LETTERS: AMENDMENT 7 GENERATES OPINIONS BOTH FOR AND AGAINST THE PROPOSAL

... We are being told that middle-class Missourians will finally be getting their fair share back from "big business." On the surface, this sounds good. Taxpayers could have more control over their taxes. Meanwhile, our state will be deteriorating before our very eyes.

Tuesday's vote can either help us as Missourians to prepare our children for the future with appropriate education or pull the rug out from under their feet and leave them unprepared for life in the real world. Additionally, consider the massive damage to our department of corrections, social services to children and the elderly, police and fire protection, and highway maintenance departments. If Amendment 7 passes and cars begin falling through bridges on county roads and highways due to no money for road maintenance, maybe we will begin to think about whether or not Amendment 7 was in our best interest.

CURTIS R. DYE

Cape Girardeau

... When you go to the polls Nov. 8, do you listen to the gloom and doom (Chicken Little predictions of self-serving bureaucrats who have their heads so deep in the slop bucket that they have lost reality with the real world)? They are afraid of having to justify themselves to the people. Or do you look at case histories of government ripoff by these same bureaucrats and decide its time for some justification and accountability in a government supposedly of the people?

I say it is time to take back our government. Vote yes on Amendment 7, and tell these bureaucrats we are tired of the runaway spending and higher taxes. We want some accountability from the state all the way down to our local school government.

BILL HOVIS

Hiram

... Have we totally forgotten why we elect officials to office? Not all issues -- taxes, crime bills, government grants, subsidies, spending state or federal levels -- are brought to the public. That is why we elect officials who best represent our interest and the future of our children. We don't need to rewrite 20 percent of the Missouri Constitution as Hancock II proposes. All we need to do is rid our government of the politicians who are taking advantage of their office and get somebody else in that listens to the needs of the laborers, disabled, elderly and children.

Let's not be duped. If someone offers you information on Hancock II, Amendment 7, please read it. If nothing else, it'll keep you up at night and you'll go to the polls an informed voter.

DAVID SPROCK

Dittmer

...Before you cast your vote Nov. 8, please consider the consequences to public education if Amendment 7 passes. Many school districts could expect 25 percent to 45 percent cuts in state funds. This would lead to layoffs of some teaching positions, which would in turn increase class sizes. Plans for new buildings would have to be forgotten. Monies would have to be used to survive, not to expand or improve. Some school districts would eat up reserve funds in a short period of time and would be forced to close.

Your no vote on Amendment 7 would say that you want these vital services to continue without cuts in funds. It is so very important to defeat this amendment to enable valuable services to continue for the elderly, public health, our colleges and our public schools.

PAM JACKSON

President

Woodland Teachers' Organization

Marble Hill