knew streets and sewers weren't in, and I paid for those when they put them in. When people today buy houses, they know whether the streets and sewers are in, and they know they have to be put in if they want them. They should pay for them. Another thing: How much is being spent at the airport and how much more is proposed if this tax goes through? Will the airport get more from the general revenue?

REPLY: The caller was correct in saying that the city's budget -- not taxes -- had doubled in four years. None of the revenue from the sales tax is to go to the airport. The money is for the specific street projects that were identified by the city council.

Life goes on

IN FRIDAY morning's paper, I read R. Joe Sullivan's column about the auctioneering. How many of us in our older years remember our parents and all their collectibles? I, for one, went through just what he is talking about. It is sad but then again life goes on.

Control pet population

I'M 60-plus, and down through the years I've always had dogs and cats. They were all spayed or neutered without exception. After reading how many dogs and cats and other animals are destroyed by the Humane Society, a society which should be keeping them alive, I think Cape ought to pass an ordinance to fine people whose pets aren't spayed and neutered. And if the Humane Society didn't charge you an arm and a leg to adopt a pet, a lot more would be given homes.

REPLY: The Humane Society encourages that all adopted pets be neutered or spayed.

Vote carefully

I WANT to say to people: Be careful how you vote. Watch your senators and congressmen, what they stand for and how they vote on issues in all the elections. I have voted ever since women were allowed to vote, but in 1996 this country can't afford the Republican Party. It would be a disaster for poor people, elderly people and children.