Speakout 11/12

Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Why can't a farmer who drives a $200,000 piece of equipment afford to put a $3 reflector on the equipment? I was on my way home from work and it was dark and I got behind a tractor pulling a buggy. He had flashing lights on the tractor but nothing on the buggy. I was up on the buggy before I even saw it and couldn't see his flashing lights on the tractor. I nearly rear-ended it. Then when I was on my way to work this morning, I got behind one pulling a buggy and it was so wide that he couldn't see out his rear view mirror and I couldn't see around it. He was driving 25 mph for six miles before he could see behind him. He finally pulled over because he met an oncoming vehicle. That was the only way I could get around him. Do they own these roads? Are we driving on their roads? Don't they have any guidelines to follow concerning their equipment? Any farmer who can't afford a mirror or reflector, put your number in SpeakOut and I'll buy you one before someone has a accident and somebody gets killed on these roads. We pay taxes and then the government bails them out of any problems they have.

I picked up my Wednesday paper. I live in Morehouse and any time you get them around here, it seems like you don't have things in there like SpeakOut and things that other people would be interested in reading. What is the reason for this? Just because we're not subscribers, I think it's pretty bad because some of us are poor. I am a senior citizen and cannot afford to subscribe. I think it's terrible not to put all the pieces in the paper one day a week.

The Democrat Advertiser is a separate newspaper that is circulated outside Sikeston free of charge each Wednesday.It would be virtually impossible for us to include a week's worth of news one day a week and then distribute it at no cost, since the cost of publishing a newspaper is very high. The Democrat Advertiser includes local news from the current week that has been published in the daily Standard Democrat. If you want all the news, a subscription is $8.40 per month if delivered by a carrier. Mail subscriptions are $28.10 for three months. Call (573) 471-4141 for more information.

Just asking

What ever happened to Thanksgiving? We go straight from Halloween to Christmas. The front page talks about the stores getting ready for Christmas. As far as the Christmas Campaign goes, I think it is wonderful. It not only helps the poor people who are on welfare but it also helps those of us who are disabled (which I am). I would also like to comment about the smoking and cursing on television. What about the drinking?

I want to say a big thank you to Marsha Duncan and Steve Millington at the First Midwest Bank of Sikeston. I had a rather large problem and they went above and beyond the call of duty to help me. I would recommend anyone to use this bank.


There have been many people who have complimented people at certain businesses here in Sikeston. Farm Bureau has a very nice, polite and friendly secretary. Her name is Lynn. Thank you for being so nice and honest. She is very careful to make me feel important.