Speak Out

Don't complain now

THAT ROAD tax got voted down. Now I hear people going on about our roads and how bad they are. Any time you start going on about the roads, remember how you voted. There's no money there to fix them. If you had voted a few cents of road tax in to fix the roads, it would have been lots better.

Not do-it-yourself

I KNEW SEMO had become significantly more radical since the days of Dr. Mark Scully. However, I didn't know it had come to this and was quite taken aback to read where SEMO is now offering a course on terrorism. One can only pray to Allah that it is not a how-to course.

No chance in court

IN RESPONSE to the person who commented about the police always being right: Some time ago I was pulled over on Kingshighway by a policeman who told me that I was going 12 mph over the speed limit. I told him that I was 100 percent sure I was not going that fast. I had seen the policeman sitting by the side of the road while I was at a stoplight, so I had kept a close eye on my speedometer. When I got home, I called a friend of mine who is a policeman and asked him about fighting the ticket in court. He told me that all a policeman has to do is mark on the ticket that he clocked the driver with a laser and the judge will find the driver guilty, no questions asked. "You don't have a chance if he checked 'laser'" were his exact words. So I agree with the caller completely. Why should we give the cops a blank check like this? The badge doesn't make them infallible.

Tolls are taxes on users

TOLL ROADS should be allowed in Missouri. Keep in mind, though, that if a road is designated a toll road, it should have another road going the same route for those who do not want to pay the toll. It's about time Missouri smartened up and figured out how to tax those who use the roads.

Can't afford right food

THE LOWER the income that people have, the more they have to economize, and sometimes this means buying food with the highest cholesterol and highest sodium. It may fill them up, but it doesn't give them the nutrition that doctors say they need. They cannot afford most fresh fruits or vegetables or things like seafood. Their income won't allow it. They have to buy the fattest ground beef they can find. They have to buy the white bread instead of the low-calorie bread.

Paducah's example

IF YOU want to revive downtown Cape Girardeau, go to Paducah, Ky., on a Saturday night. They have what they call Downtown Paducah After Dinner ever Saturday night. They have music on every corner. They have old cars on display. And it's wonderful. Take a look at Paducah's murals. Paducah has done wonders, and we could do the same in Cape Girardeau.

Expensive healthy food

THIS IS to the person who said that if parents would reduce the calories they eat, they could probably afford health insurance for their kids. If you haven't noticed, health insurance is extremely expensive. My kids are on MC+, and I'm not ashamed of that. I can't help it that I can't afford health insurance. If you haven't walked through the grocery store lately and noticed the prices of things, the food that is good for you costs more than those with all the calories.

Poorly informed voters

I'D LIKE to offer my deepest sympathies to the Republicans who voted in the recent primary election. The Republican candidate who won the primary for state auditor by 180,000 votes has served time in prison for felony fraud and felony larceny. You really showed me that you used no good sense in your voting. When your party leaders say you should vote for the Democratic candidate in the general election, there's really something wrong. Anybody who votes this irresponsibly should learn to read and look into the backgrounds of candidates or stay home.

Seniors deserve help

THIS IS to the person who said we should not ask our government for help regarding our senior citizens and said we are not a socialist country yet. Our elected officials tax us to death and give themselves raises when we are in a recession. They're always handing out millions of dollars to other countries who don't pay taxes to the United States. So why shouldn't senior citizens who have proudly fought for our country and paid taxes all their lives get a break during their golden years for prescriptions?

Addressing a crisis

TO THE caller who implies helping our seniors with their drug costs puts us on the road to socialism: You represent how greedy and selfish conservatives in this area are when you would have the richest country in the world force those seniors who don't have the family support you write of choose between food or medicine. The standard conservative playbook strategy calls for labeling every new idea as socialism when this can be completely avoided by merely testing the social benefit. I hope you senior voters out there this fall will remember that the Republicans think helping you is socialism, while the Democrats realize this is a crisis that must be addressed.