SpeakOut 10/11

Friday, October 11, 2002

Call 471-6636

I agree 100 percent. I was amazed at the amount of trash people left behind and probably 95 percent of these offenders had kids with plastic bags with them. If their brain works, they could have put the trash in the bags. As I drove on South Kingshighway, I remember seeing the people at the corner of Kingshighway and Malone before the parade and thought of those same people in very negative terms as I drove back after the parade. If this happens next year, the American Legion should ban all candies and handouts at the parade. They even left the empty water bottles. I can only hope they were not born and raised here.


I totally agree with your Oct. 1 editorial about the parade mess. We have a business on Kingshighway and there were so many people sitting in front of the old PJ Store who just got up and left all their trash, soda cans, boxes, etc. They brought their kids' candy in bags, why couldn't they have used those bags to pick up their trash? They claim they are Christians and they sit there every year. They sure didn't show any respect when they left all their trash around.


Michael Jensen, your editorial in the Oct. 1 paper, all I can say is "amen."


I just read your column about the littered streets. We were out of town over the weekend and came in about noon on Sunday. I could not believe what I saw? I wondered what in the world had happened. It was terrible and I am ashamed that they could do this. But some people just don't care.

I'm with you, Michael. I can't believe the amount of trash left after the parade. How can we take pride in America when people are not taught to leave a place better than they found it? Anyway, that is what I was taught and I try to teach my children the same thing. The ignorant people should have been told by the people around them to take it with them when they left. Of course, we have too many people who don't care or are afraid to tell others when they are around.


Hey, Mike. Fifteen points in your favor for the editorial on Oct. 1 about the pig pen in Sikeston. We watched the carnival from the Meyers Theater parking lot and our people there were clean. Then when we drove down Kingshighway and got on Malone and the main intersection, it looked like a trash truck had lost its load. That was awful! Three points and whip them again!


I agree with Mike in his editorial about the trash left after the parade. I also think they should ban throwing candy out to the crowd. We couldn't enjoy the parade for the kids and the grownups running into the street to pick up candy and then yelling at the people to throw more. I sure hope the ones in charge of this can get something worked out before next year.

This is in rebuttal to "Parental responsibility" in the Oct. 1 paper. Parents should be punished if their kids don't go to school. They also should be punished for raising pigs like the editorial speaks about. If parents would teach their children right, we wouldn't have people like this (although some of the parents did a lot of it, too).


Mike, I just read your Oct. 1 editorial about the litter that was left behind after the Cotton Carnival Parade. I heartily agree with what you have said about it. It really is a disgrace that people care so little about their community.

Last Saturday we had gone to the Cotton Carnival and my little sister stayed home with Mom's little female Chihuahua. Her name was "Casey." A short time later, a neighbor told Mom that Casey had gotten hit. From what I understand, the person who hit Casey had sped up as if he meant to hit her. Then he didn't even stop to ask whose dog she was. He just kept going. You know who you are. So do we. You drive down that alley like you own it. What kind of person runs over a family pet and doesn't even stop to see who the owner is or to say they're sorry?

I am calling about the letter we received from the Family Services office in Sikeston about the new spend down for my wife and me. According to the changes they made, our spend down for medicine, doctor visits and other medical services will be $285 a month. So now if I want to be able to continue getting my medical needs met, I won't be able to buy any food. They left us with no money.