Sound Off! for Aug. 17
raising sewer rates
I see the city of O'Fallon is wanting to raise the sewer rates again. Aren't our taxes high enough in this town? Maybe it's time for this city to quit growing. Don't even try to go down Highway K on a Saturday; it would take you three hours to get somewhere. Maybe it's time for O'Fallon to quit growing and stop raising rates.Not enough information
in some of the obituaries
I sure don't care for your abbreviated obituaries. Some of them seem to be extremely long, and then others you don't even have who the survivors are.
Should have verified
accuracy of letter
I also read the controversial (letter) about Obama on the Internet and had no reason to believe that it was not accurate. The issue here is the failure of the Journal to fulfill its obligation of truthful reporting to its readers by verifying the contents of any controversial article. Shame on the Journal.
Stop complaining about
insignificant things
This is to the caller who is griping about parking the cars in the garage. You are likely one of those nosy neighbors who spends their day snooping out of windows trying to find stupid things to gripe about. Why don't you get a life and stop griping about small, insignificant things? For your information, my husband is a diabetic with one leg cut off and is almost blind. Now how do you feel?
Don't expect taxpayers
to pay for flood clean-up
I'm calling about the Sound Off comment on July 23 where the person is complaining that the city of St. Peters won't help them with their flood clean-up. In my opinion, if you desire to live in the flood plain, you shouldn't expect the taxpayers or anyone else to clean up after a flood. It's your choice to live there, so you should foot the responsibility, whether by being able to buy insurance for floods or foot the bill yourself. No one makes you live there. I also think they should stop building all these levees all over the place to protect one area and raising the ground out north of St. Charles so they can build on it, because all that does is shove the water to someone else who never even anticipated a flood.
Stronger penalties might
deter some criminals
I totally agree with the Opinion Shaper message about the bad apples ("Tired of supporting society's bad apples," July 27). I am so thrilled that Jay Preall actually said this in a column. That would help deter the criminals from doing the things they do if they had to pay the punishment for it instead of getting a free ride for killing, molesting or raping someone. Great job, Jay.
If you get flooded, move
out of the flood plain
To the person who Sounded Off about getting no help from St. Peters for the flood victims: Why did you build in the flood plain? If I got flooded one time, I would be out of there. That's good advice for anyone.
They did a terrible job
of repairing Highway P
I'm calling about the condition of Highway P. I can't believe what a terrible job they have done in repairing it. And over by Dames Park they tore up a perfectly good road and added a new road and they did such an awful job. It's all uneven, bumpy and looks terrible. With all our tax money, you'd think they could do a better job of repairing the highways.
Pay attention to drop
in homes' values
I hope the county assessor's office is paying attention to the home values that are dropping like a rock when they come to make their assessments for the following years. It would be nice to see the taxes come down because the homes are worth less.
Where neighbors park
cars is their business
People who get upset because the neighbors park their car in the driveway are meddling busybodies. Homes are meant to be used and enjoyed. I do support higher fences so that busybodies will find it more difficult to spy on their neighbors.
Consider these points
when you're driving
Four points to be considered when driving your automobile. First, for safety's sake, don't use the phone. You drive slow or you drive erratic. Secondly, please use turn signals, all the time. Folks are continually cutting me off, or I see them cutting off others and no one knows where you're going because you haven't told them. Third, economically, if you want to save gas, do the speed limit or less. Speeding uses more gas. And lastly, if you want to save gas again, don't always run your air conditioner. I see every car on the block with windows up and air conditioner running. If you're concerned about gas, leave the windows down.
Don't push your peanut
problem onto others
I am so tired of all these peanut people who are allergic to peanuts wanting all this special treatment. They want the schools to stop having peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, they want the ballpark to have a peanut-free section, they want this, they want that. I'm surprised they haven't gone after the malt shops so you can't get a hot fudge sundae with nuts on top. Excuse me, if you've got a problem, handle it yourself. Why push it on everyone else? I've come through a lot of decades this last century, plus one in this century, and you take care of your own problems. You don't just push it on everyone else.
Don't like the current
format for obituaries
I just wanted to call and let you know that I don't care for the way you have your obituaries set up now. It just sounds like, "Person died, that's it. So long. Goodbye."
Voters were smart to
reject tax for light rail
I disagree with Opinion Shaper Mike Harkin. We did not miss the train in regards to MetroLink. When they asked us to vote on it 10 years ago, they couldn't say when it was coming, where the line was going to be at, how much it would cost - they just wanted our money. It's not that people are against it, they just wanted some facts. And I think they were smart to vote against it. As you can see they can't even get it to cross Shrewsbury without $200 million lawsuits and all kinds of debt. It would never make it out here. It would be our money and still no trains.
Would like to see more
information in obits
I'm calling regarding the new obituary column. I don't like them as well as they used to be. They used to tell where they worked or the family members. If you could go back to that, it helps a lot to find out if you know the people, used to work with them or know some of their family.
Learn to deal with
peanut allergy
Get real, people. Is someone going to protect Little Johnny from peanut butter in college or in the workplace? Deal with it.
Some people need
to use less perfume
I've been reading so much about the peanut allergies. I would like to make a comment about the people, including myself, who have a real problem with people who douse heavy perfumes and cosmetics on that really offend some people in close contact in church or wherever they may be. Before these people go out smelling like a perfume factory, they should think about it twice, because it does make some people very ill.
What's the problem with
paying before you pump?
