SPEAKOUT

Show us some respect

FOR THOSE not informed correctly about the Catholic faith: God is above all, God is supreme. The Blessed Mary and the saints are prayed to asking their intercession to God for requests, if it be God's will. We do not say things against other religions. Show us the same respect.

He made the right choice

AS I was watching the Super Bowl pregame show and saw some of the discrimination that the blacks have had during their lifetime, it reminded me of a time when I was a junior in high school in the early 1950s. At that time we were the only team in the area that had a black player. As all of us on the team were raised on the south end of town and played with blacks all the time. We even practiced in the John Cobb gym. This one weekend we played a basketball game in Kentucky. This was a big thing for us because a lot of us had never been very far from Cape at that time in our lives. Our coach's name was Tony Rubisch. We stopped at a small town in Kentucky to have supper, which consisted of hamburger and fries and which we all looked forward to. When we entered the restaurant, they told us that Billy could not be served. Our coach said, "If Billy can't be served, nobody will." Then we left. We played with no supper that night. To this day, I feel proud that our coach made this choice.

Bad dental experience

IT ISN'T only doctors' offices where patients have to wait. Early in December I had a dental appointment at 10:30 a.m. At that time I was put in the treatment room. At 3 p.m. I was allowed out. In that four and a half hours in the room, the dentist was with me about one and a half hours. In between visits to me, he was treating several other patients in other rooms. The procedure, if done correctly, could have been done in 30 to 40 minutes. As it was, it took four tries over four and a half hours. The original painkiller had begun to fade and feeling was returning long before the procedure was first attempted. At the end of the four and a half hours, the pain was excruciating. When the procedure was finally accomplished, the dentist said "I should have given you a jaw block. You wouldn't have felt a thing." I was a basket case when I left. If my husband hadn't been there to drive me home, I would have had to have an ambulance to take me home. The rest of that day and the next two were spent in bed recuperating. It was my good fortune the stress didn't cause another stroke.

It's a form of abuse

IN JANUARY I had a dental appointment to fit a lab-made appliance that was mocked up in December. After waiting in the treatment room 30 minutes, the dentist finally appeared to tell us the appliance hadn't arrived from the lab. He then phoned about it. Ten minutes later he returned to say the lab was waiting for a part and I'd have to reschedule. That phone call should have been made the day before the appointment and the patient informed that the appliance wasn't ready and the appointment canceled. In my opinion, this lack of concern for the patient's time and well-being is a form of abuse. Dental schools should also have a class in humility.

Too much false hope

THE PICTURE of Christopher Reeves walking again was all I needed to believe it was real. I know they didn't say he was actually walking, but they just said anything was possible. But it was misleading, to say the least. Great commercial, but it gave me too much false hope.

This is going too far

GOOD GRIEF. Now they're giving the pope credit for the Rams winning the football game. It's getting to be almost sickening when people will say something like that. First of all, Warner was on the podium with the Rev. Billy Graham, not the pope.

Congrats to the Rams

I'D LIKE to congratulate the St. Louis Rams for winning the Super Bowl championship. I'm so proud of the Rams players, the coaches and all the fans backing up the Rams to win. Congratulations again, and thank you guys very much.

Give good service first

TALK ABOUT the postage being raised for good service. I had two letters addressed to the same address. I took them to the post office, mailed them at the same time. One of them got there two days later than the other, causing me to lose some money. I can't see why they think they can raise the postage when they don't even give good service.

Tell us what you think

IN RESPONSE to the Speak Out caller who took issue with my letter concerning Karl Marx: I would just like to say that I too grow weary. I grow weary of those who are content to make assertions under the veil of anonymity rather than putting a pen and an argument and a name to paper. I grow weary of those who claim a monopoly on truth, yet are too weary, as you say, to put ideas into an arena where they might actually be tested. For what you call weariness, I call timidity, insecurity and laziness. So let us all hear how ignorant Karl Marx was about human nature. Let us all hear how well you think he was understood. Everything I have seen so far points to the contrary, What I witness is misinformation and ignorance propagated by those bound by the chains that Marx himself found so deplorable in the human condition. What do you witness? What do you think?

Land is high-priced

I READ in the Missourian and in the Jackson paper that Jackson School District is again wanting to build another new school and raise the taxes. When is this going to stop? I think they should have voted on the bond issue before buying the ground. If they don't pay so much for the land, maybe they would have the money for equipment and hiring new teachers. People must think about a tax increase when it's time to go vote. Maybe we need a new school board.

Gave wrong impression

I WAS watching the Rams parade, which was a wonderful victory and a fabulous thing for the city of St. Louis. However, when two or three of the Rams players showed up about half drunk on the reviewing stand -- one of them even had all of his clothes off from the belt up -- I thought it took something away from a wonderful occasion. I think it was poor judgment to let those people up on the stand and show everybody in the United States how silly they can be. It dampened the feelings for the wonderful victory that they fought hard for at the Super Bowl.

Old buildings still useful

THIS IS in regard to the public school buildings. I recently read in Speak Out that a caller complained about Central High School being in such a rundown condition. This is a lot of rot because of the following: Let's review starting with the existing Central High School. This fine building was constructed in 1953, 47 years ago. With some astute remodeling and good maintenance, this can be a very useful structure for another 50 to 75 years or even more. The old Broadway school building in the 900 block of Broadway was abandoned by the public school system some years before World War II. It was condemned and called unsafe. Someone bought this structure, fixed it up, repaired it and converted it into medical offices. It is still thriving today, called the Medical Arts Buildings. Our present City Hall building on Independence was once part of the public school system too, called Lorimier School. It too was abandoned by the school system. It was purchased by the city of Cape Girardeau and has many viable uses for city offices. There are not many, if any, finer, well-built structures in this city. In Europe there are hundreds, maybe thousands of buildings 500 or more years old, used and in good repair today. They will probably still be in use for hundreds of years more. Is this a reflection of our American mentality: a throw-away society?

Need motorized chairs

UNFORTUNATELY, I'VE recently become a handicapped person. I used to be able to shop, and shop I did, for Christmas, birthdays, special occasions and just for fun at West Park Mall. I'd spent thousands upon thousands of dollars at the mall. I've recently found out that the mall does not have any motorized chairs for handicapped people to use. That's a pity. I understood they had one in the past, but it has not been repaired. I know you're going to say that there are several wheelchairs, but I cannot push myself around for an extended period of time in a wheelchair, nor do I want to use a wheelchair. I don't expect my mother to have to push me through the mall. I'm sure there are other people such as myself who would like to use motorized chairs and find it too difficult to load and unload such a chair into their car if they purchase one for themselves. I hope West Park Mall will consider purchasing several motorized chairs.