SPEAKOUT

So far it's just a lot of rumors

MR. SULLIVAN used another large column to talk about what the president had allegedly to have done. Why don't we wait and see what he has done and let the proof come out before we start judging. We're still waiting for the truth. Your paper has been very guilty of printing rumors.

Some really appalling matters

IN LISTENING to U.S. Sen. John Ashcroft's disparaging speech concerning our president's bedroom, I'm appalled over 40 million people have no health care. I'm appalled that the minimum wage is deplorable for people who are worth a lot more. I'm appalled about certain living conditions and a lot of hungry people. That's what I'm appalled over. I dare him to speak for me as one of the American people. The American people want a leader, not a lawyer. Well, I've got news for this lawyer: The American people have a leader. They're speaking out. He's up in the polls. So Senator Ashcroft, if you're trying to nix his lead, forget it. All I've got to say is you're a poor loser, and we're going to think about you the next time you run.

Looking forward to every day

WITH PRESIDENT Clinton's approval rating at 68 percent, I also endorse him wholeheartedly. I can never remember when I've been personally happier or more at ease with his great leadership and his shaping up of our economy. I look forward to every beautiful day.

Please put KPLR on cable TV

OF ALL of the channels that TCI is going to be adding this spring, -- most of them look pretty good, and thank you very much for putting back on WGN -- where in the world is the KPLR? All the time I kept having to hear about how we live too far south even though Sikeston gets KPLR. You're not fooling me.

Young man takes time to help

OUR VERY special thanks to the young man who picked up the hub caps on Route K Friday night then checked to see if we were all right. Thank goodness there are still people like him around.

It's a sin, not a crime

IF THERE has been adultery at the White House, I think this is a sin, it is not a crime. So where does Mr. Ken Starr come in? He is not God either.

Let teens see the effects of smoking

I WAS reading your paper's editorial on the teen tobacco ban. I think we should charge the kids. For punishment, I think we should take them to the nursing homes and the hospitals. You said the proposed ordinance would make teen-agers criminals. I used to smoke. I quit for health reasons. Since I quit I've been having lung problems. I recently lost my father to cancer. If these children, which is what they are, could go see somebody who is really sick and somebody they really cared about died of cancer, even though they didn't smoke, they wouldn't ever smoke. They wouldn't even want to smoke.

New characters added all the time

THIS SEX scandal in our nation's capital reminds me of a mystery novel. By the time you think all the characters have been introduced, some more people come into the picture. It makes my head swim.

Just wait for a real person

THIS IS to the person that said she couldn't get through to the electric people by dialing 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Just dial 651-5600 and do not dial any numbers. Just sit and wait, and a person will come on the line. I hope that works for you.

Clinton will have the last say

THIS SPEAK Out verse is dedicated to one Raymond Fish of Zalma. The Southeast Missourian recently published a letter by him:

A Mr. Raymond Fish rubbed it in a letter the other day.

The Clinton hater assumed Bill Clinton would not survey this fray.

The premature nature of his conclusion should have been held at bay,

Because Fish feeds the backlash that could allow Clinton to have the last say.

Clinton takes all the credit

I WANT to comment about these polls that are taken about Clinton's popularity. I don't fully believe the polls, but they're saying 70 percent of the people approve of the way he's handling the economy. Clinton's not handling the economy. Do you think we would have a balanced budget? We didn't have a good economy until Newt Gingrich and a Republican Congress. Now the economy is doing good. Of course, Clinton is the president, so he's getting the benefit. But what about trust? We may be going to war pretty soon. Who wants to trust their kids with someone like that? I don't trust him to deal with these foreign policies we've got over here. We may be in war. There may be 50,000 men killed in a cooked-up war so that people will quit asking about his sexual life.

Neighbor on the lookout for dirty dog

I LIVE on Westwood Drive. I am getting tired of you walking your dog every night or early morning and letting it do it's dirt by my mailbox or next to my driveway. I've stepped in it a couple of times. As soon as I find out who you are and where you live, I'm either picking it up and putting in front of your front door, or I am going to walk my dog and let her go in front your door. I clean up after my dog. She goes in her back yard. I have a couple of people watching for me. You think you would clean up after your dog in her own yard.

New media contributes to craziness

I THINK it's time that the media and news people quit telling everything on TV on what people can use to drug people, like this on television about they can put it in their drinks. No wonder the world is going crazy.

Putting the shame where it belongs

IF WE believe Clinton's lies once, shame on him. If we believe Clinton's lies twice, shame on us.

