SPEAK OUT

Honoring our teachers

THIS IS a thank you to the Kinder family for giving the very nice awards to the teachers in Cape Girardeau. That $10,000 will go a long way to encouraging what has to be one of our best professions. Teaching is more important to the community than almost anything else I can think of. The awards encourage our schools to grow and encourages our families to come and live here. Thank you very much to the Kinders.

McCord for coach

I STRONGLY encourage Central High School to make a run on Scott City basketball coach Derick McCord. His overall basketball record is terrific. He's a winner, and he is a terrific coach with these young men. He runs a clean program. Cape Central doesn't need only a nice guy. It needs a nice guy who is a great coach and proven winner. That is the case with McCord.

Joy of new school

I'D LIKE to congratulate the faculty and students of Central High School who are looking forward to their new school being built. I understand the joy of opening a new school. I know I felt that way when Notre Dame Regional High School opened its doors three years ago. I know it's a very joyous occasion, and I wish Central all the luck. Congratulations.

Call out the Guard

I JUST finished reading an article about the toilet paper vandalism. I think it's time that we put some National Guard troops in each hall of the dormitory. Nonsense like this has got to stop. Drastic measures call for drastic measures.

Don't give 'em ideas

I GET rather disturbed about all the publicity on the price of gasoline. The news media are putting ideas in the heads of the owners of refineries and oil fields that they can raise prices, because the news media are preparing people for a price increase. The petroleum corporations are making record profit. It's a want-to price increase, not a have-to price increase.

Watch it on TV

IF THE Cardinals can't live on the money they make, let them move. People can still see the games on TV if they leave St. Louis.

Not sorry for killer

I DON'T understand it. Do these Speak Out whiners forget they're living in a wonderful free society governed by laws that punish bad behavior? I'm referring to the latest diatribe criticizing Morley Swingle for prosecuting poor Joshua Wolf, who killed his grandmother. With this one mistake Wolf forfeited his right to freely associate with other human beings. Our country is full of poor, mistreated ex-prisoners who are guilty of murder and are now walking the streets thinking about murdering again. My only regret is that Wolf will spend the rest of his life in prison, living off a $40,000-a-year allocation of my tax money rather than being six feet under the ground. It's disgusting what he did, and it's disgusting to be defending him.

Try the open market

IT SEEMS to me that if the business powers at be at SEMO are interested in running a housing corporation, they would put their business to the open market and not have a two-year live-in requirement. Let the market determine who lives in student housing and who doesn't. I bet they are scared to find out what that would cause: a lot of empty beds.

Business decisions

IF THE housing office at SEMO considers itself a business, then they should be out of business by now. One of the key concepts of business is to satisfy your current customers as well as trying to bring in new clients. I would think SEMO would have a strong investment in upperclass students to make sure they had a good experience and left the college with a good taste. SEMO will lose out in the long run with potential losses in alumni donations and support.