SPEAK OUT

Plenty of pride I'LL BET the hearts of Clinton supporters are swollen with pride with his recent accomplishments.

The votes are in

THE VOTES in Florida have come in, and George W. Bush is still the winner. Now what are people like James Carville going to say? Last week he was on TV saying, "You wait until the votes from Florida come in. It will show that Al Gore won." Is he going to apologize now that he's wrong?

He still won

GORE GOT just 49 more votes in a recount of the Miami-Dade County ballots. If South Florida had been allowed to continue, the accounting firm hired by the Miami Herald newspaper showed, Bush would have won the presidency outright without weeks of indecision and political warfare. That's because the revised totals from four counties likely would not have overcome the 934-vote lead Bush had after a state-mandated machine recount Nov. 8 and overseas ballots on Nov. 17.

Insurance coverage

CAPE GIRARDEAU has some very good doctors and hospitals, but some of the specialists do not accept all insurance plans. These patients have to choose to go to St. Louis or Memphis for their treatments, or they have to pay for most of the treatments out of their own pockets. This is making it very hard on some people.

Forked tongues

THE SO-CALLED new Democrats speak of self-determination and independence for Balkan nations out of one side of their mouths and then turn around and speak of the need for uniting all of those Balkan nations under the European Union. They are fork-tongued manipulators.

Articles say otherwise

I BELIEVE the Southeast Missourian should get the facts correct. Sunday's editorial, "Carnahan plan rests on faulty assumptions," blasted U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan's education plan. The editorial stated that Carnahan has faulty assumptions when she accepts the notion that smaller class size produces better education results and larger classes are in schools with high numbers of low-income students. I did a review of education journals on class size and student achievement. There were eight papers that addressed this issue. Guess what? All eight papers concluded that if class size is reduced, children's achievement improves. I would also reason that only the more affluent schools can afford to have more teachers. Therefore lower-income areas tend to have larger class size and lower achievement. This is the type of journalism we do not need in Cape Girardeau. I find it disgraceful to the area and an insult to people's education.

Stoplight timing

I WOULD like for the city to re-examine the new signals that have been put in. I have sat at several of them for a long time with no one coming the other way. I think they need to re-examine those detector loops to see if they can get those things working, because it's ridiculous to have to sit and wait when no one's coming the opposite direction.

Taking a chance

KFVS HAD a spot about people driving themselves to the hospital in an emergency. The ambulance costs almost $400 cash. The ambulance company will not accept Medicare or Medicaid. The elderly, poor and large families just cannot afford to call 911, so they have to take a chance. I don't think that's fair.

A man of dignity

THE FIRING of Central High School principal Randie Fidler was fated from the beginning. When it comes to discipline, Fidler does not play favorites. If he made a mistake, it was his belief that Cape Girardeau was a unique, special community and expects school discipline to be consistent, fair and across the board, regardless of the socio-economic status of students or parents. Cape is no different from any other community and, with a servile, kowtowing board of education, he paid the price. Fidler can carry his head high and keep his dignity. The same cannot be said of those who talk the talk but don't walk the walk.

School traffic

TO THE caller last week who commented about the traffic problems at Jackson Middle School: I agree that something needs to be done or there's going to be a bad wreck or another student will be hit.

What do we expect?

FOR CORRECTLY refusing to resign for doing the right thing, Central High School principal Randie Fidler forced Cape's ethically bankrupt board of education to terminate him. Good for him. We should now engage in a community debate about what we really expect of our public schools when it comes to academic achievement and discipline. However, there probably won't be much of a public discussion. There will be a general consensus that, when it comes to our public schools, we will continue believing the emperor is wearing clothes and that we should proceed with conforming to the time-honored practice of saying one thing while doing and expecting another.

Needs the attention

THE REASON the cameras are still on Bill Clinton is because the man would be bored to death and wouldn't know what to do if he wasn't getting attention from the media. He's a spoiled brat.

Follow the rules

TEACHERS AND staff at Jackson Middle School need to set an example and park in the lot that is designated for them. If they want parents and students to follow rules, then they need to do the same.

Hurts our schools

One of Central High School principal Randie Fidler's greatest strengths is his absolute refusal to play politics. When it comes to job security, it was likely his undoing. Fidler may have thought he would have the backing of a majority of the board of education, a board he assumed surely had the courage to stand up to an influential but wrongheaded few. Sadly, he was wrong, and Cape Girardeau schools are the worse for it.

Who's paranoid?

THE PENULTIMATE case of the pot calling the kettle black occurred on the pages of the Southeast Missourian when David Limbaugh portrayed Bill Clinton as paranoid.