LETTERS: MINORITY DECIDED BALLOT ISSUE

To the editor:

First of all, I do not live in Cape Girardeau. Other than working there, doing business and attending church there, I have no vested interest in the affairs of the city. I do, however, care for the city of Cape. It is the center of the region in which I have chosen to live. The defeat of the ballot proposition regarding the St. Vincent's Seminary site is, I feel, an injustice. I know that the laws regarding the necessity of a super-majority on a ballot question such as this were ostensibly written to protect the citizenry against runaway taxation. The fact is that a majority, even if only 50 per cent plus one, has been disenfranchised by a minority. In a democracy or a republic, the will of a simple majority (50 percent plus 1) should be what prevails. I do not know for sure if the seminary project is good or bad. I only know that if a majority of the voters wanted it, it should have been done.

JERRY MITCHELL

Jackson