Speak Out 1/2/09

Keep the air show

SORRY, AIRPORT manager Bruce Loy, but I disagree with your decision to cancel next year's air show. If the air shows of previous years brought in visitors from out of town who ate in our restaurants and stayed in our motels, how much more will the Cape Girardeau area suffer with the loss of these visitors with no air show? Now hotels will be laying off maids, and restaurants will be cutting back on their wait staff. Gas stations will sell less gas. Even if the show isn't as big as previous years due to the soft economy, canceling it will be worse. Let's rethink this decision.

No taxpayer funding

IF TAXPAYERS money is being used in any way to pay for Cape Girardeau's air show, the air show should be forever abolished.

No hope for 2009

I DON'T understand why anybody would celebrate the coming of 2009 this New Year's Eve. With unemployment expected to increase and the recession getting deeper, the coming year and most likely the next couple of years are going to be terrible. There is now reason to give in to false hope.

Gift etiquette

I WAS raised to thank people for the gifts I receive at Christmas, no matter how big or small or if you love it or hate it. This year, I gave several small, meaningful gifts to co-workers and friends and received no acknowledgment whatsoever. My feelings were hurt, but also I find this so rude. What happened to gratitude? No wonder so many of today's youths are growing up without manners.

Global records

EVERY YEAR at this time I hear comments purporting to disprove global warming because the weather is colder than usual or because there happens to be an untimely ice storm. A few hot or cold days where you live does not affect the average global temperature. Global warming does not refer to a cold or hot snap in Southeast Missouri or in the Midwest or in the entire United States. It is global warming. Furthermore, global warming is not determined by newspaper records going back 150 years. It is measured by the geologic record going back millennia.

Grading papers

I'VE BEEN teaching for 18 years and for several reasons have never had students grade papers. The main reason is that if I don't grade the papers, I have no idea what questions the students had problems with. Therefore, I don't know what skills, if any, need to be retaught. Second, grades are important, not only today but down the line for each student. The only way I can ensure the accuracy of the grades is if I grade the papers. Third, it is my job to grade papers. It is something I am paid to do. Fourth, we don't have time in class to spend grading papers. We have far too many things to cover to take instructional time away from my students. The last reason is one every district who allows teachers to pass of their work on the students needs to consider: privacy laws. Student grades, even on daily assignments, are confidential and are nobody's business but that student. To allow other students to see what their classmates have earned is not only unethical but is illegal. For those who say teachers don't have time to get it all done, I can prove that this is patently untrue. Teachers who say it isn't are wasting time. Now Speak Out will inundated by teachers saying this isn't true, but I challenge them to first honestly and accurately keep track of how they spend their time and then respond.

A teacher's choice

TEACHERS ARE not forced to give up so much of their lives by doing extra work at home as a Speak Out comment claimed. They chose to.

How it works

THE PERSON who compared the flat tax to the FairTax obviously never read the FairTax proposal. With the FairTax the government mails a check to everyone each year in the amount necessary to pay the tax on $15,000. If that's all you spend, you pay no tax. It is not regressive, because the more you spend, the more you pay.

Working at home

TO THE person who thinks teachers are not paid to take work home: I beg to differ. That is exactly what they are paid to do. They send hours upon hours of homework home with our children and expect them to learn most things on their own because there is not enough time to teach everything they are paid to teach at school. If the students can take their work home, so can the teacher. If the teachers think they are not paid well enough, then get a summer job like most everyone else who gets a three-month vacation.

Tournament coverage

I CAN'T understand why, as big as the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament is these days, an FM radio station doesn't broadcast it. I think an AM broadcast is a great idea, but AM reception is a little less than desirable. Even a webcast on semoball.com would be good for those who cannot be there for whatever reason. I love the tournament but can't attend all of the games, I guess my question is: With so many corporate sponsors on board, why can't this be accomplished? Or why couldn't the Southeast Missourian and KFVS12 work out some way to air the tournament?

Funds for dogs

The police department should not use our children to raise money for the new police dogs. If the police need dogs, let the police do the fundraising.

Costly power

News reports say that in the future you will be able to plug your car into your electrical outlet. Where is all this electricity going to come from? And what is it going to cost when everyone plugs in?

Gone to the dogs

FOR ALL you dog owners, use a little common sense mixed with neighborly manners and you'll be fine. All you haters, get real and grow up. I'm sure you all have issues that drive someone else crazy too, so get over it.

Drop football

WITH THE expected cuts to the budget from state appropriations, Southeast Missouri State University should seriously consider eliminating the football program. As I understand it, this program is heavily subsidized by the university. Cutting this athletic program would not seriously affect the mission of the university like cutting academic programs and faculty positions would, and it would save millions of dollars each year that could be applied toward academics and maintaining facilities. Given the lack of its success since making the jump to the Division I level, the football program would not be seriously missed.

Use an ashtray

THIS APPEAL is to smokers. Please use an ashtray. Cigarette butts are trash and should be discarded accordingly. I have heard so many drivers complain about being hit by discarded cigarette butts and burned. Butts make our roads look so trashy. Next time you pull up to a stoplight, look around on the ground. It's gross. It's your right to smoke, but littering of any kind is against the law. I smoke, and I use an ashtray.

Shopping apology

I WAS recently in a grocery store, and the aisles were busy as usual. People were backed up both sides of the aisle waiting for someone ahead of them to move. I did not have a cart and only wanted to see if the store had an item I needed. There came an opening between the carts, and I slipped through, not cutting anyone off from looking at the items they needed to get. I proceeded to the end of the aisle. When I turned around to return in the direction I came from, a man was blocking me with his cart. I said "Excuse me" several times before he acknowledged me and informed me that I would have to wait because I had cut him off. I didn't realize I was making it so difficult for him to shop and apologized. He finally let me through. Again, I would like to publicly offer my sincere apologies for that man's inconvenience and wish him a happy new year.

Dealing with terrorists

CONGRATULATIONS TO Israel for finally putting its foot down on the terrorists. I hope and pray that they finish the job this time, not a mop-and-shine job like in 2006.