SPEAKOUT

Questions about towing company

I HAVE a question for the Cape Girardeau Police Department. I want to know why the towing company can tow a car off a street if the car is parked in the wrong direction, then tow it over to Enterprise Street and park it on the street there in the wrong direction. Also, why can the towing company park all its wrecks on Enterprise Street.

Follow-up on paying fair share

THIS IS the 70-year-old who is referred to in Monday's paper about paying their fair share, referring to Medicare. This person who criticized my piece doesn't know anything about Medicare. Medicare didn't go into effect until the 1960s, so no way could a 70-year-old person could have been paying into Medicare since they were 16. The fair share part is that you can't buy what you're getting for that amount, and you don't pay into Social Security for yourself, you pay for those growing. I worked all of my life. My wife and I have been frugal, and we've saved a fair amount of money. We can pay our own way in most things, but because we have paid our fair share as far as Social Security is concerned, we draw Social Security, and I also use Medicare. But I still think that people wanting everyone else to pay their way is no reason for them to think they've paid their fair share.

Hindsight better than foresight

WE HEAR a lot about Old Cape Town now. It's too bad that Cape actually caused the problem by putting in parking meters. Cape used to brag about the money the parking meters made for the city, then they saw that the meters were running the customers out to other areas where the parking was free. So Cape had an article in the Missourian that it cost too much to collect the money, so they took the meters down. It's too bad our foresight isn't as good as our hindsight.

Abusing government programs

THIS IS for the young people who resent Medicare. You should be glad Mom and Dad have it, or could you afford to help them pay their doctor and hospital bills? I think not. Some of these same people talk Mom and Dad into transforming their farms, houses and savings into their kids' names so they won't lose their inheritance in case Mom or Dad have to go into a nursing home. Then they put them on Medicaid, which is paid by taxpayers. How ironic.

Nothing planned for school visit

I'M NOT sure the Jackson School District schools are all they're cracked up to be, at least not all of them. I went to parent-teacher night at the school, and the teacher had absolutely nothing planned. My experience with teachers in other school districts has been that they have some sort of program, like telling you of their goals and objectives, maybe introduce you to some of the books and their expectations. You don't go up to school, taking the time out of your evening, just to wander around and gaze at other parents and acknowledge the ones you know. You expect someone to have taken the time to prepare something so your evening would not be a waste. I'd think the principal of the school would see that the teachers are not wasting the parents' time by coming out just to walk around in the classroom. We've already done that when we went to find out who the teacher's going to be and what classroom our child is going to be in.

Play by Little League rules

MY FAMILY and I really enjoyed watching the Little League World Series in Japan this past weekend. I thought it was so sad that no child from Cape Girardeau will ever participate in that as long as our baseball program is set up the way it is. Our baseball officials in Cape, for some reason, refuse to join Little League. They play by separate rules and do not belong to the Little League Association. Therefore, even if they have a fantastic team who can win everything around here, the team can't go any further because they aren't members of the Little League Association. My husband has been a coach for many years, and every year parents complain about this and want it to be changed. For some reason, the heads of this organization refuse to do what the parents -- who pay the money -- ask. Please, reconsider this decision, those of you who are in charge of Cape's baseball program. You're holding our boys back. When we go to tournaments, we're not ready to play other teams from other towns because they play by Little League rules, and our team doesn't. We're behind. You're hurting our boys, and that's who you're here to serve. We don't know what your point is or why you don't want to be members of Little League, but this league is not here for you.

Open season for school selling

HERE WE go again. A new school year has just begun, and organizational candy sales have started too. My particular interest is the Jackson FFA. My son brought home a box of Reese's Pieces, 80 in a box, along with a can of beef jerky. The packages are so small. How can you sell it for 50 cents? They have to bring the money back, so the parents end up having to pay for it and eating the stuff. It's forced on them, not voluntary. Give the kids a break, and the parents too.

