SPEAK OUT

Justice for all

THE UNITED States is based on the concept that we have laws and everybody has to follow the same laws. Everybody deserves equal justice. Why do we have these double standards that keep coming up? People like Jesse Jackson can use donated money to pay off a mistress, and nobody's calling for an investigation. The IRS isn't going to investigate. Everybody's just going to look the other way. If a white preacher did the same thing, you know the IRS would be there, and the police would be there to arrest him. We need to go back to the idea of justice for all.

Leadership problem

I WAS very pleased to see the formation of a 28-member planning committee for the Jackson School District. We sure need it. It saddens me, however, that the need for long-range planning is initiated only in response to community criticism rather than the ballooning enrollments in the deficit spending. The explosive growth rate in Jackson is indisputable. We've known it all along. Why has it taken us this long to figure out we need to have a long-range plan to address these problems? The problem in Jackson isn't communication. It's leadership.

Experienced teachers

I READ your front-page article about the fact that Cape cannot keep teachers. I've been teaching in the Cape Girardeau area for 15 years. I've known a lot of other teachers who drive up to 20 or 30 miles to work out of Cape. They drive that distance not because they won't work in Cape, but because Cape won't hire them. I have interviewed two times for jobs in Cape in the last six years. Both times my recommendations have been excellent. My grade point is excellent. My evaluations from previous jobs have been excellent. I do not have one black mark on my record. I've been turned down for jobs. In fact, this year an inexperienced teacher got hired for a job which I didn't even get an interview for. I'm being told the reason they won't hire me or others is because we have experience and our master's degrees, and we cost too much. They're hiring inexperienced teachers simply because of dollars and cents. I know of eight teachers right now who were qualified for openings that Cape had this year, and none of them even got a call. Parents, your kids are not getting the best education.

Hotel dream

LAST SATURDAY I attended the open house at the Marquette Hotel. Pictures in the Missourian were misleading, in that it appeared to not have many people present. I was surprised at how many people were there and were interested in the preservation of that building. Recently, I stayed at the old Fur Trading Co. located on Market in St. Louis, which is now a wonderful, newly restored Drury hotel. I understand it was in much sadder shape than the Marquette. I don't personally know Charlie Drury, but I'm sure that there are many here in his home town who could make an appeal to him to save this piece of history in Cape. I can visualize it now: Drury's Marquette Hotel, featuring a restaurant and nightclub on the top floor with potted trees on the terrace overlooking the Mississippi River.

Helpful officer

KUDOS TO Jackson police officer Darryl Sievers for his kindness and courtesy in coming to our rescue while we were stranded with our car. He politely insisted on driving us home and making arrangements to have the car looked after. We Jacksonians are extremely lucky to have such outstanding example of our police department.

Care for yourself

I FELT for the woman who has parents and in-laws who complain about pain, and she fears they're both hypochondriacs. They probably are, and unfortunately, in their pain, they pain everyone around them in their quest for attention. God help them. They really are sick, but you just have to put a little distance between you. Sometimes they have to wallow in their muck for a while, flat on their backs, before they can look up and realize how fortunate they really are. Hang in there, lady, and take care of yourself. That's where it starts.

Cut something else

IT MAKES my blood boil to think that the board of education reaches out to the voters every time it needs money. This is a poor time to be wanting more money, with the energy crunch going on. When we need more money for something, like to keep our houses warm, we cut back someplace else. We can't call someone and tell them to send us more money. That's what the board is going to have to do: cut back somewhere, because the public isn't going to vote for higher taxes.

Tarnished coalition

JESSE JACKSON has severely tarnished his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. He left public life for exactly four days. What a joke. He says he loves the child he fathered. Then why did he trundle that baby off to California? That isn't love. That's avoidance. Please tell me why anyone thinks you need this man as a leader?