Speakout 2/17

Tuesday, February 17, 2004

A recent St. Louis Post-Dispatch headline stated "Known liar provided U.S. with prewar data on arms." Why would anyone care what Bill Clinton said?

Take trash to the back

The housing authority always talk about what is behind houses. They should make these people move their trash cans to the back of the house. It makes the sidewalks look terrible. In the summertime there's a bad older in front of the houses. If you want your streets to look nicer, put the trash behind the houses.

For the mayor or any of the people who run Sikeston. Aren't the people running this town worried about jobs? There are jobs leaving here every day. I noticed now the restaurants are moving out of Scott County into Mississippi County and New Madrid County. When are we going to open our eyes and figure out that our town is turning into a ghost town?

Someone was talking about old people in nursing homes who would like to have visitors. What about the parents and old relatives who are still alive but don't live in nursing homes? We would also enjoy having our kids come around to see us, but they don't. They have everything to do in their lives other than visiting their parents.

I am calling about disabled people who receive Social Security or Supplemental Security Income (SSI). It's funny that if you draw SSI and get married, you're automatically cured. They say you're cured and can't draw your disability benefits anymore. If someone would really look into this, they would find out that people really have medical problems and can't work. They told us that since we got married, the only thing we can do is just starve to death. The Social Security office said we make too much money. I made $992 a month to support two people and they said I make too much money. I can get $17 in food stamps. How far do they think that will go? This is all wrong. If a person is drawing SSI because they are disabled, just because they get married doesn't mean they are no longer disabled. They should still be able to receive their disability benefits.

We called the Social Security Administration with your concern. Social Security disability and SSI are two different things. SSI benefits are provided for disabled citizens who have not paid enough into Social Security to qualify for the Social Security disability benefit and is based on household income. Social Security benefits are provided for disabled citizens, based on the person's contributions paid into Social Security from employment.

Who can I call to report a dog that has no dog house? This is fair warning to the people who live on Arlington. If you don't hurry up and get a house for your dog, I'm going to find out who to report your hind-end to.

Call Animal Control at City Hall, 471-2512.