Speak Out 8/19/06

Stop rushing

MOST SCHOOLS now open in the middle of August. But there is a large group without school-age children still taking summer vacations. Do we have to have a chill thrown on summer time by stores putting up fall decorations and Halloween cards? Give us a break. It is still summer. Stop rushing the seasons.

Doing what's right

SOME PEOPLE are concerned about how other countries like us. I don't care how many people like us as long as we're doing the right thing.

School safety

HOW COME Eagle Ridge Christian School does not have a flashing red light on Route K like Notre Dame Regional High School does with the speed limit sign and turn lane? This is something that should be looked into for the safety of all students.

No help for dog

MY WIFE is 7 1/2 months pregnant. She had a doctor's appointment, and we also had a puppy we were giving away. Some people were supposed to meet her before the doctor's appointment to pick up the puppy. They never came. I was 100 degrees outside and we asked the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri to keep the puppy while my wife went to the doctor. The humane society said it couldn't help because we're from Bollinger County. The police said they couldn't help. How come if I can donate money to the humane society it can't help my wife when she needs it for a hour?

Backbreaking rules

I'VE BEEN in construction for years. I pay too much for worker's comp. I've never had a claim. Now the federal government, through OSHA, has set up rules which no one knew about, such as if your ladder is not 3 feet above a gutter, you can get fined. This is just one stupid rule among thousands of others. Things like this are breaking the back of hard-working contractors. I'm quitting, and my employees can draw unemployment. Thanks, OSHA. I hope I can do you a favor sometime.

School waste

I READ about the teacher who took off 20 days during the school year for different things that weren't medical. What a waste to hire a substitute. There is a lot of waste in the school district that taxpayers aren't aware of. One is allowing bus drivers to take their buses to their homes after their morning routes. Some of these drivers live 15 to 20 miles from the bus garage. Years ago, drivers were required to use their own vehicles to go home. That's the way it should be.

High praise

WE'VE HAD an inordinate number of comments that I believe to be unfairly critical of Cape Girardeau Mayor, Jay Knudtson, who has done a near miraculous job of governing Cape Girardeau during good and bad times. For that, we owe him collective and sincere praise, even though he apparently fumes over the people's forum of opinion and considers views expressed in it of little or no value.

More time, not pay

THIS IS in response to the comment that said non-teachers work 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. without expenses being paid for them. I am wondering how many non-teachers would be willing to put in 15 to 20 hours extra a week without being paid for it.

Not buckled in

WHY ARE there so many parents driving around with their children not buckled in? I was at a stoplight with a woman and two children in the car beside me. The kids were climbing over the seats. A police officer was behind them on his cell phone and did nothing.

What happened?

I WITNESSED the ultimate in child abuse. A woman with a small child in the back seat of her car was pulled over by a police officer in Jackson. She got out of the car and put her beer can on top of the car. The officer called a female officer, and they gave her several sobriety tests. The female officer frisked her. After the two officers consulted, they pulled away. The woman waited for someone to pick her and her child up. It was obvious she was drinking and driving with an open alcohol container and a small child in her car. How did that happen? I thought we protected our children, other drivers and pedestrians. What happened to zero tolerance?

Talking heads

AMID THE shrieks from certain talking heads about the radical left taking over the Democratic Party, the real issue behind these cries lies dormant. If a person is a crook, they know what to look for in a crook. We have people who identify themselves as conservatives who are hyper-vituperating the Liebermann situation because they themselves have hijacked the Republican Party, corrupting the party's belief system under the pretext of patriotism and Christianity. You doubt this? Notice the lack of media coverage given to incumbent Sen. Lincoln Chaffee, considered a liberal Republican, from a conservative Republican contender by the name of Steve Laffey in the Rhode Island Primary. Conspicuous is the media outcry. The talking heads must have missed that one.

Bait and switch

I KNEW the Southeast Missourian editorial board would support the sneakiest aspect of the sales-tax holiday. The average Joe would think the sales tax was eliminated across the board. Of course, that is not the case. The so-called sales tax holiday is little more than a politically imposed practice of bait and switch.

Flawed drug plan

THANKS TO Gary Rust for pointing out that U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill would have, like U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, voted against the severely flawed big-government prescription drug plan.