Speak Out 11/14/03

Lawmaking in courts

WHEN ARE the liberals of this state going to figure it out. Recently we had a historic thing happen in our state. Our legislature overrode three vetoes in one special session. That is very uncommon. On our behalf, legislators passed a bill that would have made it mandatory for a woman to wait one day to have an abortion. The bill is being held up in court. Strike one. We passed a very comprehensive concealed-carry law. It is being held up in the Supreme Court. Strike two. The third bill has held up OK. It was a bill shooting down lawsuits against gun manufactures. That's one out of three. Don't the liberals understand that it is not OK to use the courts to make laws?

Work together

THE PROBLEMS in Cairo are every bit as much the fault of the city council as they are the mayor. After mistakes when he took office, the mayor has reached out to meet the council halfway. The council wants nothing less than the removal of the mayor regardless of what it does to the city and its residents. We voted for all of them and expect them to work together. Apparently they do not understand that.

In good company

THE UNIVERSITY of Chicago does not have a conventional intercollegiate athletics program. Instead, it is in the academic Top 10. Vanderbilt, another fine academic institution, is seriously considering dropping to Division III (no athletic scholarships). While the Ivy League schools have suffered from most of the corrupting tendencies of big-time college sports, they still, at least officially, offer no scholarship-granting athletic programs. Gosh! Think how bad it would be for Southeast Missouri State University to be mentioned favorably in the same paragraph with the University of Chicago or even Yale and Harvard.

Lack of respect

HOW CAN a teacher be allowed to opt out of allowing her class to participate in an assembly to honor veterans? At Jackson High School, my child's teacher said her students would not be going to the assembly so they could review for a test which could be done at home. Why do we allow unpatriotic teachers to teach our history classes? I think it's disrespectful to students who have veterans in their family.

Garbage collector

I WAS working in my yard Monday morning, and to my amazement I saw Councilman Jay Purcell in a yellow vest picking up my garbage. It turns out that he volunteered to work a full shift as a city garbage man without pay to learn more about the inner workings of that department. He will be doing this in various departments one day a month. I want to commend Purcell for his service to this community. If other politicians would take more time to learn about the entities they represent, we would all be a lot better off.

Scholar athletes

I HAD to respond to the person who suggested that Southeast athletes take Mickey Mouse classes in order to get their GPAs up. NCAA rules are so stringent that athletes very seldom get to enroll in any elective class at all. They are required to complete so many classes in their major per year or they become ineligible. Athletes take just as many degree-major courses as anyone else, plus spend countless hours a week practicing and competing just to bring prestige and recognition to this university and community.

Great column writer

SAM DeREIGN is hilarious. He writes a great column. Please keep him as the youth columnist.

Thanks, veterans

I WOULD like to thank all the veterans who have served our country, both during war and peacetime. Thank you, and God bless America.

No exit strategy

THE WORM has turned. President Bush has not articulated a clear exit strategy for American forces in Iraq, saying simply that "our forces will be coming home as soon as their work is done." Back in 2000, however, candidate Bush criticized the Clinton administration's military deployments and touted the Powell doctrine, which he articulated as: "The force must be strong enough so that the mission can be accomplished. And the exit strategy needs to be well-defined."

Keeping secrets

PRESIDENT BUSH with his speech on a new policy in the Middle East was right on target. The Clinton agent who said "no new programs, just rhetoric" actually naively thinks President Bush is going to share his new plan with the enemy.

Action should be taken

WHENI read about Gregory Allen McNeely being on probation for domestic assault, I told my husband that I bet McNeely was not supposed to get his gun back. I just have a high school education, and I was right. Morley Swingle should be prosecuted, and our police force should be reprimanded. I bet you if a police officer had been shot, the U.S. attorney's office would have already filed charges. An officer of the court or anyone else's life should not be anymore important than anyone else's.

What punishment?

THE ARTICLE on "Gun released by mistake to suspect" says the county prosecutor takes responsibility. What does that mean exactly? Is he going to get punished, or are we going to just sweep it under the rug like we do for a lot of things here?

Business climate

A COMMENT in Speak Out remarked the reason businesses were moving to China was because of low pollution standards. Maybe businesses can't make a profit because of unskilled labor demanding huge salaries, high retirement and health benefits and unions that push benefit packages that squeeze many businesses and stockholders to the point of going under. Perhaps the person making the comment should start a business and hire all these folks.