SpeakOut 8/20

Wednesday, August 20, 2003

Call 471-6636

Well, folks, the rodeo has come and gone and the price of watermelons have gone down. After the rodeo if you pay over $1 apiece, you've paid too much.

Well, it looks like more dogs are dropped of in Mississippi County on County Road 339. There is a variety of dogs, two beagles, a big black one and a red one, they're digging holes in the yard, chewing the cable wires and are completely destroying my property. I am a stroke victim and they are getting the best of me. I called the Charleston Police Department and the dispatcher was too busy to send somebody out. Please don't drop your dogs off here. I'm sick of it.

Call the Mississippi County Sheriff's Department at 683-2111 and let them know this is posing a hazard to your health. People who do not want their pets should try to find a new home for them or take them to a shelter. Cases like this happen all too often. Residents can help by contacting their county commissioners to push for a county animal control ordinance and county animal control officer.

In response to the call about drugs in Parma, I can vouch that the whole west end of New Madrid County is "no-man's land." There is no county water, no schools. There were no drug problems in Parma when there was a school and when there were jobs. You take one part of your county away, the county gets eaten up one town at a time.

I'm calling to voice my opinion on the fact that Sikeston has not one dentist who will accept Medicaid. The only dentists who will accept Medicaid are in New Madrid and Jackson. The one in New Madrid has no openings for two months and the one in Jackson is not accepting new patients. Why is it that in Sikeston not one dentist takes Medicaid? My 4-year-old daughter has had a toothache for three days and I have not been able to get her into a dentist anywhere because she's on Medicaid. I really think someone needs to reevaluate and assess the importance of the different insurance companies. Either way they're going to get paid; it doesn't make any difference if it's insurance or Medicaid.

Although we have had no success in locating a dentist in Sikeston who accepts Medicaid, we do have information that may help you or other Medicaid recipients. Dr. Edwin Lampitt has a practice in Marble Hill and he is accepting new patients. His office is open Monday through Thursday. For information, call (573) 238-2725.

I just had to pay a $50 impoundment fee to the City of Sikeston to get my dog out of the Humane Society. How much of that money actually goes to the Humane Society? Who gets it?

We called the City of Sikeston with your question. "Of the $50, all of it goes to the city of Sikeston and then the city enters into a contractural agreement with the Humane Society on an annual basis and that amount is determined annually. The amount granted to the Humane Society for fiscal year 2004 is $20,000 which runs from July 1, 2003, to June 30, 2004."