Speakout 9/19

This is to superintendent Steve Borgsmiller and the Sikeston Public School board members. I am a parent of a student that attended Morehouse school, and I would just like to know what the deal is. It seems like the Morehouse schools have just been kicked to the curb like an orphaned child. They are remodeling other buildings, yet Morehouse receives nothing. Our children are just important over here as they are there. It is a very decent school. The principal and the teachers are excellent. They take the children and they teach them. They have no problems at the school and it is a very good school. And my question to Mr. Borgsmiller and the board is why did you kick us to the curb? I would like an answer please.

We contacted Borgsmiller and he supplied us with the following response: The R-6 District currently has plans to conduct renovations of or already is in the process of completing renovations of the Fifth Grade Center, Buildings A, B & C on the high school campus; and renovations of the Media Center in the Middle School. These renovations are being undertaken to extend the useful life of specific buildings in the R-6 District resultant of the outcome of the successful bond issue of April 2005 where the voters approved the construction of a Math and Science Center on the high school campus. In concert with the new construction, there is also the subsequent reorganization and relocation of Grades 5--9 within the District. The current plans will account for renovation activities for the District through the Summer of 2008. At some point during those intervening years, the Board will once again take up consideration of addressing the facility needs for the District's elementary students. Once a determination has been made on those plans, a schedule will be set addressing the renovation needs of District buildings, when and where applicable. If the caller would like additional and more detailed information, you are encouraged to contact the administrative offices of the Sikeston R-6 School District.

In case you aren't familiar with how our government is supposed to work, the chain of responsibility for the protection of the citizens in New Orleans is No. 1 the mayor, No. 2 the New Orleans director of Homeland Security, a political appointee of the governor who reports to the governor, No. 3 the governor, No. 4 the head of Homeland Security and No. 5 the president. What did each do? No. 1 - The mayor with 5 days advance, waited until two days before he announced the mandatory evacuation at the pleading of the president. And then he failed to supply transportation for this without transportation, even though he had hundreds of buses at his disposal. No. 2- The New Orleans director of Homeland Security failed to have any plan for contingency that had been talked about for 50 years and then he blames the feds for what he should have done. No. 3 -the governor, despite a declaration of disaster by the president, two days before the storm hit failed to take advantage of an offer of federal troops and aids. She waited until two days after the storm hit. No. 4- The director of Homeland Security positioned advents in the area to be ready when the governor called for them. No. 5- The president urged mandatory evacuation and even declared a state of emergency freeing up millions of dollars of federal assistance, should the governor decide to use them. And by the way the levees that broke were the responsibility of the local landowners and the local levee board to maintain, not the federal government. The disaster you have at New Orleans is what you get after having decades of corrupt government going back all the way to Huey Long.

I would like to speak out about Mike Jensen's article in the Wednesday, Sept. 7 paper, on Hurricane Katrina. I think he couldn't have said it better. I agree with him totally. I wish everyone else in this world could read this article. It should be passed around to everyone, because he is exactly right and I know a lot of people feel the same way. I'm really proud that he was bold enough to put it in the paper, and I think everyone should read it. We should applaud him for a good article.

I want to start out by saying I have respect for law enforcement. Those guys put their necks on the line everyday to keep order in society, and for that I applaud them. But, there seems to be an over zealous officer on the intersection of ZZ and 61, who was giving a person a ticket and pulled away as I passed, and immediately pulled someone else over and gave them a ticket. The person was behind me. There was no way they could be speeding. Why don't you go to where the crime is at? Or, be there when the construction workers are present to protect their lives. Not when they're going home. It's 6 o'clock. Another example is when they're coming in to work.

With the Morley Fall Festival being held this weekend, we were wondering if they could take the revenue from this and hire a dog and cat catcher to remove these stray dogs and cats. People are getting tired of these strays leaving all their manure in their yards. Thank you and good evening.