Grandfather was at Battle of Shiloh

REGARDING THE article in the Aug. 31 Missourian about the "only living real daughter of a Confederate soldier in Missouri." My 91-year-old mother's father fought and was wounded at the Battle of Shiloh. She has lived in Cape Girardeau over 70 years.

Record clear on Reagan's deficit

READERS WILL recall that Reagan was famous for his ability to bypass congress and go straight to the people, often in a public address, to get the people to pressure Congress to get what Reagan wanted. Here's the real shocker: Not only did Reagan go to the people to pressure Congress, he actually submitted budgets that would have spent more than the Democratic Congress wanted to spend. This is a matter of historical record that can easily be verified. Reagan's ownership of the deficit is clear. We spent more money last year in interest on the Reagan deficit than we spent on Medicare. To squander this opportunity to pay off the Reagan deficit would be a monumental mistake.

Always looking for cheaper labor

SO THE shoe factory is closing its operation after all the years the loyal employees have given them. Now they're giving the employees a fine send-off. Then they're going to move to India to use slave labor at low wages and ship the shoes back here and expect us to buy them. It started off with them moving from the big cities to the small towns because they thought the people could be bought cheap. When they found out that the people weren't so dumb after all, they decide to move further south. Now they have the idea that they'll move to a foreign country, believing we're stupid enough to buy their foreign-made product. The shoes are just going to sit in those boxes on those docks until they rot. I hope you fine employees who worked so hard can find jobs right away. God bless you.

Anonymous calls are confusing

A CALLER recently was trying to explain the difference between unavailable and anonymous phone calls. The caller stated that anonymous entered a special code so that one would not know who was calling. However, this is not always the case. My sister lives in California and we talk quite regularly. Her calls always come up "anonymous," they do not list her phone number. She certainly does not enter any code. When I have an anonymous phone call, I have to answer, because it could be her on the line.

Suggestion for first official act

WHOEVER THE Republican is that's going to get the presidential bid and win the election, I hope the first thing he does after being sworn in is look at Bill Clinton and say, "Mr. Clinton, you have the right to remain silent. Please put your hands behind your back. You have the right to one phone call."

Good weather pushes prices down

LAURA JOHNSTON said in her recent column about lack of rain, and I quote, "bean and wheat prices won't be anything near what they should." Miss Johnston was talking about the drought, and her father has a farm. Doesn't she know that prices go down if weather is favorable? As usual, she messed up again. Grain prices are not what they should be because of our wonderful government looking out the window. Tell Miss Johnston to check the soybean reports next time she wants to do a column.

Bridge needs speed-limit signs

I HAVE a question that should be directed to the Missouri Department of Transportation. There have been several articles in the paper about the speed limit over the Mississippi River bridge. Yet on the Missouri side going into Illinois, there is no indication of any speed limit until you get to the beginning of third section on the east side, and then there's one 25-mph speed limit sign. If it's so important going west to drive 25 mph, why isn't it also important when you're driving east?

Thanks for paying my taxes too

SINCE MR. Woods likes paying taxes so much, I'm going to send him my tax bill next April so he can pay mine.

Hold Reno accountable for Waco

I'M CALLING in regard to the Waco situation. I very well remember when Janet Reno stood up on TV and said, "I'll take responsibility for that. That's my responsibility, and I'll take it." However, there were 80 people killed, 20 of them kids. When we had the school shootings, oh man, the federal government got so involved, they wanted to prosecute everybody from the great-grandfather down tot he person who pulled the trigger. Here we are, with government-sponsored killing in Waco by people who said they were responsible like Reno and the FBI. Yet nobody has been called to task. They should be put on trial just like a police officer would if he shoots an unarmed person. There are two sets of standards when it comes to Reno. She's said she's responsible, so she should be put on trial for killing 20 kids and 60 adults.

Try selling those shoes in India

I HEARD the news about Florsheim leaving Cape Girardeau. This has been a traditional factory that had many, many employees, and they have depended on this as their livelihood. I'm sorry they're leaving and moving to India. I hope that they take all their shoes and sell them to those people, because if they're not going to employ anybody here, we don't to wear their shoes.