Speak Out 4/2/17

School sports

Cape Public Schools just denied a request that parochial-school students at the elementary grade level, through grade 8, be allowed to participate in sports at the junior high. Welker stated the district attorney was consulted. I hope those schools who made the request pursue this through our legal system. From what I was taught in a recent educational law course by a Missouri educational attorney, parochial-school students who reside within the district have the legal right to participate in any and all activities funded by tax dollars. Most often, that is interpreted as educational activities such as speech therapy, but the law does not specify that, according to the instructor.

FCC privacy

I am puzzled and very disappointed in Congressman Jason Smith voting to overturn the FCC Internet privacy rules passed last year. Those rules provided that my Internet provider could not share my information without my permission. When I called his office asking for him to vote against this bill, they mentioned they had a number of calls that day regarding this privacy bill. So, how much is your information worth? For Smith, it was lucrative: $47,500, which is the amount he has accepted to date from those telecom companies that want your Social Security Number, credit card information, address and all the information you share electronically. This is a true win-win for Internet providers -- they charge us for Internet service, and they then turn around and sell our information. Big business wins again with the help of Jason Smith. By the way, Senator Roy Blunt sold us out also, but for a larger sum: $185,500.

Bloomfield Road

For those of you complaining about the construction on Bloomfield, if you don't live on Bloomfield or in the surrounding subdivisions, don't go down Bloomfield to cut through! It only makes the road worse for those of us that must come down Bloomfield to get to our homes. I have seen trucks use the unpaved part as a spot to go mudding, only then to continue their trip to get to highway 74. There are signs that clearly say there will be delays. If you weren't living out here several years ago when Bloomfield was completely shut down for over a year, you don't know how inconvenient and time consuming it was to make a once simple trip to the store or to work. Emergency vehicles couldn't even attempt to go down Bloomfield during that portion of road construction. At least now we have an option. It usually only is a problem after a big rain storm, but it gets fixed as fast as possible. If you don't like it, use the detours and get over it.