THE PUBLIC MIND: PROPOSED BOND ISSUE WON'T COST NEARLY AS MUCH AS YOU THINK

To the Editor:

The proposed school bond issue had me scared that it would hit me with over $300 a year more tax for each of the next 20 years. This would cost me more than my lovely 54-year-old house cost to build in 1939.

But I didn't know exactly how to figure my tax increase nor do most of my friends, nor did Cape's Assessment Office, nor two section of Cape's management offices. But the school office put me straight, honestly and quickly, that I'll pay only $124.93 more a year, and if inflation is figured in, not that much.

What confuses most of us is that the school tax is only 71 percent of the total taxes levied against our real estate and personal items it is not the total tax levied against these things.

Because all experts are certain that we will have a major earthquake at some time, I'd hate to see Cape's children buried under the rubble of the school they were attending.

And I would like to see them be able to write class notes in September, May and June, when with the heat without air-conditioning their sweat floods their paper, and the inattention to what they should be learning is probably only 25 percent because of the heat in our school without air conditioning that you and I have at home and at work.

Sure, the bond issue is going to cost me and you more ... but not nearly as much as practically all of us think it would. Though my kids are alive and in their 40s, I want today's youngsters to survive and be knowledgeable enough to pay future taxes to keep me going.

Charles E. Stiver

Cape Girardeau