SpeakOut 6/7

Friday, June 7, 2002

Call 471-6636

I am calling about the sand washing onto Salcedo and Ingram roads. I guess the priority was getting the street done on time, not whether you could drive down the street when it was finished. Surely the engineers and Public Works Director Tommy Bridger have heard about erosion control. They have erosion control mats, rip rap, silt fence. Surely after spending over $1 million on Salcedo Road to get it done, we should be able to drive down it. Maybe Tommy Bridger can get the street department to put out a silt fence temporarily until the grass can grow. Also, I think the City Council should look at the plans to see if they are working plans before they approve them.

We contacted Tom Bridger who said, "We've been trying several measures recently to try to control that. We have dug a ditch to try to catch the water before it begins flowing down the hill, to try to take it directly into the storm sewer system and we're looking into other measures at this point in time to try to help with the problem."

I'm calling to SpeakOut on your May 29 paper. Why is it every time something goes down on the west side, if you need pictures, you're there? What about the kids who were arrested at Sikeston Public Schools? There were no names released and no pictures were taken. There should be a discrimination suit somewhere because half the people you named here are already in custody. It's just pitiful.

The reason you saw no names or pictures in the incident involving kids at school is because law enforcement is prohibited by law from releasing information about juveniles to the news media. Four of the people in Wednesday's story were already in custody at the time of the other arrests, according to DPS Director Drew Juden (not half). The report didn't say why they were already in custody, only that charges were filed against them along with the other people arrested in connection with the investigation reported in Wednesday's story.

I want to SpeakOut about the Peanut Butter Club at Matthews School. I was a graduate of the Peanut Butter Club. What you do is, if you get in line for lunch and don't have your lunch card, they say, "Welcome to the Peanut Butter Club."

I'd like to SpeakOut about the May 30 article I read in the paper. The person was complaining about water on the east side of Sikeston, especially over on Pam Street. Why don't you people quit complaining in SpeakOut so much and get a petition started? You homeowners should get a gob of petitions, take them to the next City Council meeting and demand that they do something out there. Put the pressure on them. That's the way you've got to do it. Use the old petition method. That's the way we do here in Morehouse.

The ditch by tree No. 6 at the country club has a fallen tree in the water. The tree has been there for a long time and when the water is high in the ditch, the tree catches limbs and debris and then overflows onto the golf course. Whose responsibility is it to clean out the ditch? Shouldn't the City of Sikeston clean it out?