Speakout 7/9

Sunday, July 9, 2006

I have some old television sets that need to be hauled away. If someone would do this, could you please call me at 471-1162. I am willing to pay a fee for someone to do this.

I realize that small towns do not have the revenue to hire well-trained educated police officers; however their standards should still be high. When they hire young unqualified and uneducated people they are asking for high incident rates. Our small town has several of these officers. They brag about stopping people they don't like. They stop every other car they see go down the street. Listening to a certain one on the scanner stopping cars is a full-

time business. Many times he asks for a license check before he stops them and after stopping them does not write a ticket. The question is why is he pulling them over? I thought you had to have a reason. The tickets he is writing are for violations that are not known before stopping them. This officer is certainly not qualified for this job and putting the city at risk because he is a loose cannon that believes this is a fun game. I see no protection against drunk drivers, drugged drivers or drug traffic, only harassing working people going to work or taking their children to school. I truly wonder what these young boys would do in a real emergency or high risk situation.

You probably won't print this, but I feel the need to speak out. My two grandsons play baseball at the Sikeston Complex. One is 9-years-old, the other is 10-years-old. The 10-year-old placed second at the end of his tournament. The 9-year-old, after playing a perfect season, took first place in his tournament. They did not receive a trophy or even a $2 medal for their efforts after winning their tournaments. If there is a coach or someone affiliated with the baseball league who can explain to the children who are disappointed for not receiving anything for their hard work, please respond.

I see in paper again where the are raising Cain about the railroads. You know most of these railroad tracks ran through that town before 99 percent of them people were even born. They've been there for years. I can remember them being there for 84 years. I can remember when they had passenger trains, six a day, and they went through Sikeston at a high rate of speed if they didn't have anybody to drop off. They usually had to stop because they had people to drop off because people traveled by trains in them days. I wish they'd keep their yaps shut about the railroads. The more business the railroads gets, the more people they put to work and they pay good money. I retired from them, I know.

I'd like to say thanks to a young man who stopped to help two senior citizens that had a flat tire on North Main and Salcedo Road on June 27 at about 4 p.m. He made phone calls for us. I know your parents are proud of you. Thank you.

I'm calling about the dogs again. About people taking their dogs out for walks and letting them do their jobs in your yard and you have to get out and clean it up. I'm getting tired of it. I don't have a dog of my own, but I'm cleaning up after everybody else's. I wish these women walking these dogs would take them back down to their own yards and let them do their thing in their own yard so they would scratch it up good. I want you to put this in SpeakOut because I'm getting tired of it and hope they will see it and take the hint.