SPEAKOUT

Put a big headline on it

I READ Gary Rust's column about the things the Earth Liberation Front has done as far as destroying property and such in the name of environmentalists. And talking about Al Gore, I don't recall the Southeast Missourian running any of these catastrophes as headlines in the newspaper. If he's so interested, how come he doesn't publicize this more? He hides a lot of stuff in a column or someplace else where nobody's aware of it except probably him. He needs to be more outfront if he wants people to get upset about these things.

Go for the river walk

I WAS calling about the proposed river walk. What a great idea for Cape Girardeau to finally promote something in the area. I think it's a good idea. I think they should go for it.

No beer close to schools

I'M READING in Speak Out about "No wild-eyed monster." I have to comment on that. I think that there shouldn't be beer sold so close to day cares. We don't serve them next to the churches. Why would we sell them next to our children's schools? I think it's ridiculous.

SEMO fees are ridiculous

I THINK it's kind of a funny headline in the paper today about "Southeast considers a hike in student fees." You read the article, they've done more than consider, they've already decided to raise student fees. Don Dickerson said the reason the Show Me Center was going to go to Pepsi instead of Coke was because he didn't want to see an increase in student fees. Fees are becoming ridiculous. I'm an alumnus. I went to school from 1987 to 1991. When I enrolled, a full course load cost about $600 some odd. Now it will cost about $1,300. Compare the cost of any product from back then with now. Compare the cost of a gallon of milk then and now. It's up about 20-25 percent. A movie ticket from then and now is about 30 percent. A fast food meal is up about 15 percent to 30 percent from then to now. Why is tuition up 50 percent? Probably because a Happy Meal doesn't need an executive assistant to the assistant director to tell it's a Happy Meal.

Thanks for helping out

A BIG thanks to all the people responsible for giving the day care for special needs children the opportunity to go on. Thanks to St. Vincent's Church and to all those who helped organize this.

Example of a snob

I WANT to thank the Jackson caller who said the taxes should be pro-rated for people who have lived there the longest. Anybody reading this might say, "Oh, he doesn't speak for all Jackson people, and all Jackson people are not like him." A large number of people are like him. We moved to Jackson a couple of years ago, and we've never in all of our years of marriage and the different places that we've lived with my husband's company seen so many snobbish, rude people in our lives. We attend church every Sunday. No one speaks to us. We speak to other people, and people will look at us and nod or maybe make a reply to us, but they never initiate conversation. After they reply to our comment, they turn away. We're never included in anything. We sit in Sunday school and church week after week and we're ignored. The only person who's talked to us on a regular basis has been the pastor. This is sad. We've seen other places as well. Our children are treated differently at the schools because we don't have a Jackson name and a Jackson family. Jackson is the biggest community of snobs and cliques that we have ever lived in. And this man is prime example. If you're not from Jackson, you should not come there, you don't fit in, you don't belong.

Don't tolerate waste

I WAS so furious when I read Beverly Nelson's letter to the editor about supporting the Jackson school bond issue. I'm sick of hearing don't be selfish, do it for the children. I'm voting no on the issue, not because I'm selfish but because of the rampant waste that has become the norm in the Jackson School District. Money is spent on such stupid things: e-mail for foreign language students, recess aides, lunch aides, soccer field lights, a new gym for the junior high when we remodeled the existing gym just four years ago. The audacity of the school board to buy the land and begin soil testing for an elementary school that hasn't even been approved is infuriating. I would write a letter to the editor and sign my name, but it would jeopardize my child in the district. Please stand up and vote no. Send a message that waste will no longer be tolerated.

What's really important

I FULLY agree with the caller who said parents should quit having babies if they're going to have them raised in a baby factory. Go ahead and hide your head from reality and make that money and buy that house and those cars. Your kid will get by. No one can or will take the place of a loving, nurturing mother. My hat is off to the mother who doesn't bend to peer pressure of material gain and sees what's really important in life.

Honor academic achievement

I'M CALLING in regard of wanting to keep valedictorians. I think if a student works hard and makes high grades, he or she should be acknowledged. The student took on the most difficult subjects that were available. In the years past, I have not known of any cheating or dishonesty in the Cape school system, and I know they wouldn't allow it. These students work just as hard as any other student, and if their average is 95 percent or better, they and the salutatorians should have this honor.

Politically correct legislation

I ALMOST fell out of my chair after reading that the Missouri Legislature is poised to pass a bill that lowers the legal blood alcohol level to 0.08 percent. What startled me was that the senators and representatives interviewed all stated that a person with a BAC of 0.08 is not intoxicated, yet that person would be charged with a crime if he or she is cited for a moving violation. Lawmakers also said this measure has nothing to do with the few million dollars offered by the federal government for passage. Yeah, right. This ridiculous proposal is being promoted nationwide by Mothers Against Drunk Driving. This organization was started with the best of intentions but has sunk to a bunch of prohibitionists driven by hysteria, not reality. Its founder, Candy Lightner, describes the movement as going over the edge and being overzealous and has disassociated herself with it. She states that police ought to be concentrating their resources on arresting drunk drivers, not those drivers who happen to have been drinking. The drunk driver who killed her daughter had a BAC of 0.2, and these are the drivers she feels should be targeted, not some poor guy who drinks two beers in an hour or a woman who drank two glasses of wine in two hours, which is all it would take to make these people criminals under the 0.08 standard. It's shameless that our lawmakers would pass such an absurd law in order to appease a bunch of politically correct zealots.