Get drug people off the streets

WHAT A super idea to have a Speak Out where everybody can give their opinions. It looks like the decision that Judge Grimm made was a good decision, according to the loyal readers who are calling into Speak Out. One even says Morley Swingle should seek the judge's position. I do remember an article where Swingle recommended probation for a woman who had been picked up for the dangerous drug methamphetamine. Other people felt she should have probably got some prison time she had been on probation five years previously. But with all the articles that we're seeing about how bad methamphetamine is, we need to get these people off the streets. That's the opinion of a lot of people. I guess Swingle will just have to abide with what the judges say. Everybody's not going to agree with everybody, but that's the reason we do appreciate Speak Out to let everybody express their opinions whether they are favorful or not.

Comment about King's prize was unwarranted

THIS IS in response to the person in Speak Out that said they were upset when Martin Luther King won the Nobel Peace Prize. I understand completely how upset they would be, or anyone else, about Bill Clinton being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize because I personally don't see what he has done. But Martin Luther King earned that Nobel Peace Prize trying to make the world a better place for everyone. I don't see why the caller had the nerve to say something about being upset about that. Things like that should not be in the newspaper. I am ashamed to be a resident of this town.

Right-wingers in the minority this time

YOU RIGHT-wingers -- I won't say conservatives -- always speak for the majority of people. You're for the majority on everything. But when it comes to the president, you're with the minority. The majority of the people likes what the president's doing. They think he's a great leader. And they couldn't care less about his private life as long as he does not break any laws. But no, that's not good enough for you. You along with your little henchman, Kenneth Starr, want to keep hacking and because it's still sour grapes that he won the election two times. He's doing a great job.

Need another post office on West Side

AS A businessperson in Cape Girardeau, I would like to bring up a subject that would help other businesses along with the public. Over a year ago, there was a committee working with the post office committed to opening a smaller post office on the West Side, because the downtown office we now have is such an inconvenience to access. What ever happened to this plan? It sure would be nice to have this office more centrally located. The first thing taught when you get a degree in business is if you want your business to succeed, you must have a good location. Having this additional office would do two things: help the public to easier access and benefit the post office with more possible customers. I hope this project is still be considered and not just a promise to keep the public quiet for a while.

Clinton will survive

STATE SEN. Peter Kinder recently gave us a laundry list of reasons why President Clinton, like Richard Nixon, will fall. His reasons were rational and well thought out. However, that's the problem. Kinder assumes voters are reasonable and rational. They are not. Thus, my Speak Out poem, "He Will Survive."

The voters turned on Nixon but cause of Watergate.

They felt he looked evil and crooked and deserved our wrath and hate.

But President Clinton will survive what Kinder calls Tailgate

'Cause he's a foppish, good-looking scoundrel, and with most that makes him first rate.

Partying kids in park should pick up

I'M A student at Central High School. On bright and sunny days when I go driving out in my car and drive through Capaha Park, I see trash down there, and I get pretty mad. I get sick of seeing that. It makes people who drive by think our community can't keep our parks clean. It's due to all those kids who go down there and party every weekend. They trash the place and don't even think about picking it up. To all those kids that are down there, please pick up your trash and throw it away. There are more than enough trash cans down there. Let's make everybody think that our town is clean.

Paddlewheelers do more than wave

THE MAN on the board of the CVB needs to know a little bit more about what goes on before he says "I don't think we should pay someone $6 an hour to wave at a riverboat." I have worked as a paddlewheeler, and we did a lot more than waving at a boat. People were taken on bus tours and walking tours We sold T-shirts, magnets and other Cape Girardeau memorabilia. We took them to get prescriptions filled, to buy film and several times to the hospital. They all left with a smile, very appreciative of our services and a lasting impression of what a wonderful, friendly town Cape Girardeau was. There is a problem in CVB, but it is certainly not the paddlewheelers.

Right-wingers don't have a lock on morality

IN RESPONSE to the comment about what right-wingers believe, I feel compelled to add a few comments and counterpoints. The belief of all those things mentioned is not exclusive to right-wingers only. Life, morality and God are not a country club. Morality, you say? How moral are you? Christians, you say? Integrity, family and home? How many of you right-wingers in the last year invited a poor person or a homeless person, one not even of your own race, to your home for dinner? Yes, my wife and I have. Two Christian liberals. Oh, boy, that will bring the normal bum response from conservative, redneck Cape Girardeau. As for God and the killing unborn babies, I have but one question. How come when it's a human we call it a fetus or a baby, but when it's a chicken we call it an omelet?

God will be the final judge

I DON'T know how you can put all that stuff in the paper about the president's wife and him being dumb and dumber. Do you know God is almighty and sees everything? If the president is telling a lie or if she's telling a lie, God will take care of them, not us or anybody else.

Media tell public how to drug someone

I THINK the media is doing something terribly wrong, and that is telling all the country and all over the world that these people can go and buy this here stuff and put it in your drink to knock you out. I think they should keep their mouths shut about that and not be an advertisement and telling them they can go to the store and buy things for drugs. That just lets everybody know what they want to know. I think it's time they realize things they are talking about.