Speakout 9/13

Monday, September 13, 2004

I think we should keep the president we have now. He has done a lot, he is experienced and Kerry is not. And if for no other reason, keep him in there so we don't have to pay a president and ex-president.

I am calling about how fast people are driving. You can go 70 mph out on the interstate and other drivers will blow you off the road. We hear of more teen-agers and young children dying because of high speeds. Today's vehicles are not made like they were 20 years ago where, if you hit something, you were more protected than in vehicles today. People need to just slow down. Even when it's raining, people drive 60 mph on the interstate. When a man recently drove across the median on the interstate and died, he had passed me and was probably going 60-70 mph and I was driving barely 50 mph that day. People need to think about their lives and their families and slow down a little bit. You're going to get there, but if you slow down, you might get there safely. It is up to us to do it.

Is there any place in Sikeston that has a room available for birthday parties, baby showers, anniversary parties or special get-togethers available that poor people can afford, for less than $25 an hour? Please help us find a room or banquet hall close to Sikeston. If there is a place available, please leave a telephone number in SpeakOut.

As we all know, Sikeston's morality rate is already on the downgrade. It is a crying shame that you are tearing down all the historical places here in Sikeston. It is just terrible that you would even think to tear down that Baptist Church. This is just my opinion, but I am sure others feel the same way.

I would like to SpeakOut on the comment about Scott Central Schools' new gym. I noticed they are knocking the school administration for the gym being built. I have never, ever yet seen a school district that allows the administration to decide who is going to build what and who isn't. When you check on these MAP scores, you might want to do like Thad Ryan's article and check it out as to who is doing what and where the progress is actually being made. The front page article I read in the Standard Democrat showed the Scott Central High School and not the whole school system itself. You can't come down on the administration when the administrators do all they can to teach a child. As Ryan suggested, when you have a child who is low beginning, it takes a couple of years to get that child to progress. If the child is progressing, that should be noted in the MAP. Testings and SATs and anything else you have in testing kids, you can't compare kids from the hills and in the country to city kids. You just can't compare it, it is such a big old mess. Schools do not have administrations that enforce hiring and firing of teachers. School boards make those final decisions. Just like the Cape school district is learning, if they had checked with members of their staff, maybe they would not be getting rid of their principal at the end of the year. It's just not right. School boards sometimes have too much control and don't understand exactly what is going on. There should be more administrative control over school districts instead of school boards running them completely.