Heartfelt thanks to VFW

I'D LIKE to thank the VFW for a wonderful luncheon and award ceremony for our community students who participated in the "Voice of Democracy" youth essay competition. They did a fine job. Keep up the good work. Thanks again.

Solutions for oil crisis

IT'S FOR sure. Ultra-rich Saudi Arabia or other OPEC nations do not need the money. So their motive for oil production cutbacks must be a combined OPEC protest to Clinton and Gore for their arrogant global domination ambitions. The United States should cut back its protection in the Gulf area and leave those OPEC countries exposed. The United States should develop its own oil-rich resources and quit begging for OPEC oil. Any U.S. attempt at taking over any of these rich oil countries would result in nuclear war. Begging and war for oil are not viable or sensible alternatives. The United States can not take over the world. Complete devastation would result. Clinton and Gore are Marxist instigators.

It's all scare tactics

MY MOTHER despises Bill Clinton. She considers him corrupt, a liar, a womanizer. Yet she voted for Clinton in 1996 because she was scared into thinking she would lose her Social Security. My mother is a textbook example of why Clinton has rejected every proposal to save Social Security. There have been some excellent ideas that would save the program for future generations, yet Clinton rejects them all. Why? If Social Security is saved, how are the Democrats going to scare the old people at election time? Last summer Clinton could have gotten practically everything he wanted with gun control, yet he rejected the bill because it contained a three-day waiting period instead of a five-day period. Why? If the gun control issue is solved, how are Democrats going to scare the soccer moms and suburban women at election time? What a class guy. What a class party.

There are still nice people

I'D LIKE thank a good Samaritan, Dorothy. I was broke down in my truck and couldn't get home. She offered me a ride so I could get home and get my car. I didn't know there were still nice people out there any more. Thanks again, Dorothy.

Wise up on oil countries

I DON'T believe Mr. Clinton wants high gas prices. He's no fool. However, I don't think he has the guts to be forceful to OPEC since he doesn't have the respect they have for other leaders. We should wise up the oil producing countries we bailed out for their leadership against this highway robbery such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Mexico.

Schools used for indoctrination

THE LIBERAL left both in government and in our courts are going to fight tooth and nail to keep American students in public schools. They are going to do whatever is necessary to defeat the movement to more charter and private schools, and even choice for students. Having control of the public schools gives the liberal left the most powerful means of indoctrinating the young to their existing social, political and economic agenda. They simply are not going to give up this perfect means of indoctrinating the young.

Why spend for more land?

AS A resident and taxpayer of Jackson School District, I think we need to take a lesson from the Chaffee and Kelly voters and reject the proposed bond issue and tax increase on April 4. I think it's a waste of our already excessive tax money to pay $300,000 for land in the ritzy Bent Creek part of town when we have plenty of land for add-ons at our existing schools which were originally designed for add-ons. So come one, taxpaying voters. Let's vote no and put a stop to this wasteful spending of our already excessive tax dollars.

Bunch of party poopers

BOY, THE teachers in West Plains are sure out of touch with the rest of the world. The Culpepper boy just dyed his hair green for St. Patrick's Day, and they suspended him. I wonder how many of those teachers have their own hair dyed. What are they wearing for St. Patrick's Day, black? They're a sorry bunch.

Antiquated traffic lights

HOW LONG will it take for our city management to understand the flow of traffic? I believe we are overstaffed and definitely without any common sense. How many times must we, for instance, stop and wait through the cycle of antiquated signal lights for no traffic to have its turn, wasting fuel and patience before someone puts that poor, Independence-Pacific intersection out of its misery? Please, shut it off. How stupid. If we want to be big city we should grow up and act like it. Turn off the control lights or at least turn them to blink.

Plenty at the Show Me Center

I'M CALLING In response to the "Get something for teens to do" Speak Out comment. I agree that we need more activities for teens, but let's not blame the Show Me Center for it. The Show Me Center has turned full circle since last year in regard to bringing concerts to Cape Girardeau. They had the Goo Goo Dolls, Def Leppard, Joan Jett, Vince Gill, Lynyrd Skynrd, ZZ Top. Bush and Moby are coming, and there's actually another concert coming up soon. All we have to do in this community is attend these events and they will keep rolling in, thanks to the Show Me Center.

Glad to see it go

I WAS reading in the paper about the canceling of the Riverfest. I think it's wonderful that they are going to cancel it. Last year they had the music up so loud so late at night that even two miles out it was blasting through the houses of these old and sick people, and they couldn't sleep or get away from the noise. I'm glad that Riverfest isn't going to do that to us this year. I plead that it won't be held this year. For people who are sick or older, we don't need this blaring music jarring us from two miles away.

