Speak out 5/20/08

Homes near quarry

IF ROCK quarries are so bad for people living around them, why are there expensive homes right next to the current location of Strack Stone Co.? It must not be that bad after all.

Year-around school

AS SCHOOL comes to an end, I would like to remind readers that there are 2,764 public schools across the country whose entire student body stays in school year-around.

Egregious article

REGARDING THE the story "Auditor's return would make county's women employees 'uncomfortable'": What is truly egregious about this article is the author's repeated attempts to discredit County Auditor David Ludwig with innuendos and then spread mistrust in the office, if this has truly happened. Are there no positive activities in the county?

A good feeling

THIS IS A Response to the person who suggested that every person give $20 worth of food to a local food bank. My family took your suggestion to heart and spent nearly $100. I felt good helping people and frustrated that it wasn't enough.

School food

CAPE GIRARDEAU School District food-service employees have a hard job at low pay and only 6 hours a day to do it. They get little appreciation but do their best anyway. It is not the employees' fault if food costs are going up, but some people seem to think so. The food-service workers have to plan ahead to order groceries and account for all money spent. Share a hug with a food-service employee today.

Buying time

YES, THERE is only enough oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to last 10 years. Yes, it will only cut the price of gasoline by 50 cents. But that is 10 years more time our civilization will have to come up with something new to replace gasoline. That is 50 cents that a family can use to by food. It will not make that much of a difference in the long term, but for right now it well buy us some time.

Fair is fair

DAVID LIMBAUGH is free to write that the majority of registered voters in this country (Democrats) are appeasers, blame America firsters, unpatriotic, perhaps seditious people. However, his critics are free to (in fairness to Limbaugh, as he stated) portray President Bush as an out-of-control cowboy diplomat, desperately attempting to impose his will on the rest of the world while at the same time presiding over a failed economy.

Quarry whining

I AM so tired of hearing the whining about the proposed quarry. One woman asked, "Why would anyone put it in a nice rural setting like this?" You have to put a quarry where the rock is. Someone else said the quarry would ruin wells for 10 miles. The Lone Star Industries Inc. quarry blasts every day. The Southeast Missouri Stone Co. quarry blasts almost every day. Basements and wells in a 10-mile radius of those quarries are fine. And I've worked in limestone for 35 years, and I don't have cancer. Limestone dust isn't a carcinogen. Silica is.

Great event

ARTSCAPE, IN my opinion, is quite successful. If attendance was down this year, although it seemed very busy, it was probably because it was graduation weekend for two Cape Girardeau high schools this weekend, plus other events going on at the same time such as Relay for Life and the Soap Box Derby. Please don't be discouraged if the attendance was down a bit. It was a great event.