EMERSON MEETS WITH CAPE JUNIOR HIGH STUDENTS

You need to stay awake if you want to be president.

Cape Girardeau ninth-grader Zach Hasheider knows that all too well. Hasheider lost his job as president during a mock session of Congress in Bruce Aden's civics class at Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School.

"I was the president, but I was impeached because I fell asleep while Mr. Aden was talking about what I was supposed to do,' he wrote in a letter to U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau.

Hasheider had to settle for being a senator. That was "OK because I didn't have to do as much work at home," he wrote.

Hasheider said he and fellow student Warren Williams proposed legislation in class that would allow parents to have only two children. "My bill was rejected because we have a bunch of them dang Democrats," Hasheider wrote.

The mock bill also would have required parents to undergo surgery so they couldn't have more children.

"This bill will cut down on population, pollution, unemployment and teen pregnancies," Williams said in his letter to Emerson.

Hasheider and Williams were among about 30 students in Aden's civics classes who wrote to Emerson as part of a class assignment.

Emerson visited the school Friday and discussed the legislative process with students from ninth-grade civics classes and an eighth-grade American history class. She also discussed the students' letters. Emerson spoke in the school cafeteria.

Emerson complimented Aden's students on the mock bills they had drafted. "I was really impressed with the work you did," the freshman lawmaker said.

Student Derek Engelmann pushed legislation to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and replace the income tax with a national sales tax.

Ty Fidler suggested cutting federal taxes across the board by 10 percent.

Annie Petzoldt proposed a bill that would require the state to help pay the taxes of people who can't afford to pay their taxes.

Laura Canupp and Brandon Harris proposed legislation to legalize marijuana for medical treatment.

In a letter to Emerson, Canupp said marijuana has been proven to help AIDS patients.

"It would be of benefit to many sick people in the United States to make this a bill and pass it," she wrote.

Emerson said Friday that she doesn't favor legalizing marijuana.

Ryan Bollwerk and Arkita Lee proposed legislation to give teachers a 15 percent pay raise.

"With this increase more unemployed people would strive hard to become good teachers," said Bollwerk, who is the son of Dr. Richard Bollwerk, the school district's assistant superintendent.

Katie McLain and Kelley Green drafted a bill to lower the voting age to 16.

If teen-agers can drive, they should be allowed to vote too, the students said.

"If teens are irresponsible, how are they holding down jobs, going to school, doing after school activities, and doing homework?" asked Green.

Several students also pushed bills that would ban abortion except when the mother's life was at stake.

Emerson asked the students if they thought schools should require students to wear school uniforms. The students overwhelmingly rejected the idea. "That would be ugly," eighth-grader Michelle Jones said.

Aden said the idea of uniforms has some merit: Teachers wouldn't have to tell students to pull up their pants all the time.