SPEAKOUT

Winners of my heart

Dexter High School girls may have been defeated on the floor by Incarnate Word Academy, but they won my heart for their patriotism as the National Flag and Honor Guard stood at attention during the National Anthem at the beginning of the game! Every member of the Dexter High School girls' basketball team and coaching staff honored the flag with the appropriate hand on the heart salute. While on the opposing Incarnate Word team, no one even bothered. Patriotism trumps over athleticism in my mind. I am an out-of-state viewer and my hat goes off to the Dexter High School girls and staff. Never hang your heads in despair girls. You are winners.

Better than I expected

Mike, Mike, Mike, after reading about how bad the conditions of our school are, on Monday morning I purposely drove by one of the schools expecting to see a closed sign, chains on the door and a sign that said No Trespassing-Dangerous. Please help me understand how they can have school in these dilapidated buildings and our children kept safe, if all is true that was in the paper (this school this and this school that). No, I will not vote for a tax increase. You have a good day, Mike.

Not just a one-time thing

If you are not in favor of this school bond proposal, you had best get out and vote against it. Don't assume it won't pass. The bigwigs in this town, with all the money and prestige, want it to. They will go to great lengths to see that it happens. They may have money in their pockets to burn, but I do not. This tax increase will not be just a one-time deal. We will be paying higher taxes for years to come. The school board needs to go back to the drawing board and redo this proposal. Don't try to do everything at once. If you think along these lines, then find a way to fund it besides raising our taxes. It might just happen. As it stands now, I will vote no. I have to. I just can't afford it. I can't.

Different funds

To the person who called SpeakOut who talked about coming out some of the personnel pay to pay for the bond. You do realize that that money comes from totally different funds? Capital improvement money cannot come from personnel funds. And to your comment about them working on vehicles. You do realize that those kids are getting a valuable education from the SCTC. Yes, they have to have vehicles to work on, and that work is teaching them a trade that will prepare them for future employment. Teaching them those types of skills are a great use of our tax dollars.

Counting on apathy

I hope this speakout gets printed before the April 8 school tax vote. Where were all these prominent Sikestonians who write these 'vote yes' letters to your newspaper, where were they went the maintenance and repair budgets for the schools? I'd like to know where they were. One writer claimed to be a former school board member, didn't have much foresight. Where was he when these maintenance and repair budgets were put together years ago? Another question is, who will get richer if this $32 million dollar bond passes? Where will that money go? And who will get richer? The Sikeston powers that be are counting on the traditional Sikeston voter apathy, not voting. These people are counting on apathy of Sikeston voters that usually do not vote. And also, they are counting on your vote for sympathy of kids that have no idea who screwed up the budgets for maintenance and repair. All I'm saying is vote no. The problem is the people who read SpeakOut are very few compared to the ones that don't vote. So if you think a lot of people are gonna vote yes, you're right. They are counting on your apathy to not vote.

Student construction

In regarding this oppressive school tax issue for Sikeston, we don't need to build expensive beautiful schools to build better students. And for God's sakes, nobody is going to move to Sikeston and pay higher taxes and higher rent.

Where is my barrel?

I was wondering if someone has found my trash barrel? It blew away when that first windstorm came, and I don't know where my barrel is at. I've looked up and down the street and cannot find it. I have the lid for it. If anyone has found one, I am at 321 Missouri Ave. I sure do need it.