SPEAKOUT

Board members have jobs, don't they?

THE PERSON who said that school board members don't have salaries must have misunderstood. The first caller didn't say the members were paid for being on the school board, but he must have assumed that these people weren't unemployed and that they do have salaries from some source. The critic either didn't think the first call through or must think only the unemployed get elected.

Capital punishment sounds cruel

I THINK capital punishment should be illegal because in Amendment 8 of the Constitution it says no cruel or unusual punishment should be inflicted. I wouldn't want to be put in a gas chamber and sit there for a few minutes and wait until I suffocate. It sounds really cruel and unusual to me, and it is.

Wouldn't want any hurt feelings

WE NEED to quit embarrassing the American math students. They need to make the test easy enough for everyone to tie for first place. Then none of the students would have to feel bad.

Who you are starts at conception

WHILE YOU still resided comfortably within your mother's womb, every characteristic of who you were to become was already locked in your DNA: skin and eye color, hair color and texture, the number of fingers and toes. All exist from the moment of conception. No one has to do anything to put them there. It's an automatic part of the process. Upon your birth, those characteristics once locked within your genes begin to manifest themselves outwardly. You didn't have to place an order for eyebrows or select hair from among the choices in a catalog. Those things were part of your nature from the very beginning. This is another indication that abortion is murdering a child.

Sunday sales are appreciated

I AM a resident of Marble Hill. We need all kinds of things on Sunday. I appreciate the fact that Town & Country Supermarket is open on Sunday. Otherwise, I'd be caught without benefit of anything when I need it on Sunday. Now we have Dollar General, and everybody's trying to give us a hard time.

Going to have more fun from now on

AS I watched the funeral of Harry Caray on WGN, I was so completely in admiration of his lifestyle, and it also made me embarrassed at mine. After hearing hundreds of stories of how Harry Caray lived life to the fullest, always living to have a good time and party, I realized how many people like me only work then go home, only thinking about how much money they can horde away for their old age. I now plan to take off work a lot more, have fun and enjoy life today and not worry about old age.

No peace, just quiet, in Mideast

IN THE early 1980s, I worked for several years with several men who were refugees from Saddam Hussein. They left the country and could never go back. I worked with them and spent three years with one gentleman who was a captain in the Iraqi army who was a Kurd and who was a licensed veterinarian in Iraq. After you talk to those people, you have an entirely different attitude and feeling toward the situation in the Mideast. We used to kid them that those Arabs were fighting amongst themselves and had been fighting for 1,000 years. They choose up sides and have another battle. The best we can hope for is just to keep things quiet. The days of the colonial empires are over, and we have to do the best we can with the United Nations and a bunch of bullheaded, isolationist senators that don't know their rear end from third base.

New foster home is a positive step

I AM calling about the new foster home care going up at Gordonville. I think that is one of the best things that could happen here. We need many more of them. I know some family friends who operate one in Arkansas for teen-agers. They were raised in a good Christian home. I never saw a nicer group of boys and girls. Thanks to this church, some children will have a chance to have a decent life. I don't think you'll have any trouble with the home at all. I am 100 percent for it, and we should all be thankful and try to help.

Farmers fight red tape all the time

I WAS reading the editorial about the "Wetland red tape holds up school plans." Welcome to the things that farmers fight every day. Now you see what kind of problems we face out in the real world. I know it's a problem that you can't build your school, but compared to a farmer who can't even farm his own land -- welcome to the real world, folks.

Adopt the Texas attitude

SINCE I'VE been living in Cape after moving here from the great state of Texas, I am shocked at how much depression and worrying goes on in Cape. Seems like the people in Cape are always going off on somebody or some law. They could improve themselves by sharing the Texas way of life: Play hard, have fun and don't waste a second worrying about what the rest of the world is doing.

We all could use a few more laughs

I SURE do enjoy Joe Sullivan's articles in the Missourian on Friday. It always brings a chuckle, and that's what we need more of, more laughs. And I can relate to your Kelo Valley.

Dog was found on the highway

A BLACK lab-shepherd mixed dog was found on Highway 72 almost six miles west of Jackson Saturday morning. If someone lost it, please call the humane shelter. If it was dumped, we hope it finds a good home.

Someone needs to figure it out

I'D LIKE to say something about school salaries. You compare Cape with Jackson. Jackson's not in the hole like Cape is. Freezing the teachers' salaries is not really a good idea, because we don't have a whole lot the way it is. Maybe we ought to stop and think about how this money's being spent. I don't know what the answer is, but we need someone in there smart enough to figure it out.

Trim the fat, not the teachers' pay

AS A taxpayer in the Cape Girardeau School District, I read with interest your front-page article on area school salary comparisons. I have several glaring observations to make. First, the overall school budgets of Cape and Jackson are both in the $27 million range. Second, the base salaries of all positions are higher in the Jackson district. Third, the budget percentage of those salaries are 53 percent in Cape compared to 38 percent in Jackson. How can this be? How can Cape pay less on average and it cost 15 percent more to do so? There can be only one answer. There are too many positions in the Cape system. We need quality, not quantity. How many full-time positions can be eliminated? How many unnecessary assistant positions are in each department? We need to trim the fat instead of freeze the already low teachers' salaries. The Cape school system needs to be run like an efficient business, thereby regaining the respect of the community. Is there anyone who will step forward and lead this effort?

