Sound Off for Aug. 13: We need to spend money on supplies for teachers, not pep rallies

Money on trees?

I see a lot of crying in the Sound Off. “My city is selling the parks!” “Meh, sports betting!” “Cops should let junkies die!” “The hospital is in debt!” “The schools are failing!” “The DMV makes me wait in line!” Wah wah wah. Guess what? If we legalize a certain plant, we would see a massive spike in revenue. The taxes collected from it would maybe even put the casinos’ “contributions” to shame. I’m not saying it’s the only way to increase revenue, but it would certainly be the easiest and quickest. The money would literally be growing on trees.

Puerto Rico failure

How sad that 1,400 people died in Puerto Rico because of the failed recovery following hurricane Maria. How shameful that the greatest country in the world could not provide sufficient resources to this U.S. territory to even restore electric power. What is the message from our government, that Puerto Rican lives are much less valuable?

Treat teachers better

I share an Amazon Prime account with a daughter who is a teacher and noticed she has spent over $600 already on markers, bookshelf, construction paper, books, etc. She never complains because teachers have come to expect this. As a health care worker, I am not expected to buy supplies for patient care. We have to start treating our teachers better.

No Space Force soon

I see Trump let Pence announce the creation of a U.S. Space Force. If there was any chance such a huge undertaking would be completed in the next couple of years as his tweet suggested, he certainly would not have let his vice president announce it, but would have taken the opportunity to beat his chest and claim what a a great president and businessman he is. So don’t look to the skies for the great space force anytime in the near and far future.

Rally round teachers

Mississippi teachers are required to buy their own supplies in order to stock their classrooms, but rumor has it Jackson County had a back to school rally for the teachers complete with a speaker and gospel singers to the tune of $7,500. That money could have purchased a lot of supplies, and I’m sure the teachers would have liked the supplies more.

Gautier money traps

You can’t convince me! Sounds like money traps if I ever saw them or heard of them. There must be a high rate of activity otherwise it would never hit the Sun Herald as an issue. Chief, you need to keep your patrol cars on the streets where they belong not on the interstate.

Mississippi Power rates

Can someone please tell me why consumers pay a higher rate to Mississippi Power Co. than commercial businesses?

This story was originally published August 13, 2018 at 5:00 AM.