Speakout 12/21

Thank you, SpeakOut. This is for you and Santa for telling it like it is about farmers. There is no way they could have a 7-5 job because their farms are handed down to Daddy and son and so on and so on. They have everything put in their laps and then talk about the farmers going broke. I do not feel sorry for any one of them. Sign me Santa's helper. Thank you for putting in the paper what the majority of people think.

Your article about the farmers was great. I appreciate it. Keep up the good work!

To farmers in need, don't hesitate. Call SpeakOut and leave your name and number in the paper so we can deliver your baskets with food and clothing for Christmas. Surely you're not too proud to accept handouts. You accept them all year long.

Why are school taxes on our personal taxes and real estate taxes? We should not be paying two school taxes. Our personal tax is different from real estate taxes? This is not right. They need to stop this.

We called Scott County Assessor Teresa Houchin's office with your question. You're not paying two taxes although that it how it looks to some. Your personal tax is for cars, trucks, etc. Not everyone owns real estate (houses and land). If you rent, the landlord pays the real estate tax. Everybody in Missouri is responsible for paying school taxes. The tax is not charge to an individual, but to property owned by the individual.

If anyone is looking for arrowheads, we have some for sale at 471-7823.

I wish the dog catcher would do his job. Over here on the west end we have dogs running all over the place. They disturb our dogs and we can't rest, we can't sleep, we can't do anything.

I am writing this in regards to what I feel is a tragedy waiting to happen in Sikeston. I noticed since Fire Station No. 2 reopened, the latter truck (Ladder 2) has been moved to Fire Station No. 3. The ladder truck needs to be at Station 2, since the hospital is closest to it and, with Station No. 1 being boxed in by the railroad tracks, that is not sound judgment. I fully support Sikeston DPS and realize they need a new police station and need to keep officers on staff. But with things like shutting down Station 2 (why not shut down Station 3 like in the past?) and moving the ladder to Station 3, I will not support a tax increase. The roundtable discussions showed that approximately 40 to 45 percent of the budget went to DPS. I can't find the exact figure that I wrote down. Maybe we need to go back to firefighters and police separately again. Chief Juden, please put ladder 2 back at Station 2.