To the editor:
Amendment 7 (Hancock II) is the latest attempt by Congressmen Mel Hancock to strangle Missouri's future growth and place a chokehold on the legislators we've elected to represent us. Supporting Hancock's effort are his friends and financial supporters in big business, banking, utilities, and insurance. These are hardly the kind of people one would expect to be terribly concerned about the well-being of the average Missouri citizen.
What is being represented as a simply effort to limit state spending is, in fact, a much more sinister attempt to rewrite the Missouri Constitution, impose a hard limit on state revenue and lead Missouri back to the "good old days" of 1935.
When the harsh consequences of Amendment 7 (as outlined in the Moody Report) started to surface, Congressman Hancock arrogantly claimed that the predicted cuts in state services "simply won't happen." However, he and his supporters have failed to explain how the state can lose in excess of one billion dollars from its budget and avoid making massive cuts in state highway programs, prison construction, public safety, and education.
Mel Hancock knows exactly what Amendment 7 will do to Missouri, and he is not about to let a little thing like the truth stand in his way. If given the truth about Amendment 7, Missouri voters will not support the efforts of a politician who spends most of his time in Washington, living comfortably at federal taxpayer expense, and well-insulated from the terrible fallout this amendment will shower on the citizens of this state. Mel Hancock knows that voters will not support the efforts of an individual whose objective is to circumvent our representative form of government. He knows that voters will not support an amendment which is more important that the safety and well-being of Missouri citizens. He knows that Missourians will not support efforts to place his constitutional amendment above all other Missouri law.
Mel Hancock cannot be truthful about Amendment 7 because he and his supporters are frankly trying to perpetrate the largest hoax ever attempted on the citizens of this state.
GERALD OLIVER
Sikeston
INFORMATION LEADS SEMO STUDENT TO OPPOSE HANCOCK II
Healine: LETTERS: INFORMATION LEADS SEMO STUDENT TO OPPOSE HANCOCK II
To the editor:
This letter is concerning Hancock II, the proposed bill that would cut millions in funds to schools, prisons and many other state organizations. I have read many articles concerning Hancock II. All of the article that I have read are against the bill. That information has helped me decide to also be against the bill. I am a student at Southeast Missouri State University, so I will feel the effects of this bill if passed.
The student at the university have been told that if the bill passes we can expect to see a $55 to $85 per credit hour hike at Southeast. This jump is only our tuition it doesn't include anything else that we will encounter. The elementary schools in Missouri share the money. The bill will result in many programs that will be cut and the loss of many well-trained teachers.
Missouri's prisons and roads will also be hurt. If the bill is passed both the prisons and the highway department will lose money. Missouri needs more prisons now as it is, they don't need to cut their budget. Think how many convicts could be let loose if we were to pass the bill. Our roads will get even worse than they are now. I believe that Missouri has some of the best roads that I have even been on, but if the bill passes, we will not have.
BRANDON RAINES
Scott City
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