Time for election, rodeo, back-to-school overview

Election day, the annual Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo and back-to-school. Put simply, it’s a busy time in our neck of the woods.

Let me briefly comment on all three.

First the election.

To me, at least, no surprises. I had long predicted that, for the most part, incumbents would overwhelmingly reclaim their seats in county elections as well as most other higher offices.

And they did.

Like most others, I, too, had predicted that Prop A, the Right-to-Work referendum, would be defeated. And it was.

The margin of defeat for RTW did indeed surprise me. By going down by such a wide margin, I suspect any future effort to promote the measure in Missouri will be shelved for quite some time.

But there’s a reason for the wide margin of defeat. Union organizers knocked on 800,000 doors, made over a million phone calls and had an estimated 2,000 poll workers on election day.

That amount of organized opposition will defeat virtually any measure.

Following election day, the annual Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo got underway and once again put the spotlight clearly on our community.

As we have long said, the Jaycees are an amazing group of young men and women who work countless hours to promote this gold star event here.

And kudos to Historic Downtown Sikeston for jumping into the Rodeo spirit in full force. A visit to businesses in this region illustrated that the Rodeo is truly a community-wide event with promotions far and wide.

It takes this combined community effort to pull off such a large event and this year, once again, the formula worked.

Finally, the routine of the school year returns for thousands of families in our area. And once school begins, the entire tone changes for many families.

We wish all students, regardless of their grade level, to take advantage of the excellent education offered regionally.

And just as important, we urge all parents to be engaged in their child’s education.

The primary factor that helps students at all levels succeed in school is an engaged parent.

Schools can and do provide the tools and the leadership for educational success but the real success starts at home.

We urge all parents to participate in your child’s education.