SPEAKOUT

Wouldn't that be fraud?

I'D LIKE to comment on the tactics the university is using now on the old seminary building. If you would apply for welfare and get it when you don't deserve it, that would be fraud. They're talking about putting the seminary in somebody else's name, and after they get the federal and state money for the historical benefit, then putting it back in the university's name. I think the new university president might be looking at a case of fraud.

Reaction to River Campus flap

THE FOLLOWING four-line poem reflects my reaction to the ongoing controversy concerning the construction of a River Campus in downtown Cape.

Down by the river.

Jim Drury

Is full of fury

Prospects quiver

For school by river.

The hardest workers of all

THIS IS to the woman who talked about the long hours her husband worked for AmerenUE. Let me ask her how much he gets paid for it. My husband works for a heating and air company, and he doesn't stand around and watch his coworkers work. He crawls in hot attics, works on roofs, gets his feet wet from cleaning units, and even has to collect money for his employer. In closing, I think the ones who work the hardest are our trash collectors. Just think about what they do.

A welcome drink on a hot day

I THOUGHT that the Random Acts of Kindness Week was over weeks ago. I found a random act of kindness when I was working in a yard. A young man came by and offered me a soda when I was out there reseeding a lawn. I just want to tell him thank you and say that there are still good people in America.

Hospital patients who smoke

I HAD occasion this week to visit a hospital, and it dawned on me how ridiculous people are. Some people are sitting in wheelchairs, with IVs, sitting outside smoking. These people don't care enough about their own health to quit smoking, yet they go to the hospital wanting somebody else to help them get better. If they don't care enough for themselves to quit smoking, why should anybody else spend any effort helping them? Smoking can be stopped. I'm a 20-year smoker, and I've been smoke-free for almost 30 years.

Surgery for mobile phones?

THIS IS for the driver of a white panel truck. If you were as intense a driver as you are a mobile-phone user, you would be great. However you pulled out in front of me with the phone glued to your ear and with no regard for safety. I wonder if there is a surgical procedure to remove that foreign body from your left ear.

Ready to smell the roses

EVERYTHING IS rosy in our economy? That's a joke. The farmers were in a deep depression last year, and so far it looks like they will be again this year. It costs more to produce a crop than what they get for it. Machinery, fertilizer and seed keep going on, and the prices keep going down. Like the song goes, we're getting deeper in debt. Rates on CDs are getting smaller, and the stock market doesn't know what it wants to do. Hah. Where are the roses? I'd like to smell a few.

Kelly district needs to expand

THE VOTERS of Kelly School District are sending a message loud and clear to our children. "We don't give a blank." Kelly used to be one of the best districts in this area. No more. It is so crowded in elementary and high school. I don't live in the district and can't vote, but I do have farmland there and would have paid more taxes to the district, which I would have been willing to do.

Need school, not a jail

SO THE Scott County Commission wants to build a new jail because the one they have is so overcrowded. Let the criminals live in mobile homes like the ones our children in Kelly school use to study in. Kelly knows where they can get them, because they have so many. What's more important: a new school for our children or a new jail for the criminals? They don't need to be pampered. They need to be on a road gang picking up trash instead of our Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. A tax was voted down for the Scott County transit system for our senior citizens. Lord help us, the way we are treating our elderly and our children. I'll vote for a tax for fixing our roads and bridges, but I will not vote for a new jail for the inmates.

Parents need to take action

THIS IS for the people in Chaffee. I work for an attorney, and I was talking to him about the situation. It sounds to us like the kids in Chaffee are being discriminated against and harassed. If all of the parents would get together and file about 30 to 40 harassment suits against the city, this stuff would stop. Probably nothing will be done until you all do that.

Lots of costs for event

I AM calling in regard to the Speak Out comment, "Cost too high for gospel singing." I too am appalled by this homecoming concert that is coming to Cape's Show Me Center. I'm really disappointed in the people who have put this on. I won't name names. He knows who he is. He's out to take our money. I understand they had a talent show which was $100 just to enter the competition. And then, for the concert alone, you have all the seminars which are anywhere from $45 to $100. Then you have the choir. If you wanted to join the choir to back those people, you could. But when you call about it, you have to pay $45 to sing with the choir as backup. I think this is just absolutely appalling. It is horrible. There is false advertisement going on, because he is saying that this is the largest single gospel event in the U.S. in 1999. I have news for this gentleman. Bill Gaither holds single-day events where there will be many more people and a lot more groups. Something needs to be done about this. The Southeast Missourian and TV are falling for it. I agree with the caller who said $25 to $30 for a concert is unreasonable. We should be able to praise God for free, not pay a lot of money to stand and praise God.

Keep the old yearbooks

I AM really upset about old Central yearbooks being sold by the school. I think this is appalling. I think our yearbooks should stay in the school library and not be sold.

Using gospel music to make money

I WAS just reading the comment about the cost being too high for gospel singing. I agree, even though it's going to be one of the biggest. People on fixed incomes or who are disabled can't afford $25 or $30 per ticket, but we would still love to hear gospel music. This is too high. I believe God looks down on people who are using his music just to make money rather than to glorify Him.