Press-Republican

October 3, 2009

Speakout: Oct. 4, 2009


Septic
All Cumberland Head residents know there are numerous issues with the majority of the private sceptic systems on the Head. It's unfortunate that the people in place to approve these systems 20 years ago didn't do their job. We must all support this project. It clearly is a positive move forward. Funding from the USDA will never be available again. Do the right thing for the future of our families and the area.

Language
While attending our grandson's football game, I happened to hear the conversation of 7th or 8th grade girls standing next to me. It does make me wonder what the parents would think if they heard the horrific language out of these girls' mouths. It's bad enough to speak like that, but to stand in a crowd with young children and older people and talk like that, they should be ashamed. Maybe the parents should be supervising their children more instead of letting them run around the local area unsupervised and talking like they were. My grown sons don't even talk like that in front of me.

Privacy
To the person(s) who complained about people with Medicaid and no jobs, have you ever heard of privacy? If you are standing close enough to see and hear another person's business in the doctor's office, then you are standing way too close. Back up and mind your own business. By the way, consider yourself lucky that you have a job in this economy and that you can work. Some of us can't work anymore because we got hurt at work helping you, a customer.

Siren
In regard to 9/25 Speakout about fire sirens going off and the need to have them, first let me say that the fire stations don't set them off, the dispatchers at Fire Control do when they dispatch the departments on their pagers. Secondly, batteries in pagers die. I bet you'd want to us to hear that siren when are pagers are dead so that we can help you. Oh yeah, they are also tested on Monday evenings to make sure they work properly so that we can hear them when our pagers die.

Racism
About the 9-25 In My Opinion, "Racism not the problem it once was," by William F. Price. It gives one hope to read words of reason about a subject not usually filled with an excess of objectivity. Thank you, Mr. Price. Has racism vanished? Hardly. But the improvement in race relations in my lifetime has been nothing short of astounding. Do we still have a way to go? You bet. Name almost any subject; there's still a way to go. But I think in this instance we've come a bit farther than Messrs. Carter and Wiley can appreciate.

Truck
On my lunch hour, I was almost involved in an accident because a blue Dodge truck proceeded to turn left without the green arrow at the intersection of Military Turnpike and Route 3. I was proceeding straight through the intersection at this time, giving me right of way. Just because the light is green doesn't give you the right of way to turn left in front of oncoming traffic.

Christians
A recent Speakout mentioned "liberal Christians" going too far in helping others, well what about the original Christian, who said: "Whenever you failed to help someone being overlooked or ignored, that was me — you failed to do it to me." Jesus Christ in Matthew 25:45 from The Message Bible

Safety
It should not be allowed to have coolers of beer in construction trailers for the workers when they get done their jobs and to drive on roads. DWI is also a crime that kills. You would not allow your workers to start a shift running equipment in the morning if they were drinking. Drinking on work sites is a safety issue, even if they are not on the clock.

Days
Before you start criticizing Saranac for its early start, a few facts: They are probably the only district with six emergency days. They are for all emergencies, no matter what the cause. Do you want to cut your April or February break short? Teachers aren't the only ones who vacation then. They have Good Friday off. That was taken away one year and everyone (non-teachers, too) raised a ruckus. Days off are not for teacher convenience. When Labor Day starts so late, something must be given up. Try as you might, you just can't please everybody.

Teaching
A recent submission to Speakout referred to teaching as not a normal job. The submission went on to cite retail as a normal job. One has to wonder, though, no matter the job, don't all employees have to go through a learning experience from time to time? There are some positions in retail that actually require a business degree. That sounds like a teacher or two may have been involved in a retail associate's path to success.