LETTERS: THINK CAREFULLY BEFORE VOTING FOR THE HANCOCK II AMENDMENT

To the editor:

People, as a whole, dislike and mistrust politicians. The growing frustration of paying burdensome taxes and feeling powerless as to the use of the money makes one want to seize control by any means.

A lot of people distrust the educational establishment -- especially higher education. They see the university as a place where a bunch of overpaid, overeducated, arrogant professors go in maybe 12 hours a week, sit around the ivory tower and feel superior to the real world (for the record, an associate professor with eight or nine years of education past high school and an earned doctorate makes about the same as a beginning welder).

Hancock II is, to these people, a godsend. They think that by approving this amendment, they can lighten their tax load, bring the politicians to heel, and show those academics what it is to live within your means and do an honest day's work. They think that by doing these things, life will be better for most of the people in Missouri. They are wrong.

Our local economy is, to a great extent, driven by the money that the university and its students bring in. That money generates more money as it flows into the economy and creates more jobs and growth. The accepted multiplier is seven; that is, $1 million coming in will, in effect, become $7 million. Unfortunately, the reverse is also true. The projected best-case scenario predicts a cut of eleven million dollars in the university's funding. This quickly becomes a loss to the regional economy of seventy-seven million. Add to that the salaries of as many as one hundred faculty members and the accompanying drop in student numbers and spending, and it is obvious that we would not be facing, "... the loss of a few local pet projects ..." as one letter writer recently stated, but a virtual statewide economic depression.

At the same time, it is expected that the passage of the amendment would mean the immediate closing of two correctional facilities, the early release of many prisoners simply because there is no room for them, and the reduction of the strength of the highway patrol by perhaps one hundred officers and three hundred support personnel. All highway, road, and bridge projects would be halted immediately, even if already in progress (kiss the Mississippi River bridge goodbye), and cutbacks to programs for the elderly (e.g. meals on wheels) would be inevitable and severe.

Before you set out to ring the bell on the politicians, make no mistake. Their incomes would be among the few that are secure -- that bell would toll for thee!

If you are independently wealthy, derive no income from the region or state and don't care a bit about anyone who does, are rich enough to afford personal bodyguards, and would like the university to revert to a teachers' college, vote for this amendment. If you don't fit the description, think again.

DAVID GREEN

Cape Girardeau