SPEAKOUT

Most shoes already made abroad

WALK A mile in your own shoes. For those who are dismayed about Florsheim's closing, if you look at your own shoes, they're probably already made in India. Or worse yet, China. Think about it.

LET'S TALK a little bit more about the Jackson School District's insurance and annuity problems. First let me say that I've never been more proud of our board members than I was with their decision supporting the 21 percent minority and allowing them to keep their annuity. This annuity was promised to these employees as part of their compensation for taking their position with the district. Each employee would have lost $1,900 a year and wound up with insurance that was not needed. The insurance committee recommended that all annuities be stopped but, if not all, at least those employees who have worked for the district less than five years. The board decided to freeze annuities at their current rate of $158 per month, thus saving the district nearly $35,000 a year in district-paid insurance. They also stated that they would not penalize those who worked for the district less than five years by cutting off the annuity. Someone stated that our board members "took a more political viewpoint" by grandfathering in all the annuities. How can it be political when they were supporting the minority? The committee and administration thought taking away the annuities would speed up the 90 percent participation rate that they wanted for a "show of good faith" for future insurance quotes. The district had an 8 percent increase in qualified employees this year alone, so by next year, with new employees no longer receiving this option, there is every probability we could meet this goal. Also, the district was able to receive bids from only two carriers because they had no patient claims data. The current insurance carrier's contract does not require them to tabulate claims data for the district individually, which leaves us without verifiable evidence of increased risk potential (this rate is only $2 more than in August 1994). The insurance adviser that the district hired was not able to get any information from them as well. Maybe this is where the district really needs to start in figuring how to solve this problem. The 70 percent majority is blaming the annuity option and those employees for the increase in their insurance rates, but they need to understand that the rates were set before the annuity conflict even came into play.

More fair activities for youths

I WOULD like to see the SEMO District Fair have more activities for boys and girls ages 8 to 13. I'd suggest something like a water balloon toss contest or sack races for this age group. I think it's good that children be included, and there are other things besides pageants that would attract kids to the fair.

He calls 'em as he sees 'em

TO THE caller who spoke out against Rus Baer about his coverage of the Cape Central Tigers in Columbia: Face it, the Cape team isn't very good. I'm from Jackson, and we had a bad team last year. But I accepted that. Mr. Baer called it as he saw it. And caller, denial is the first step of acceptance.

Complaints about fund raising

HERE WE go again with our two political parties, the Democrats and the Hypocrites. The Republicans see no problem with unlimited fund raising from the constituency they represent, the elitest of big business. It's only natural that the lawyers would give to the Democrats, because the right to sue is the only recourse for the little guy and the true middle class, and that's who the Democrats represent. The Republicans raise more money than the Democrats every year, then complain about the Democrats' fund raising. What hypocrites.

Effort to limit board attendance

WITH REGARD to Mr. Venable's letter to the editor concerning the questionable scheduling of back-to-school night at Jackson High School and the school board meeting on the same evening: I must say that I'm highly disappointed in the whole school administration at Jackson. There was a covert attempt on the part of the high school staff to keep attendance down at the board meeting. Teachers were asked to grant extra credit to all the students whose parents attended back-to-school night. The students were informed of this also. This is not a coincidence. As a parent and also a teacher, I feel the most important place to be that evening was at the school board meeting. It is my belief that many others will agree.

Concerned about school cliques

I THINK the new dress code at Notre Dame is swell. The students all look so neat. But there is something else that needs to be looked into, and that's the cliques. If you're not in the right clique, you aren't anything. I looked at a new yearbook recently and noticed that some students were photographed 12 to 16 times, while others had only one photo on their class page. I believe in treating all the students more equally. I know it hurts a lot of the kids' feelings. Notre Dame, you can do better than that. After all, we pay the same amount of money in tuition. Are you listening, Brother David?

Advice to parents of abused students

AS A former teacher and the parent of a child who suffered from extreme harassment and physical abuse at the hands of a bully classmate and his friends, my advice to any parent who learns that his or her child is being harassed or physically abused by classmates is to immediately hire a lawyer and ask the lawyer to notify the superintendent, the principal of the school and the parents of those who are harassing and physically abusing the child that if it continues you will press charges. Also, parents must be alert to discover whether or not their child is a victim of such bullies. I did not learn of my son's situation until one night I noticed black and blue marks on his legs. When I asked him what had caused them, he finally told me he was being knocked down in PE class by a bully and his friends, and they then kicked him while he was down. I learned also that the problem extended into the halls and the playgrounds. Even though I am always complaining about our becoming too much of a litigious society, my experience is that any other course of action will, in all probability, worsen the abuse.

