Self-discipline

EVERYONE needs to learn self-discipline. The Jackson School District is not to blame if a parent admits his or her child is not perfectly behaved.

Stop corruption

I can't believe it when I hear the United States talk about trying to end the corruption in Afghanistan. How about stopping the corruption here in the United States? It's harming our government too much. I would like to see both parties stop playing politics and once and for all, stop corruption in the government.

Great column

DR. Devaney's comments on grade inflation at our colleges and universities were very informative. I attended Southeast Missouri State University during the late 1960s. I do not recall anyone graduating with a perfect 4.0 grade point average. Today, perfect GPA graduates are quite common. Are today's students that much brighter than 40 or 50 years ago? Simply handing out good grades is the reason that college education doesn't carry the weight it once did.

Experience lacking

GARY Rust made an excellent statement in his column about Joe Sullivan that should be applied to President Obama. Rust said Sullivan, "... being a publisher, which brings the additional responsibilities and insights of paying the bills, watching the circulation by mail or carrier and paying attention to profit and loss, which provides the cash flow for salaries, equipment, maintenance and upgrades." These are experiences that Obama has never had in the private sector. He has no knowledge of how to run a business, how to make a payroll or anything else.

Cool Hand Luke

I agree with the parent who came before the Jackson School Board to complain that the school's use of "the box" as a form of punishment. The punishment was both cruel and unusual. Few people know it, but "the box" has been used many years as a form of punishment. I would direct the Jackson School Board to the movie "Cool Hand Luke" to see how the box would be properly administered and executed.

Expensive speakers

I would like to know how much the university spent to have Pat Buchanan and Tom Daschle come to speak to a crowd of only 400 people. My guess is that it was tens of thousands of dollars. If one wonders why Southeast keeps having to cut staff and raise tuition, one needs only look at this kind of wasteful spending that does nothing to educate students.

Zoning complaints

WHERE were all these people in the Fruitland area when the county was trying hard to get county planning and zoning? They sure didn't want anyone telling them what they could do with land that they owned.

Bingo and casinos

PEOPLE say that the churches are totally against the casino. However, it's the Catholic churches that sponsor the bingo here in town. What is the difference? That is gambling. I don't know why you would consider one thing gambling and one thing not. If we get a casino, hooray for Cape Girardeau. If we don't, the gamblers will go to other cities.

Necessary absences

MY child is one hour late to school two or three days a week to receive necessary therapies that my school district deems unnecessary. Because of these non-education-based therapies, my child can now read, control her behavior in bullying situations and make an A on her midterm report. As a parent, it is my job to see that my child is reared to grow up both academically and intellectually ready for adulthood.

Casino problems

I recently visited three communities that have casinos. I went to area merchants and restaurants and asked to speak to the managers. I asked the managers if they actually saw an increase in their local business once a casino came to town. Without fail, they said no. Restaurant managers told me that the casinos offer such cheap prices on food that they can't beat those prices. Even some of their old trusted customers were now going to the casinos to eat. Now that they have a casino, they are concerned about security. I found very few exceptions to this trend.

Recycling trucks

Today our recycling was picked up by the old garbage trucks with men dumping the recycled materials manually. I wonder if our new garbage trucks with the lifts for the new cans are already broken?

Casino interest

Mr. Riley and Mr. Knight, who spoke at the riverboat rally, are going to make a bundle of money from the riverboat coming to Cape Girardeau. They own the land that that the riverboat plans to use. That's in their interest.