Speak Out A 04/25/02

Spray for mosquitoes

WITH ALL the rain and the warm temperatures lately, I wish we could get the Public Works Department to go ahead and start spraying for mosquitoes, because they are abundant. Just try stepping outside at dusk or a little bit after dark and you'll see. Why wait until the end of May to start spraying when we need mosquito control now?

Reverse problem

THE NEW mayor, Jay Knudtson, wants to think about having a commuter tax. He wants the money to go to Cape Girardeau. Knudtson is a banker and knows Cape Girardeau is already the beneficiary of commuters. The commuters come here and spend money in places like the mall and the city gets a sales tax. What really needs to happen is some of the extra money from the sales tax needs to go the communities the commuters come from -- cities like Scott City and Oran and Chaffee. They need some sales-tax money because their people are coming up here and shopping. The commuter problem really is a problem for Scott City, Oran and Chaffee. It's not a problem for Cape.

Denying the truth

A COMMENT In Speak Out denying the percentage of homes without fathers is another person who will not accept the truth. This is a problem of all races. It is a fact that has been studied by some blacks who don't make excuses for the proportion of young minorities in prisons, who are school dropouts, welfare recipients and in one-parent families. Black conservatives with moral values are considered traitors by many. Pride is an honorable virtue, but denying the truth is a ticket to disaster.

Mixed signals

I READ the article and the calls to Speak Out about the attendance policy in the Cape Girardeau School District and finals policy at the secondary level. At the high school, you are allowed some misses if you have A's or B's, but at the junior high, you're not. If you miss over a certain number of minutes of a class, even if you come a certain number of minutes late or have to leave early, you do have to take your final regardless of your grade. If the point is that learning is so important and the students need all those days of learning, then why are they allowed to take them out for sporting events? You might say that's because it was a school-sponsored event and isn't considered the same. But a student gets penalized for going to a funeral of a family member. They're so concerned about having our children in school every single moment because, as an administrator told me, the students need every minute they can get for education. But they're using my child as a moving company the last week of school. I thought they needed every single day to teach my child the skills he needs in the real world. Perhaps the schools needs to start practicing what they preach. It seems to be wrong for me to take my child out for a funeral, but it's not wrong for him to miss for sporting events or to move furniture.

Compliments for PTO

ONE OF the things the PTO at Jackson Middle School did this year was buy concrete benches for the school. Now the students have a place to sit. It was truly a parent-teacher effort. The parents worked hard in PTO all year, and there was the money for the project. One of the teachers used a backhoe. And students helped put in the benches. How nice that now they'll have a place to sit. PTO is great. It's like Scouting or any organization. It's a good way to meet other parents in your community. It's also a nice way to always know what your child's doing. In case you have a child who doesn't bring home those papers and you want to know what's going on, PTO usually knows. There are a lot of hard workers. Brenda Decoursey was outstanding as the president of the PTO. I hope next year at Jackson Junior High there will be parents willing to step to the plate and raise money and help the school out and teachers willing to come to the meetings to make their school a stronger school. PTO is a good thing.