Speak Out 06/22/04

Serious preservation

NOW THIS is serious. Saving the Marquette Hotel and renovating other historical landmarks pales in comparison to preserving the Pladium.

Heartfelt farewell

THE CLOSING of the Pladium is a travesty for Cape Girardeau. There are so many fad bars that see a popularity for a month or so and then diminish into the background. The Pladium was a name to be recognized. It is a memory burned in the minds of thousands of patrons. It is a way of life for college students. And when Southeast Missouri State University alumni think about college, there are always many fond memories of the Pladium. I see no reason for it to reopen with hopes of being even remotely similar to the legend that was the Pladium. It was our Cheers of sorts. It was a place to find a friend, drink a beer and leave your troubles at the doorstep. Farewell, Pladium. You will be missed.

Outrageous commission

MANY OF today's headlines are completely outrageous. The Sept. 11 Commission has been a travesty from the beginning. Does any intelligent human being really believe we would have shot down any of four American passenger jets over heavily populated American soil? I'm not real sure we would do it now. I trust there are those in the media who will uncover the true intentions of this commission or at least tell us what its members have been smoking.

Different thinking

I AM a senior citizen living on a fixed income and cannot afford to give $44 a year for sales taxes to Cape Girardeau. My property taxes have gotten so high, and the public schools still need help. Bankers should never make decisions for the community. Their thinking about money is different.

Columnist exposed

BY THE time Cal Thomas's call for Southern Baptists to pull their kids out of the public schools was published in the Southeast Missourian, the Southern Baptist Convention had the wisdom to vote down the proposal. At least Thomas' column exposed him as the religious radical he is, committed not to the conservative goal of working to preserve and, if necessary, reform America's venerable institutions but to tearing them down and rebuilding the nation in his image.

Malpractice crackdown

THE PROBLEM when it comes to malpractice is not the amount of money the insurance companies are making (they're doing fine) or the rates the doctors have to pay, but rather the terrible physical and emotional damage that is done to so many unsuspecting patients who fall into the hands of careless or incompetent medical personnel. What is needed is a nationwide crackdown on malpractice, not a campaign to roll back the rights of patients who are injured.

Keeps drunks off road

I HOPE all drive-through restaurants keep calling the police on everybody who drives drunk. These people are too stupid not to drive when drunk, so somebody has to get them off the road.

French saved us first

TO THOSE who say the French owe us because we saved them in World War II: We owe the French because they saved us in the Revolutionary War. A good friend doesn't let a friend drive drunk or engage in reckless foreign policy that is self-destructive.

Watching in the cool

I GUESS the caller complaining about the street department taking so long to clean up a tree watched from the comfort of his living room in the air conditioning while the men were out in the heat. I guess the same caller also realizes that the city isn't required to clean up a tree on a resident's property. The crew could have just pushed the tree to the side of the street and left.

Making connections

PRESIDENT BUSH states, "There were numerous contacts between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida" and insists that contacts equal a connection. Based on that logic, Donald Rumsfeld had connections with Saddam and President Reagan had connections with al-Qaida and Saddam.