Speakout 3/11

I am calling about the comments concerning ADHD kids. My daughter who is ADHD has problems concentrating but I don't feel it's at a point to where she needs to be drawing a SSI check. I have had friends say I should go sign up for the "easy money." That's what's wrong with the system now. I don't believe my daughter's condition is severe and I hope and pray that she will grow out of it. But I do feel the system is being used to a point where the kids don't even see the money; the parents buy new cars and take that money to make the car payments. I know two or three people who do it and I know that's how they make their car payments. They don't make any more money than I do and I just make barely enough to survive on. The system is abused and, like Mike Jensen said, when we turn 67, there will be money in there for us to draw, but what will we be drawing? $500 or $600 a month? Probably not enough to live on. The system is abused - not by the kids, but by their parents.

What is the difference between code enforcement taking a refrigerator into the house that was sitting on the front porch, claiming it was a violation, or someone having two or three refrigerators sitting in front of their place of business right on the front of Main Street for everyone to see? What's the difference. They are an eyesore, just sitting out there.

I have just reading the "On the Move" Standard Democrat that was published Feb. 29 the vast amount of services provided by MDMC. But one service they do not provide is cardiac rehab. It is the only (and I emphasize "only") hospital in this area that does not. You have to go to Dexter, Poplar Bluff, Kennett, Cape has two. As you can tell, I am upset about this, not only because of the travel involved, but there is also a safety factor. If an airbag were to implode, it could possibly cause great damage to the circulatory system (in fact, they ask you to ride in the back seat). There are a lot of people in this area who have to go elsewhere because Sikeston does not have this service. When people go out of town, they also spend their money there. Attention, merchants.

Mallard Fillmore and Bruce Tinsley in the paper are about as funny as two dead rats.

Who can you contact when someone keeps putting the mail in the wrong box? I wonder where my mail winds up? The best advice we can give is to contact your local postmaster or speak with your letter carrier in person.

I was in Morehouse today and saw a little girl riding in a power chair. Her grandfather, who had used the power chair, had died. The grandmother was walking right behind her. If that's not a waste of Medicare money, I don't know what is. It seems to me those power chairs should be sent back after the patient passed away. It's ridiculous.

Power chairs are purchase items, not rented items, and are not necessarily always paid for by Medicare.

I am a single mother making a little over $10 an hour. I took my child to the birth-to-4 screening today and was told that my child was not "needy enough" to attend a public preschool. When I asked what "needy" meant, I was informed that my child was too smart. I've never heard of being too smart to attend school. I am a taxpayer and have been for several years and so far, everyone else's children seem to benefit from my working. I guess if I didn't work and never read a book to my child, that would be considered needy, but what kind of message would that send to our children?

To the person who says a Democrat has a yellow streak down his back, let me tell you something. He's all yellow. There's no doubt about it, he's yellow all over. You can tell a chicken when they write in about it and not come face-to-face with someone. Also, the gasoline prices are ridiculous. If Bush would quit worrying about tax refunds and just drop the gas prices, we would all benefit.