Speakout 11/8

I am a homeowner on Ingram and would like to say that the lake on Ingram that is also behind Cheers is private property for the homeowners on Ingram. It is also called Collins Lake Estates. When people are fishing who do not belong at the lake, who do not live on Ingram, they are trespassing. We have been urged by the police that if they are fishing, the homeowners (including myself) need to call the police. So if you are fishing in Collins Lake Estates or throwing your trash out there, the police will be called. To the owners of the homes that surround the lake, I wish you would take a few minutes and try to clean up some of the trash. I've been trying to keep it clean by myself and it's very hard. I had five bags of trash in just one night. The beer bottles are just outrageous. Please, people who live around the lake, let's help try to keep this clean and keep from having a worse situation - it's already really bad.

I am the person who called in and called the flu vaccine a scam, which it is. If you do in fact have a critical illness, where you could die from getting the flu, I would not suggest you shoot a dead virus into your veins, thinking it will keep you from getting the flu. The flu vaccine has actually given people the flu. Your best bet, I'm telling you, is staying at home, take plenty of vitamin C and ascorbic acid and stay away from public places. That is the best way to keep from getting the flu. You do not shoot a dead virus into your veins that could give you the flu.

I read in the St. Louis paper where Canada is going to shut our drug business off. So all this good news about going to Canada is off. Canada said they are getting a lot of their drugs from other countries and when we get drugs up there, we will get very little savings. So it's a bunch of hog wash about getting drugs from Canada. It's all gone - or will be.

We contacted Dr. Glen Babich in Sikeston about your concerns. Patients who purchase their prescription medications from Canada are usually those who have no insurance to help pay for medicine. Those who do have insurance or Medicaid can still get their medicines cheaper in the United States. Babich said that in the last few years he has only seen a few patients who do get their prescriptions from Canada. He said he has heard that Missouri and another state may join the Illinois website, which provides a list of pharmacies in Canada. The patients then contact a pharmacy on their own. The Free Trade Act allows Canada to ship packages into this country. However, in the past three months, customs has stepped up random searches and about 5 percent of packages labeled "medication" are being intercepted. Patients whose packages are intercepted will receive a letter saying drugs were sent illegally and the drugs are not shipped to the patient. Patients should check with the pharmacy they use in Canada to see what they do about guaranteeing they will receive their medicine or a refund if their package should be intercepted. He did learn from a licensed Canadian pharmacist that some pressure has been made from U.S. drug companies on the Canadian government to stop exporting drugs into this country, but the Canadian government officials did not feel like it is in their domain to regulate the importation of drugs to the U.S. They control what goes on in Canada, but do not control what goes on in the U.S. Missouri law says that a pharmacy shipping medicines into the state must be licensed in Missouri, so if Canada or another state is not licensed in Missouri, technically they cannot ship drugs to Missouri. However, prescription medications from Canada are sent to the patient's home address and once a package of medicine clears customs, no other screenings are done. Canada has a program similar to our Federal Drug Administration that regulates all the medications that come in and are sold legally within Canada, however their regulations do differ from those of the U.S. The pharmacist in Canada did say he has seen only a few prescriptions come to his business from Missouri.

I would like to take the time and say cell phones are dangerous enough, much less the bus drivers talking on them while driving our precious children to school. My daughter and son ride a bus to Morehouse school and I would hate to think of them riding all that way with a driver that is talking on the cell phone and not paying attention.