Speakout 7/23

Friday, July 23, 2004

I, too, live in the 300 block of William Street. I am proud of our home and our neighbors. Our homes are older and built well. They will probably be standing 100 years from now. We have trees, flowers, cats and dogs. Some of us have more company than others and some have more than one car. If they are licensed, there are no laws broken. We pay our taxes and we are law abiding and patriotic. We fly our flags and have our yellow ribbons. We speak, we talk and we help each other if needed. We are not spiteful, hateful and full of revenge. Yes, Code Enforcement, come on down because you have had to spend quite a bit of time here already. I must repeat myself: I am proud of myself and our neighbors and our homes. To borrow from Merle Haggard, "If you don't love it, leave it." I never thought I would ever call SpeakOut, but I can no longer sit by and see what has happened in our block. This is causing decent people, who are hard working and love their homes, and try hard to fix things and still live on their incomes. There is a higher court and judge and when we stand before Him, we can honestly and truthfully say, "I have loved thy neighbor as thyself."

I totally agree with the caller about the mode of dress for church - any church. True, we're not supposed to go to church to show off our clothing, but neither should we be showing off our most casual wear or our bodies. I was brought up to respect the house of God and that meant wearing what was our Sunday best. In my church, I know for absolute the jeans shorts, halters, etc., are not the best these people can wear. Even if they are going right to a casual function, they can spare the time to dress 'down' after church. This is just another sad way people are contributing to the decay of our country. Music, movies, television and books are right up there on the top of the list as well. As long as adults avail themselves of such, how can they expect their children to grow up with good values, morals and work ethic?

I hope people notice that the Bush administration has opened the door for obesity treatments to be covered by Medicare. Those interventions could come in the form of surgical procedures, counseling, or cognitive behavior therapies. The stomach stapling surgery alone is a $30,000 procedure. And if you get psychiatrists and counselors involved in billing the government, the costs will be huge and never-ending. I thought Medicare was financially strapped already. So much for Republicans cutting back on spending.

Is anyone aware that Oran has a dog pound with no windows, no fans, no outside access and they keep dogs in there with the heat indices up to 110 degrees. That's that same as putting four dogs inside a car, roll up the windows and leave. I saw on the news the other day where a guy was given a ticket for that. Why not give the City of Oran a ticket for what they're doing? Come on, Oran. Let's be humane about these dogs.

It is our understanding that when dogs are picked up in Oran, they are only temporarily taken to the shelter in Oran before being transported to a shelter in Sikeston or Cape Girardeau.

We are Sikeston residents and want to thank the people involved who presented us with the extraordinary Fourth of July fireworks display. It was absolutely fantastic!