More overreaction

I'M CALLING In response to all these people who keep calling in saying if you would just register guns when people buy them, then you will know who has it when a crime is committed. That's not true. I purchased a gun for my husband for Christmas. Since I purchased it, the gun was registered in my name. I asked the people at the gun shop how to transfer the ownership papers to my husband. They said there is no law, no form, no nothing, that allows you to do that. If we're going to register guns, then we need to go a step further and allow for change of ownership. I'm not saying charge people again, but have a form that's turned in. Bottom line is, I can buy as money guns as I want and give them away or buy them for other people. But just because they are registered in my name doesn't mean I own them, nor am I responsible for them. Nor should I be. It's the government's responsibility if they want to get into this issue to do it correctly. I don't think it's any of their business to get in this issue. We own a lot of things that can kill people, and they don't make me register all of those. I think people are overreacting.

Depends on your definition

A SPEAK Out item claimed Mr. Gore was an upstanding man, whatever that means. If upstanding means supports abortion, gay marriages and adoptions, has been caught in almost as many lies as Clinton, admitted taking illegal Buddhist and Chinese campaign money, said he invented the Internet, the movie "Love Story" was written about him, and he constantly is praising an adulterer who had oral sex in the White House, he is upstanding.

From a repairman's wife

THIS IS in response to comparing prices regarding the TV repairman versus the doctor. My husband is a heating and air repairman, and yes, he did have to go to school and he is constantly reading material about changes in his job. He gets a whole $14 an hour and pays $70 a week for health insurance. He gets to stand in sewer water. He goes in the tightest and hottest places to repair air conditioners. People do not change their filters, and you can guess what happens, especially if they have animals. As far as the salary, the owner makes the big bucks, not the employee. The doctors do not go to school half their lives, and when I go to the doctor I usually have to tell them what to prescribe and what tests to run. And I'm a high school graduate. Figure it out.

Thanks for the flowers

THANK YOU, Melvin Gateley, for the beautiful jonquils that you planted for our city to enjoy. They are so pretty this year, and I've gone by several times just to see how nice they are. Thank you very much.

Does this many sense?

I'M A golfer who often plays at the city golf course. Part of the benefits package for city employees is free golf. I'm often on the course with off-duty police officers. Like a lot of golfers, these guys sometimes drink two or three beers during a four-hour round of golf, and maybe a beer or two at completion. If the legal blood alcohol level is lowered to 0.08, our police officers will be committing a crime when they drive home from the golf course, although any reasonable person can see that they're stone sober. Even our state lawmakers say that a person with a 0.08 BAC is not intoxicated but will be charged with being intoxicated if stopped for a moving violation. Does this make any sense?

Vote yes for schools

I LIVE in Jackson, and a Speak Out item the other day bothered me. We have an elementary school on the east, north and south sides. Why in the world would we want one on the west side? Because there are ritzy homes? Those people have jobs and mortgages just like we do. Go take a shower and wash Mr. Ugly away and vote yes for our schools. My kids are grown and gone, but I'm voting yes for the kids who are up and coming.

Wouldn't help the truckers

I SEE that our local politicians are starting to do the usual political posturing, hollering about a 4.3-cents-a-gallon fuel tax being repealed. If they think that amount of money is going to help a trucker, I think they're badly mistaken. It's not going to save money for anybody. It's not enough to make a difference. They need to do more about getting better mileage out of the vehicles and cut back on unnecessary horsepower in a lot of vehicles rather than repealing a little fuel tax that doesn't amount to anything.

Thinks about this scenario

THE TRIGGER lock argument is just as simple as the gun argument. If you had to get to your gun to prevent your wife or children from being raped or murdered, would you want a trigger lock on it?

Too much basketball

SO NOW I have it. I'm an Anglo-Saxon heterosexual male and, I might add, I'm going to include on my census form that I'm a native American after all, I was born and raised in this country just like the Indians, and they migrated here too. Anyway, as a white straight guy, I've finally achieved minority status. According to the radio and TV programming managers around here, I'm a minority because I hate pre-emptive programming for all this basketball and baseball crud. The station won't cite where they get their survey statistics from, but I personally have not talked to one person yet who will sit on his duff and watch or listen to all this basketball garbage being crammed down our throats. It's for betting purposes, folks. But, on the positive side, you sponsors out there, I don't see or hear your ads because I turn you off and catch up on reading and other more important things. Anyone else out there want to chime in with similar opinions?

There's plenty to do

THIS IS to the person who doesn't have anything to do but hopes the Show Me Center gets some cool bands. What is that, a couple of evenings out of a boring life? If you want something to do, I'll give you a list. Go to the library and read a book. Or better yet, help teach someone else to read. Do your homework. Volunteer at a nursing home or a hospital. This may make you realize how lucky you are to be healthy. Mow the yard. Help around the house. Cook a meal. Take your younger siblings for a walk or to the park. Visit the neighbor who may need some help. Wash your parents' car. Get a part-time job. If you're doing drugs or alcohol, please don't volunteer, because you're too lazy and stupid to care. Alcohol and drugs are only a temporary solution to long-term problems caused not by this "lame town," but by the foreign junk you put in your body.