Left hand kept in the dark

IN THE same issue of the Southeast Missourian, an article stated that 54 schools will get $106 million to make classrooms safer, and several articles discussed the fact that Bill Clinton freed those Puerto Rican terrorists because they had served enough prison time for their crimes of the 1970s. Once again, the right hand doesn't know what that wicked left hand of his doing. Hail to our hypocritical chief and anyone who supports him.

They're in the wrong league

I HAVE just discovered what Southeast Missouri Indians need to do. They're playing in the wrong league. They need to be playing against major teams like Cape Central and Jackson and Perryville, and maybe even Portageville and Chaffee. Then they would be playing in the league that they're supposed to be in.

Stud remark causes offense

THIS IN response to Missourian sports reporter Bob Miller's article of Sept. 10 entitled "Jackson faces big challenge." This article included the line, "Jackson will take on a new objective this week: Operation Stud Stopper." The article quoted Coach Gross, who said, "He's a stud," about an opposing player. I realize the word stud is used by professional sports commentators very often. I can't tell you how much class I think these people do not have. A stud is a male animal, the sole purpose for whose existence is the sexual servicing of a lot of female animals. If professional sports players allow themselves to be presented this way, they are at least adults. Coach Gross works with high school boys. He should be serving as an athletic and moral leader. Instead, he is working to coarsen and lower their standards and those of other students and of society in general by making such statements. I certainly hope that the rest of the school did not fall in line with him by making Operation Stud Stopper signs and slogans. If they did and it was allowed, this is some wonderful school.

A hero instead of a disgrace

AS A Jackson taxpayer, a Jackson graduate, and a continued strong football fan, I will not support or contribute ever again at Jackson High School as long as the administration lets the perpetrator of this crime stand out in front of our town on a Friday night at a football team. They're making him a hero instead of a disgrace to the Jackson community.

Start with the school board

AS A Jackson citizen, I'd just like to say our teachers in the Jackson School District have been told not to voice any opinion about the incident where the child was hung on a cross. I suggest that during Jackson Cleanup-Pickup Week, we clean up our school board. I think it's time Jackson cleaned up the whole administration.

Left game because of PA trash

I AM another one of the persons who went to the SEMO-SIU football game. I left at halftime because of the stupid, loud trash coming from the PA system. I can't imagine that an enlightened university would consider or condone this kind of treatment of people who are trying to encourage to attend their games. Wake up, SEMO, and correct this problem.

Sunday beer sales at the fair

I HAVE seen the district fair go up and down through the years. I didn't think I would ever live to see the day that it would go to selling beer on Sunday.

Government shuffles its problems

I'M CALLING in response to the editorial about the Weed and Seed program funding being suspended. It was mentioned that it was run by the Justice Department. That's a problem with our federal government. I'm not laying any blame on any individual, but on the government. When people are incompetent and waste taxpayer money, the very most that is done to them is that they're shifted somewhere else to another problem. People who really abuse government programs and funds should be barred for life from participating in any other government program. We have incompetent people working for the government, and they're shuffled around everywhere, screwing up in each place, and the government doesn't do anything about it.

Let's ban all our problems

I SEE that now we're working hard to ban guns in this country because so many of them are being used in violent crimes. This seems entirely logical. If we're going to use this line of logic, I was wanting to make a few suggestions on making America more safe. First off, those young men at Columbine used pipes to make pipe bombs. Would it not be logical to go ahead and require every man, woman and child in the United States to rip out the piping and plumping in their homes and businesses to prevent people from using the pipes to make bombs? By extension, wouldn't it also be logical to make people quit using LP gas tanks, since those two wackos at Columbine used LP gas tanks to fashion bombs out of? So many people are getting killed by automobiles that I can't see any reason we'd want to keep cars around. My personal view is, we could end all kinds of violence just by banning steel in this country. We could regulate it, tax it highly and make people quit using steel. After all, steel is used int he manufacture of cars, knives, guns, and any number of other violent weaponry. We should cut it off at the source the way we've done with cigarettes. We're going after tobacco manufacturers. Now let's go after the steel manufacturers.