Speakout 5/23

Sunday, May 23, 2004

I am a bit curious as to how the alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners is on the front page of every newspaper and getting top story headlines. Do not misunderstand this message. It should not have happened but they are prisoners of war. The Iraqi people are beating and murdering American people and it is never even talked about. They say the prisoners were tortured and abused. They beat four U.S. citizens to death, tore them apart, set them on fire and dragged them down the street. They beheaded another, which took about five attempts of chopping and sawing at his neck with him screaming the whole time they were cutting. Yet we are the ones that are so terrible. There are videos of both of these incidents, but if you blink, you miss the whole story because no one is covering that. Naked prisoners is much better news than our citizens being literally torn apart in the streets. I was in the military for four years and am reenlisting. I am outraged to say the least at the news media constantly and consistently trying to portray the military and its personnel as the bad guys. It is time the news is reported as fact and the opinions stay out. Stop trying to make the news and report it as it is and stop overplaying and dramatizing it. You are making it more difficult for us to do our jobs and it affects our family and friends as well. I have one son already and am expecting another child in December. People treat him differently because of what I do because the news is portraying us as the bad guys. Every person in our military is there because they volunteered to be there. We volunteer to fight and die so that you have the freedom to bad mouth us. The least you can do is tell the whole story, not just what you think makes good news.

A recent front page article chronicled once again what appears to be a persistent problem which the Sikeston City Council has in complying with Missouri's Sunshine Law. Doesn't the Council (the public) pay dearly for legal advice to steer clear of these kinds of embarrassing allegations? Why do allegations of non-compliance with something as basic as scheduling and posting appropriate notices of meetings seem to occur as frequently as they do? Are we not getting the advice we need, or are our elected officials simply ignoring the law. Either way, it's an embarrassment and something which should be eliminated.

To the person who called SpeakOut calling me a "nut case because he calls the law on Bonus Hill, " I call because I don't condone illegal use of drug activity in the town that I have lived in for 35 years. Therefore, from now on, if I find out that you are selling drugs of any type or alcoholic beverages to anyone not of legal age, I will turn you in. I may pretend that I'm your friend (to get information), but as soon as I have the information and have the facts straight on you, I'm going to turn you in. And that's a fact. Is that OK with you? You may not know it, but I am a confidential street patrolman and every time I find out that you're selling to kids in this town, I will turn you in and bust your rear end. This town needs to be cleaned up from the illegal use of crack cocaine. It's destroying people in the town and I will do my part to help clean it up and I hope others in the community agree.

When KFVS shows people coming home from Iraq, aren't there any black soldiers who come home? They never show any if there are. I thought both black and white soldiers were serving over there. Every time they show big families of people who come back home, they are always white. Please show some of our people too.

You can call KFVS at (573) 335-1212 and ask for the newsroom.

Is there a pay catfish pond in or near Sikeston that will clean your fish too? The one in Fisk has closed and I would like to find one around here.