SPEAKOUT

No hospital one-upmanship

DO YOU have a job where you work certain hours almost every day? Do you have a job where you very seldom have to work a weekend or holiday? Do you have a job where you know physically where you're going to be in the institution, what jobs, what tasks you're going to be performing? Do you have a job where you can get a break and a lunch or supper hour on a routine basis? Do you have a job where your back isn't hurting all the time? If so, congratulations. You're not a nurse at one of our local hospitals. Now that the merger's over with, I hope and pray that we don't go back to this ridiculous one-upmanship of spending millions of dollars on duplication of services, advertising and paying all that money to try to kill each other when we need to spend the money on basic, routine care for our patients so that the dedicated people who are trying to care of them can have some kind of a human existence.

Flynt is obstructing justice

I WOULD like to make a comment about Larry Flynt coming out with allegations about some of these congressmen. First of all, Larry Flynt ought to be charged with obstruction with justice and interfering with an investigation, because it's still being continued. And you also need to remember that Flynt's best friend is James Carville. Now, is there any possibility that this information could be coming out of the 800 FBI files that mysteriously just showed up at the White House office?

Delivery over icy roads

EVEN THOUGH the roads west of Gordonville have been covered with ice, we have received our Southeast Missourian paper every day. Thank you.

Thanks for starting car

I WANTED to say thank you to the man and his son who helped get my car started at Food Giant. I was having car trouble, and he went home for some carburetor starter fluid. I just wanted to say thank you. I failed to get his name.

Set your computer back

I HAVE found the solution for the Y2K problem. I have set my computer back 10 years. So if everybody sets their computer back to whatever year they want, then it won't break down on Y2K. I think that's a good solution.

We've paid the freight

I HAVE been thinking about what happens when the Postal Service changes the price of a first-class stamp. They expect us all to go out and buy the exact number of one-penny stamps to match up with our 32-penny stamps that we already have. But a lot of people are going to either throw away their old stamps or lose stamps, and the Postal Service gets paid for a service it does not deliver. Doesn't it make more sense that stamps should be like airline tickets? If you buy a first-class airline ticket and then the next day the price goes up, your ticket is still good. All of the first-class stamps that we've already bought ought to be still be good to deliver the mail. As we run out of stamps, we would have to buy new stamps that cost a penny more. But we've already paid the Postal Service. It already have our money. It should be willing to deliver our mail for what we've already paid for a first-class stamp. I think we ought to talk to Jo Ann Emerson and see if we can start work on this. Now that would be a popular piece of legislation.

He takes undeserved credit

IN REPLY to "Look how good we've got it": If you think Clinton is responsible for five years of higher salaries, driving better cars, living in bigger homes, feeding our children better, I've got some oceanfront property for sale in Phoenix. Give us a break.

Info coming from FBI files?

I WANT to comment on why this Filegate investigation is so important. Larry Flynt is printing the names of men, most all Republicans, who have had affairs. How is he getting this information? I call your attention to James Carville and remember the Clintons have 900 FBI files, raw data that they can look through. This needs to be looked into. I think this information's coming out of those files, and it's against federal law. Charles Colson went to the penitentiary over having one of them, and they've got over 900.

It's a Jackson land grab

I'M SURPRISED at the manner in which the land swap betweenCape and Jackson is being hailed as a sign of cooperation. It's a little-known fact that the annexation of Texas -- the stealing of Texas from the Mexicans -- started with a simple land swap. And that's what's going to happen with Jackson. They're going to start sending settlers over to Cape and roughing up the natives. Pretty soon, Cape's going to be a part of Jackson just like Texas became a part of the United States. And I'm surprised that people have hailed this as a symbol of cooperation. They'd better get a grip on this before the top blows off everything. Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

Make up on Saturdays

I CAN well understand people not wanting to have Martin Luther King's birthday or Presidents Day used as a makeup day in Cape. I went to school in the 1940s. We walked to school. There was no such thing as a bad day, but there was one time that we had to go to school on Saturday for about six Saturdays to make up for school, and I think that's what they ought to do.

Good decision on makeups

I THINK whoever made the decision in the Cape school system to go to school on Martin Luther King Day and Presidents Day was the best decision that could have been reached. It will not increase the school year at the end of the year when it's so hot since the schools are not all air conditioned yet. I think it's the best decision that could have been made.

Holidays don't matter to kids

DOES DEBRA Mitchell-Braxton really think the kids in school care about what holiday they are getting off for? All they care about is that they are getting out of school and now they have to make it up. I think I should get mad because kids don't get off for Columbus Day.

And he did it for free

I THINK the American people are getting a bargain with Hustler magazine. He's doing this free, exposing all the politicians. And it cost the American taxpayers about $50 million to investigate Clinton.

Windows are shattering

I'VE ALWAYS heard people in glass houses shouldn't throw rocks. Well, the Republicans have been throwing a lot of rocks, and their windows are beginning to shatter.

It all starts at home

I WENT to a basketball game for the first time years, but it will be my last. I was never so shocked at the language. It was filthy and loud, and the English was so poor and I couldn't understand parts of it. Most had clothes three sizes too large or worn out or both. How anyone could send their children to school like this is unbelievable. I can now see why many have no pride or values. Many of these kids look like freaks from a rock concert. I feel sorry for the parents who try to fight this trend. Discipline and pride begins at home.

It's just enjoyment

NEXT YEAR during duck season, I hope they spare us and do no tell us how much money the tourists and the duck hunters are bringing into our community. I am so sick and tired of that slant of the news on TV, the newspapers and on the radio. Can't they just be glad that some people are having enjoyment hunting ducks and visiting our area?

Put shows on later

I'M CALLING for my grandchildren. I'd like to know how anyone can give this TV show called "Friends" a high rating considering the time of day it comes on. Children must think that all adults do is screw around all of the time. No wonder we have presidents like Bill Clinton. Why can't we put programs like that in their place, which would around 11 o'clock at night? I'm not a preacher, just a proud grandpa.

Full speed ahead on trial

I DID not think William Jefferson Clinton would resign his position as president after our representatives voted to impeach him. Anyone with the disrespect for his position which he's shown by his actions in the White House and then lying under oath about these actions shows you he has no concern for anyone but himself. He will force the Senate to remove him from office through due process of the law. And if he sees this is about to happen, then he will show what a creep he really is by trying to resign at that time. Hooray for the representatives, and Godspeed to the senators. Give him a fair and speedy trial so the United States can continue to be a great country to live in and we can get on with making it this way.

Party brought disgrace

EVERYBODY WITH any intelligence at all knows that there's a huge difference between the House and the Senate. Different functions, different rules. So Democrats are either shamefully stupid or down-right dishonest. Thank God my intelligence is not insulted by their remarks, and I'm not embarrassed by them because I am no longer one of them. I have distanced myself from the Democratic Party because they brought me disgrace.