No stopping

FRIDAY MORNING a small yellow school bus ran the stop sign at North Main and Robert Street. The driver didn't even hesitate. Nobody stops there, but a bus driver definitely should. I just wanted to say what was on my mind.

Try peace talks

I AM calling about "Calling it terrorism." When a civilian throws rocks at a soldier with a loaded weapon, he's going to get shot, plain and simple. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. And when a person wraps himself in a bomb and walks into a place where there are civilians and blows himself up along with civilians, that is a terrorist, plain and simple. If you want to solve the problem, try the peace table.

Sad about teacher

I READ with sadness the comments by the teacher who said the bags got too heavy from the freebies she carried at the teachers meeting and how she had to get away from all that and go to the mall and visit other businesses. I don't know whether she was being sarcastic or being sincere, but I'm appalled by it. I'm just sad to read that there's a teacher out there who actually feels like that.

Teachers work hard

TEACHERS HAVE a lot of work to do. Sure, they get three months during the summer. But they're preparing, sometimes in August, for the school year, and they work evenings. From what I've seen, it's almost a 24-hour-a-day job. They get up early in the morning. They have to stay late. One of the biggest problems is some of the parents who think their kids can do no wrong. I guess this will never change.

A worthwhile job

NO ONE works every day all year, not even the caller who said teachers should thank the taxpayers. If there were no teachers, who would be providing day care while taxpayers were out working? Very few parents spend as much time with their children as teachers do. With summer school and extra-duty assignments, few teachers even get three months off in the summer. We should be very grateful that anyone wants to work with some of today's students who are bad-mannered and think they are entitled to everything. Teachers pay taxes too. Thankfully there are a lot of great kids and parents who make our job worthwhile.

Prayer power

MY FATHER played golf for 40 years without ever making a hole in one. About four years ago, he was diagnosed with cancer. Since that time, he could only play between treatments. I started praying for him to make a hole in one before he was unable to play golf anymore. During one of the last rounds he played, he got his hole in one. That may not seem important, but the important thing to remember is that God answers prayer. All you have to do is believe and ask. We are not worthy, but he loves us and answers anyway. I hope this message will help someone.

New topic, please

RESPECT FOR others cannot be forced on anybody. I am referring to Palestine and Israel. The world cries peace, and there is no peace. There never will be peace, and there will never be a dialogue between those two. They've been killing each other in the name of right for decades. Let them. I'm sick of hearing about the Middle East. Surely there's something in this country worth talking about.

Embargo the oil

FORTY YEARS ago we put an embargo on Cuba because we did not like what they had become. Why don't we put an embargo on these oil-producing nations that we don't like? There's much complaining about money that people spend on drugs, financing terrorism. It seems very clear the money we spend on oil from the Middle East is financing terrorism. So we should be an embargo on Middle East oil.

Thanks, candidates

THIS IS a compliment for our candidates for city council and mayor. You ran good, clean races, and you've already picked up all your signs. That was very well done. Thank you.

Religious opposites

A SPEAK Out article blamed President Bush and the United States for the crisis in the Middle East. How about religious opposites? Israel doesn't blow up its women and children to make martyrs. Palestinian leadership won't stop it, even while negotiating for peace. If this would happen every day in the United States, the first priority would be to get rid of the terrorists and fanatics. The Arab countries don't say anything when there are bombs slaughtering the innocent.

Thankless teachers

I COULD not believe the comment about teachers "thinking" they have it hard. Contrary to popular belief, teachers are not getting three months vacation in summer. They are busy working to make up for their low salary the rest of the year. And with homework, papers, tests, meetings, graduate classes and work outside the classroom, most teachers easily work 60 hours a week or more. They owe people like you no thanks. You should thank them for educating you so you can make more money than they do and for putting up with your spoiled kids in the classroom.

Lots of coverage

I AM a parent in the Jackson School District, and I was pleased to see the picture in the Southeast Missourian of Ron Anderson accepting the award for our school district from the state. Jerry Waddle, who wrote a letter to the editor, said he was disappointed there wasn't more coverage of the event. Had he read the paper a couple of weeks earlier when the awards were announced, he would have seen the front-page article explaining the whole thing.

Mobile-home alarms

IT HAS been shown time and time again that mobile homes are very deadly in the case of fire. There should be a law requiring all mobile-home manufacturers to install two fire alarms in each trailer. They should be the type that hook to the electrical system, not battery operated. This would add very little cost to manufacturing and would save a number of lives.