Speakout 10/31

While dining at one of Sikeston's restaurants, I heard two 60-something men rambling on about some of the high school patrons, or at least those whose jeans were slightly saggy. There was no exposed underwear, however, and the kids were not tripping over their feet. That said, these men were saying amongst themselves that those kids wearing sagging pants would never accomplish anything. It's so nice to know that wearing saggy jeans or somebody's hair determines what sort of future they have, but that's another story. Another comment consisted the following, "They are good at standing on the street corner using cell phones" - and then I missed the part of the comment which was something like, "Blah, blah, blah, blah - drugs." It just so happened that the youth in question were black and the men were white, like me. It seems we still can't shake the racist past. One man said they need to have a dress code banning those kinds of clothes. What would his appropriately dressed idea be? A ball cap? Bib overalls? I'm only joking, but with a ball cap and bib overalls on, I could generalize and assume that these men were a bunch of brainless, bitter, grumpy old rednecks. I could - but I won't sink to that level. Their words spoke volumes.

Someone broke into my home and stole all my keys - the keys to the house, car, shed, every key I had. I am a widow and have lived in this house for 61 years, through five wars and had someone in each war. I have two grandsons fighting like hell now. If they will return my keys (leave them in the mailbox or someplace where I can find them) - if they are not returned immediately I am calling the New Madrid law. I only want my keys back. I had to have a key made for my car, which was a big doing. I am really upset. Please just return my keys. I am 83 years old, in bad health and am a very angry little person. I don't know how they got into my house.

Please have the locks on your home and shed changed as soon as possible for your own safety. Even if the thief or thieves return your keys, they could still get into your home.

To the person who stole my Halloween decoration, if you wanted it, why didn't you just stop and ask for it? There's no reason to lurk around in the dark, unless you have no backbone. I'm leaving the witch's skirt outside (the legs don't work without it). Take the hay so you can stick the scarecrows in it. I don't need it anymore. May God bless you.

We see on the news where some of the troops in Iraq refused to drive the dangerous trucks over there or they might get hurt. Why doesn't Bush send Cheney, Powell and Rumsfeld over there? They're not doing anything in Washington but sitting on their dead butts anyway and drawing all that money. They could learn pretty quickly how to drive the truck and relieve some of the soldiers who are in the dangerous areas. These are all old men - it wouldn't hurt if they got shot at.

Mike, in the Oct. 20 editorial, you did (as you said) some partisan moaning. You omitted the fact that the Democratic Party has "pledged to disrupt the elections with lawsuits over voters' disenfranchisements." I am curious. Did you lament the fact that the Republican legal costs for the Florida recount expenses in 2000 were $13.8 million compared to the $3.2 million spent by the core organization? That is according to the expense reports filed in 2002. My source for this information is Kevin Phillips' book "American Dynasty," page 105. Phillips, if you remember, is also the author of the pro-Republican book, "The Emerging Republican Majority," which came out some decades ago. I think he also served as a White House strategist under President Nixon and/or President Ford. Were you trying to make it sound like the Democrats should not use the legal system?

Would the person I talked to about a Maltese dog at the yard sale about two weeks ago please call me?

I don't understand why so many people are throwing a fit over the flu vaccine thing. I am 26 years old, have never had a flu shot and have never had the flu. My secret? Vitamin C and stay away from public places. The flu vaccine is a bunch of garbage. You don't need it. It's a scam. You don't need it. Period.

Tell that to someone with critical health problems who could die from getting the flu.

Somebody explain this flu shot criteria to me. I do not understand how a child, who gets pneumonia or gets the flu and it turns into pneumonia, it could also spur high fever and cause a seizure, does not qualify for a flu shot. She is a white child. But I know of a child of another race, who is in good health whose mother was able to schedule a flu shot for him and there's nothing wrong with him. My child could have a seizure if she gets a high fever from flu and she could die from it. This is not right.

I did call a manager of one of the stores here in town about the number for the corporate office to report the lady whose glasses are so dadgummed thick that I don't know how she sees out them. I wasted my time because he did not even call me back. So rain on that store and rain on the woman with the thick glasses.

I would like to SpeakOut about the tire slashings. This is not an isolated incident but happens almost nightly on the west side of town. On Thursday night alone there was over $20,000 in damages. I had a police officer tell me that this not a "real crime," it's just vandalism. Twenty thousand dollars in damages is a real crime. They never fingerprinted, they don't check for anything. They just take your name and how much money you lost. Then you wait for the next time you get your tires slashed because it's not a crime.