Speak out 4/21/08

Illinois obstacles

THE SHAWNEE National Forest and the Cache River Wetlands area are both obstacles to building a four-lane interstate between Cape Girardeau and Paducah, Ky. Maybe an act of Congress can cut through these obstacles, but it has not happened in the last 10 years.

Let them eat ...

A MODIFICATION of Queen Marie Antoinette's classic phrase might today be in order for those peasants who today complain of a food shortage: "Let them eat ethanol."

Going to church

THIS IS in response to the person who complained that girls at her church wear their prom dresses to church the day after prom. Maybe they wanted their church friends to see them in their dresses. Maybe they figured it would be fun. Maybe they decided they wanted to get at least one more wearing out of that expensive dress. Who knows why they did it? What is wonderful is that these young women are going to church in a time when many teens don't.

Next, brain surgery

MISSOURI IS showing the way again. If there's a looming teacher shortage, what's the solution? Simple, according to legislators. Make it easier for anyone to teach. I hope this trend catches on with other professions. I'm getting too old to go back to school and go through all of the rigamarole, but I always wanted to be a brain surgeon.

Food shortages

THERE ARE lots of stories in the media about biofuels causing food inflation. There is a small truth in this, but it is not the major cause. High fuel prices are the main reason food prices in the grocery store are going up. It takes lots of fuel to move processed food to the grocery. The second reason is that more than a million people per week are becoming middle class in China and India. They are buying more food and running up the price of food. Rice and wheat are the two grains in shortest supply, and they are not used for biofuel.

Wasting fuel

I THINK it is ironic that all you hear is that gasoline prices are too high. There are so many people running around on clear nights with their fog lights on. Don't they know that any extra lights or equipment puts a strain on the alternator and requires more horsepower to run it, thus a little worse gas mileage?

Safety for our children

WHEN IS the city going to put up a stop sign at Mason Street and Highway 177? I live on that corner, and the traffic is ridiculous. My children, along with all the other children in this neighborhood, do not have anywhere to play without walking all the way up the hill to Washington Park. There is an open field across Main Street that could be used for a park for the people that live in the area.

Flashy signs

SEVERAL MONTHS ago there were a lot of comments about the new electronic signs that churches and businesses are getting with messages that scroll across. I made a point of looking at them. After five or six months of looking at these things, I don't think they're nearly as effective at promoting a message as a regular sign. I've asked other people, because I thought maybe it was just me. They all agreed. The message is longer, and as you drive by you don't get a snapshot of the whole thing. These signs are flashy they catch your attention, but you don't get the whole message the way you do with other signs.

How did he do that?

I'M GLAD to read that Josh Bill put Shawnee National Forest in the middle of Southern Illinois just to block our road from Cape Girardeau to Paducah, Ky. But my question is, how did he do it?