Speak Out 5/15/09

Ready to spend

I got a letter from the Social Security Administration telling me that thanks to President Obama that sometime in the near future I will receive a one-time extra payment of $250. Wow! What will I do with all this extra money? It's not enough to pay my utility bill for a month, but I will think of something to help the economy. Gas is going up again, so maybe by the time I get the check I can get a tank of gas.

Homeless support

I sure hope Cape Girardeau gets a homeless shelter in the federal building. It would be so large that Jackson would not need one anymore. Maybe we could get rid of the people roaming the streets in Jackson. Come on, Cape Girardeau, get on the ball and support this. I am sure you have the support of Jackson.

No to shelter

LARRY Rice, I have two words for you: Go home. We don't need your big-city ways here. The proposed homeless shelter at the federal building will do nothing but bring in people from miles away. We are trying to improve Broadway, not make it a slum area. I admire Mayor Jay Knudtson for standing up for our city. Let's all give him the support he needs. I lived in St. Louis for years and could not wait until retirement so I could move back to my hometown. Let's not let St. Louis people take over Cape Girardeau.

Keeping tabs

TO the folks who are complaining that grades aren't posted on the Internet accurately or quickly: While I agree that the Internet is a valuable administrative service to keep parents up-to-date on expected homework, requirements and schedule for their children's classes, it is the parent's responsibility to follow up with their children on a daily basis to ensure that the homework is completed, requirements are met and schedules are met. Children are often irresponsible, and the Internet is a valuable tool for communicating the expectations of the school. But it is the responsibility of the parent, not the teacher, to review activities completed on a daily basis. Abdicating your parental responsibility for following up on school work to a website and complaining about its accuracy is sad testimony to the lack of communication between parent and child, not the failure of school administration or teachers.

Vaccine allergy

NOT all of the whooping cough cases in Missouri are from parental refusal to get their children immunized. There are some children who are allergic to the vaccines, and whooping cough is a multiple-injection vaccine. If a child has a reaction to the first injection, why would the parents let their child receive a second injection that will make the child sick? As someone who was allergic to the vaccine and did contract pertussis (whooping cough), it really could be a lot worse. I'm not denying that pertussis is bad, but it is possible to survive and remain unchanged by it. Plus, the Centers for Disease Control have a habit of blowing things out of proportion. Just look at the scare of West Nile virus from a few years ago. It didn't affect that many and is virtually gone. I hope that will be the case with the H1N1 flu also.

Going soft?

IT appears to me that David Limbaugh has gone soft on President Obama's policies. He is now claiming that the president is merely attempting to foist extreme liberalism upon us. Big deal. Whatever happened allegations of imposing socialism and, perhaps, communism?

Gimme Shelter

We're all in favor of housing the homeless.

Don't portray us with hearts that are hard.

We'll welcome them with open arms, no fuss

As long as they're not in our backyard.