Speakout 3/17

A recent SLPD Editorial page writer pronounced that the solution to global warming is higher fuel taxes, alternative power, such as solar wind, "clean nuclear power". There is no such things as "clean nuclear power". If you care, it is unChristian and immoral to produce toxic nuclear waste that must be stored 10,000 years. Who wants to live, breathe or be anywhere near such a storage site? Sikeston citizens, Cape, Bertrand, why isn't anyone talking about restoring our passenger trains, streetcar lines? Carrying 200 people per train car would get a lot of people off the road, produce many more jobs than the car industry. It would stop urban sprawl, free up a lot of personal time and income and improve our cultural life. Look at Europe and New York where people don't have to own cars, and add in China and Japan. But the local and national oil interests don't really care about people, only their own pocketbooks. Eminent domain is being used all over the country in Sikeston for every risky business imaginable. To hell with globalization.

That person that is talking about old people driving better wake up. There's kids killing their selves hitting trees, hitting ditches, running over people, not making curves. They're all young whipper snappers. Darting around you with traffic coming. It's the young people that need to wake up, not the old people. Your life is at stake with these young people running around. The school yards are covered with cars with school buses running around empty. No wonder we gotta fuel shortage. It's not safe on the road with these teenagers, let me tell you.

I want to say thank you to all those people who worked hard after the storm last Thursday night to get our electricity back on. We need you and we appreciate you.

I really believe what the officer on Agnes and Southwest is doing is harassing and entrapping the people down here. We are not playing our music loud. The police just have it out for us and anyone that can drive a better car than they can. These tickets and towing are vehicles are not right and we are going to fight it.

Talking about signs in your March 12 editorial, why didn't you say anything about the highway signs ever two-tenths of a mile on the interstate? According to my calculations, at $300 a sign that's a half million dollars between here and St. Louis. Just so we could look at one sign and throw a rock and hit it with the other.

Believe me, I will soon comment!