Need beans for Cajun cooking

I ENJOYED the Cajun recipes in Southeast Missourian last week but I have one question. Where can you buy, in Cape Girardeau, dried kidney beans?

REPLY: Almost any grocery store.

An inspiration to all of us

I JUST read the article on tips for modern women by Sam Blackwell. I just wanted to say that Dion Hoffmeister is a very energetic, compassionate, dedicated young woman, and I think she's an inspiration to us all. I really enjoyed that article.

Volunteer your area for RV park

SEVERAL CALLERS to Speak Out have suggested the city and the CVB board put an RV park in the flooded area of Red Star. I would like for these people to volunteer their neighborhood for a RV park and see how they would appreciate that. As one caller stated, his RV was worth probably more than my home. That's exactly the point I'm trying to make. Until the floodwall was built to protect the downtown area, this area up here where these homes were was never flooded before. I've lived in Cape Girardeau, and I have never seen it flood like it has since they put up the wall and blocked this area off up here. These people used to work at the cement plant and the shoe factory, and they were proud of their homes. They may not be worth much, but it's all we've got. And anything like RVs and house trailers that's put here in that area just makes our property values that much less, but our taxes sure don't go down. So if you're interested in RV parks, volunteer them to be in your neighborhood, not mine.

Just argue with each other

LOTS OF people are complaining about stupid things people do. You know what's really stupid? This fight over who's better: men or women. Men and women play at different levels. So why don't you people just make contact with each other so you can save the Southeast Missourian some space and us readers some time.

Placing the blame for U.S. students

I WANT to comment about the state of American students. We're now the lowest in any industrial country in math and science. I'm not going to say that Bill Clinton is the one who started it, but he divided it with these big unions and NEA. They have taught kids how to use condoms and all and all this touchy-feely stuff and rearranged history. I wonder what they rate in history. I bet below even the underdeveloped countries. But Clinton has added to this. He's done the same thing for America that he did for Arkansas. And this is exactly the shape of the U.S. military. That's the reason I was so happy we were saved from going over there and being embarrassed by Iraq. People must understand that in the last four or five years our country has gone down. Sure, all of us have two or three low-paying jobs. We're all working. But the thing is the quality of our life. You don't get to spend any time with your children, and your children don't get a good education, and you're not very well defended from foreign enemies. So we're paying a really terrible price, and our kids will continue to pay until we get rid of all this socialism. It didn't work in Russia, and it won't work here.

Thanks for concern about dog

THIS GOES out to thank all of my friends who called to check on my dog this weekend. My little dog, Powder, a white German shepherd, was ran over, and my answering machine was filled with messages of concern. It's true: Dog is man's best friend. And as I look out today and see a white powder falling from the sky with the sunshine out, I also know that Powder is a friend with God.

Many concerns about CVB's effectiveness

A HARDY thank you to Monty Boston for his letter telling us what great pride he takes in our city and achievements and dedication of his group of Paddlewheelers. And thanks for letting us know that Gary Bunting of the Convention and Visitors Bureau advisory board thinks that Paddlewheelers only wave at riverboats. Mr. Boston did go on to explain all the good things that his group does, but it's too bad he didn't explain that most Paddlewheelers get paid for their great pride and dedication as part-time city employees. Wow, now that's a real example of our fine community spirit. I guess we can only take pride in our city if we get paid to do so. Mr. Bunting and the other CVB advisory board members do not get paid for the time they spend trying to promote tourism for Cape Girardeau. I think Mr. Bunting's real point in the news article Mr. Boston quoted from was how ineffective the current CVB management was in spending our tax dollars. Come on, folks, Mr. Boston's letter is just a red herring trying to throw attention off the real problem: management of the CVB. Mr. Bunting's concern was the excessive percentage of the CVB's budget spent on salaries, which includes the Paddlewheelers. The CVB budget spends over 60 percent on salaries while the Cape school district, which they say is truly labor intensive, spends 53.34 percent of it's budget on salaries. All the examples Mr. Boston gave talked about what they do for those who have already come to Cape. Who is trying to get more tourism to visit here? Isn't that the real job of the CVB, to attract more tourists and more tourism dollars to our city? Can anyone show that for all the tax dollars the city has spent that we have seen any increase of note in tourism here? Not if all we do is spend more and more on city employees with less and less results to show for it.

Harry Caray will be missed

I'D JUST like to say everybody's going to miss Harry Caray. One of his favorite lines in a game that lasted 14 innings: "If you all have been going and getting a Budweiser after every inning just like I said, you're probably feeling about as good as I am now." See ya, Harry.