I don't understand O'Fallon's problem, or rather that mayor's problem. We just got back from Indianapolis, where we went to the NASCAR race. It was wonderful, and Indianapolis is a beautiful city. Once you cross the state line to Illinois, all along the interstate you have to pay for gas before you pump an ounce. All over Indianapolis, including Carmel, which is a very upscale area of Indianapolis, kind of like Ladue and Clayton put together, you have to pay before you pump because of "runners." What's the problem? Pay for your gas before you pump it, then you pump what you paid for and you leave legally. I don't understand this business of not having to pay before you pump.
Do people with peanut
allergies not eat out?
I just had a question about the peanut allergy issue for the parents. Do they not go out to eat or go to restaurants that have peanut butter or peanuts in their restaurants? And what about the children in the bus? Do they make everyone on the bus not eat peanut butter before they come to school? I know everyone's tired of hearing about peanut allergies, but I was just wondering what they did about going out to eat.
This area isn't such
a great place to live
Regarding the "Home sweet home" article about Money Magazine naming St. Peters, O'Fallon and St. Charles in its 2008 list of best places to live in the nation, I would disagree wholeheartedly with that. These are some of the worst drivers I've seen, some of the most narcissistic and rude drivers, and the way people raise their children by letting them run the street, not being real parents and allowing others to deal with their children. I think this really detracts from this area being a great place to live. I can't wait to leave.
Taxes are high because
voters keep saying OK
I was so happy to see the St. Charles community center bond issue pass as well as the Francis Howell tax extension at nearly 70 percent. Now, I don't want to see another comment in Sound Off about how high taxes are and any from senior citizens complaining about property taxes and how they can't afford to live here. The reason they are so high is because you people keep voting for all this stuff.
Respect the solid yellow
line in no-passing zone
Recently there was an example of bad police driving in the paper in Sound Off, and I also saw one. While leaving Washington on Highway 47 into Warren County I came across two people on a bicycle also crossing the bridge in the same direction. A Warren County sheriff's van was behind them. This van proceeded to cross over the solid yellow line on the bridge and pass them. That left the rest of us to obey the law and go very slow behind those cyclists. What kind of example is this? Is there any respect for the solid yellow line on the road anymore? I see it everywhere.
Taxes are high because
voters keep saying OK
I was so happy to see the St. Charles community center bond issue pass as well as the Francis Howell tax extension at nearly 70 percent. Now, I don't want to see another comment in Sound Off about how high taxes are and any from senior citizens complaining about property taxes and how they can't afford to live here. The reason they are so high is because you people keep voting for all this stuff.
Some don't understand
their financial reality
So St. Charles County has a lot of foreclosures. I can't imagine why. People making $50,000 to $55,000 a year take out a mortgage on a $500,000 house. Duh. They got a bigger problem than the mortgage. They have a simple problem of understanding reality.
Code violations
can be reported
Property upkeep for St. Charles County, call neighborhood preservation at 636-949-7346. For St. Charles city, call code enforcement at 636-949-3503. You don't have to identify yourself. Give them the address and nature of the problem: grass too long, piled-up newspapers, boats in driveways, campers, unlicensed cars. If you are unsure that the problem is a violation, call them and ask. It doesn't put neighbor against neighbor, but it does get the issue resolved so those of us who maintain our homes and property values aren't dragged down by those who don't.
There are some hard
economic times coming
There are some hard times coming. Just because the gas prices have come down a little bit, everyone thinks that it's all over. Well, you know, all these people who were supposed to be laid off haven't been laid off yet. Between now and Christmas the hard times are going to hit.
A little heavy on
administrators
I was calling about the comment of officers versus administrators in Wentzville. The last comment said, "Do your homework." I called the police station the other day. They have 50 officers, and of that 50, 12 are administrators. So the math is not difficult. One supervisor per four officers. I don't know how that compares, but I think it's a little heavy.
Go back to previous
format for obituaries
I'd like to see every obituary include the place of birth, the parents' names, occupation, survivors and those who proceeded them in death. These are clues to those of us who wonder if we, or someone we know, have lost an old friend. The least you could do is add the woman's maiden name. Please go back to the old format.
Lower teachers' pay in
below-standard schools
Regarding minimum standards for No Child Left Behind, the standards are atrocious, 40 and 51 percent in certain categories. That's sad. The standard should be 80 or 85 percent minimum. And while there are many good teachers, so many of them are just putting in time. I think the real way to improve this is to give teachers a 5 percent salary reduction in every school that does not meet that standard for the first year. Take it to a 10 percent salary reduction for the next year and so on. Eventually, when the salary gets down to around 60 percent, maybe some of these weak teachers will wake up and start putting in six, seven, eight hours of conscientious work doing their jobs as they should be. And we would see the kids respond with much better scores.
Homosexuality
is not a choice
I'm calling about a letter to the editor ("Response to sexual desires is a choice," Aug. 3 Journal) by Helen Louise Herndon, who says that sexual preference is a choice. It's not a choice. It's something you're born with. If you ask any homosexual if they would have rather been born heterosexual, they will tell you yes almost every time. Now do homosexuals have to flaunt that in your face? No, but it's not a choice. It's just something you're born with.
Living in sin won't
get you to heaven
This is a response to a Sound Off in the Aug. 6 paper concerning homosexuality. Read the Holy Bible. Living in sin will not get you to heaven. God's word is clear: homosexuality is an abomination to the Lord. I do believe that believers, that is Christians, are to love the sinner but hate the sin. Reference is Leviticus 18:22.
