SPEAK OUT

Nothing but put-downs

I WISH Richard Gephardt and Tom Daschle would know what they are doing to our country when they put down President Bush on everything he does. He is a good president. They also have the TV news leading viewers to their side. What a pity.

Changing their tune

IT AMAZES me to hear these newscasters drilling Vice President Cheney and other Republicans on this energy crisis. They seem to want something done right now. Bill Clinton and Al Gore never had an energy policy. They're to blame for the shape we're in today. I remember when President Nixon put on price controls. He was almost run out of office. Now the Democrats are hollering for price controls.

Chose wrong bed

I WAS reading a Speak Out comment about Scott City being a great place to live. I grew up in Scott City and Jackson, and I chose Jackson as the school for my children when we moved back from St. Louis nearly eight years ago. If you like the school politics, you should live in Jackson. As the saying goes, I've made my bed. I guess I have to lie in it now.

Where's auto racing?

IT'S ABOUT time someone at the newspaper realizes that Winston Cup racing and NASCAR have surpassed the NBA and are about to surpass the NFL and major-league baseball in fan support and readership. Your coverage really stinks. If it doesn't get better, I think I'm going to have to go ahead and cancel my subscription to the Missourian and subscribe to the Post-Dispatch because it's the only place I can get a good sports page.

More blame

SOMEONE SAID gas prices were high when Bill Clinton was president. Sure they were high. Remember in 1994 you elected a Republican Congress. The oil companies knew they could raise prices and have a field day with their friends in Congress. There was a little hope as long as there was a Democrat president and a chance for a Democratic Congress, but now they've elected two of their own as president and vice president. Now there is no hope, at least not until we get a Democratic Congress majority in 2002. I blame the Republican administration and Ronald Reagan, who wanted to eliminate price controls, for the high gas prices.

Hiding from wives

THE TERRIBLE litter on the edge of Cape is mostly beer cans and cartons thrown out by men on their way home from work who don't want their wives to know how much they're drinking. Act like a man and take your trash home with you.

Need to hear more

DURING THE Bush campaign, the government was trying to clean up the waste at the Kentucky diffusion plant and make a settlement. Bush talked about the atomic bomb victims of World War II. I haven't heard anything more about it. Being Memorial Day weekend, I'd like to hear something from our senators and representatives about it. Something needs to be done.

All should pray

FIRST I'D like to say I support prayer in schools and in other locations. I'm not against Attorney General John Ashcroft's praying. But I do have a problem with it being OK for him to pray in office with no consequences while we're being told that at our graduations and athletic events we can't pray before the game. This rule should be the same for everybody. We should all get to pray or none of us should.

Thanks for stop sign

THANK YOU to the city of Cape Girardeau for installing a four-way stop sign at the intersection of Mount Auburn Road and the new Hopper Road. You folks are so appreciated for doing this. I know you have saved at least one life and someone from being seriously injured. Thank you very much.

Drawing conclusions

IT'S NOT a surprise to the people who live in Jackson that the school-tax issue is going to be back on the ballot. The reason Jackson is slow out of the gate is because they didn't want to put it on the April election. They could have thought about it then, but there wasn't a lot on the ballot other than school board elections, and they didn't want the two matters mixed. In August, there are no school board members being re-elected, so you can draw your own conclusions on that.

New problem, answer

NO MATTER how you try to change it, the United States has only a small amount in its petroleum reserves. The Arctic refuge in Alaska would at best add only a few months to America's supply. As a senior citizen, I remember at the end of World War II there was a big hue and cry that the refineries would not have enough capacity to make high-octane aviation gasoline. We all know what happened. The airlines switched to jet engines that required fuel that was very close to a good grade of kerosene. Now we have another crossroads, and the fuel cell could easily do for the automobile what the jet engine did for aircraft. According to the vice president of General Motors, the change could first be made with gasoline, then they could switch over to methanol, which could end our need for gasoline for transportation. Don't try to cure tomorrow's problems with yesterday's answers.

Prefer GOP buyers

IN RESPONSE to the comment that accused the Republicans by saying Big Business and oil companies bought the election: The caller insinuated this never happens when the Democrats win an election. The Democrats have certainly had elections bought. Does the name Joseph Kennedy ring any bells? It's been going on that long, if not longer. What about the unions that buy elections? This has gone on for years. I can say this because my dad is a big union person, and he thinks it's wonderful that his union cronies buy elections. I'd rather Republicans have elections bought by American companies.

Show some backbone

WATCHING THE city council meeting, it's obvious that some members don't have any input or don't want to make any decision and simply ride the fence, thinking they may make some in their district angry by deciding. The same law should apply all over the city. Citizens in these so-called trouble spots should have police protection and their rights not infringed. Thanks to the council members who spoke up and showed some backbone. When you don't have law and order, your neighborhoods turn into the problem we have.