Editorials

    EDITOR’S NOTE: In response to a story that was published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch last week entitled “COVID-19 comes to Cuba, Mo., and hardly anyone is wearing a mask,” Cuba Mayor Cody Leathers sent the following response to the newspaper.

Dear Sir,
    Thank you very much for your article about COVID-19 in our community. I hope your time here felt welcoming and was enjoyable. My name is Cody Leathers, and I am the mayor of our respective city.

By Garrett Hawkins
    Benjamin Franklin wrote in 1789 that “nothing in this world can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” While both remain certain 232 years later, nothing requires them to be combined. In fact, taxing death itself is one of the most immoral things the government does—and that’s saying something.

By Dr. Graham A. Colditz, Siteman Cancer Center
    Even with COVID-19 still dominating health news, stories about new lung cancer screening guidelines were able to break into recent headlines, and for good reason.

    If the GOP is either officially or unofficially standing up against “Cancel Culture,” then nobody bothered to tell the three Crawford County commissioners—all Republicans. After just a handful of complaints, the trio has decided it no longer wants the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood using county roads for its annual race.

By Phill Brooks
    One of the fascinating issues for the 2021 legislative session has been the idea of a tax increase. You would think such an idea would be dead on arrival in a Republican-controlled legislature. But the issue is far more complicated.

By Patty Rhule
    The right to free expression is the pounding pulse of American democracy.
    “Free expression” sums up the sentiment of the 45 words of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. We can worship a higher power or choose not to. We can speak our minds, publish our thoughts, march with others in protest and petition for change. Congress—that’s your government and mine—can make no law abridging those freedoms.