SPEAKOUT

Sports programs deserve equal cuts

I'M JUST calling to voice my opinion to the person who called in about being relieved by the decision of the school board not to cut sports. Whoever made this statement is really ignorant. For one thing, how does he think the Cape school district got to be so good if it wasn't for the quality teachers that we have in this district? And another thing, if they did cut into sports, that would be the key place to cut. Coaches are a dime a dozen. Teachers are not. Coaches are teachers also, but it's really disgusting for a person to talk like this whenever the school district's in the shape it is. If they cut, they should cut funding everyplace, across the board, whether it be sports or arts. Sports teams should have to start pulling their weight and pulling their funding like all the other programs have to like the band boosters and the supporters of all the other groups like the girls athletics. The person who made this statement has not an inkling of what goes on in this school district, and they need to get an education.

No second-class treatment for students

IF THE economy in the city of Cape growing like gangbusters, why is our public school system going downhill? I would like to know how many businesses are still in town on that free-enterprise zone. The original idea of letting them come in for 10 years for free taxes might have been a good one, but it's time to stop. Cape is big enough for those people to know that they'll make money without a free tax package. Our school system is important to this city. It attracts people too. I'm wondering if the city officials don't care if people move into neighboring districts because they know they'll shop in Cape anyway. I pay taxes in this city, and we love it here. But right now my kids are getting the raw end of the deal, and that makes me angry. We've got stop arguing over where the blame goes, because we all share the blame. We've all let this happen. Tough times calls for tough measures. The bottom line is the children. They are future, and our future knows when it's been treated like a second-class citizen.

REPLY: Cape Girardeau's enterprise zone was created in 1986 and has been expanded twice. It is set to expire in December 2001, but it could be extended for another seven years. Enterprise zones provide partial abatement of property taxes to businesses and companies that invest in them. Last year, economic development officials estimated the enterprise zone here has produced $191 million in new investment and has created 2,400 new jobs.

Democrats voted for pension increase too

I WAS wondering why everyone keeps calling the Speak Out line attacking Mary Kasten and Pete Kinder for voting to raise legislative pensions. How come we don't hear anything about Joe Heckemeyer and his Democratic buddies who have consistently voted for things like this in the past and, I'm sure, will continue to vote that way in the future? Is it a partisan attack? It's time to start pointing responsibility to other people than the people who usually vote conservative and just simply made a mistake.

Parents concerned about day-care teacher

I'M A concerned father speaking probably for many people in care of our children. My wife and I put our daughter into a day care. We always thought everything was going all right until just a couple of days ago. The day-care teacher said that our daughter was acting up, so the teacher decided to hold my daughter down and pour Tabasco sauce in her mouth. We found that out by accident. The other day my wife decided to stop by and see my daughter at lunchtime. She heard the day-care teacher yelling and cussing at our kid. I'm just wondering what we can do about a situation like that, because we had to put trust into a day care teacher. I don't think this lady should be allowed to even teach kids, so I'm going to do my best to stop her.

Society needs government and rules

LOCAL LIBERTARIAN Mike Gardner recently wrote that a Speak Out critic of Libertarianism claimed Libertarians want a dog-eat-dog, survival-of-the-fittest, Darwinian society. Not so. If memory serves me correctly, the Speak Out caller did not say Libertarians wanted that kind of society. However, he or she did accurately conclude that if a society was based on Libertarian principles, that is what would result. Gardner said Libertarians want people to be compassionate. Well, so do I. However, the Libertarians may disagree. Human beings are not born compassionate. Indeed, Christianity and other major religions teach that humans are sinful by nature. Thus in order to restrain our baser instincts, we established institutions like government to keep us in line. For some reason, Libertarians wrongly believe that by virtually abolishing government we would all be nicer to one another and get along better. Baloney! Beyond that, they believe that a market unrestrained by government rules and regulations would be characterized by compassion. Horse feathers! Ruthlessness would rule. We went through this with the 19th century robber barons. Once was enough.

Double standard for sheriff's deputy?

EXCUSE ME. In the Southeast Missourian there's a front-page article about the off-duty deputy sheriff of Cape County hitting a train in Jackson, and Sheriff Jordan would not give his name to the paper and the Jackson police would not give his name to the paper. Excuse me. Is there something going on here we should know about, like a double standard?

REPLY: The deputy was later identified. He has been issued a summons for alleged failure to yield at a railroad crossing.

Media scapegoats and sheriff's deputies

TWO COMMENTS today. The first about the genius in Speak Out who seems to think that news media are responsible for all killings and everything that goes wrong in the world. That's the oldest scapegoat I've ever heard of. If it's a board game or violent heavy-metal music or school shootings, somehow the media are responsible for everything. That's not true. If you are disturbed to the point where something you see on television makes you go out and do something bad, you're messed up from way back. I can't see that it's a catalyst. At any rate, moving on to the sheriff's deputy who allows himself to be hit by a 10 mph little excursion trolley in Jackson, I want the name of this individual splashed all over the front page of this paper. Anyone who's protecting the public interest and safety and who is so stupid does not need to be on the job. I know law enforcement agencies like to circle their wagons when one of their own does something wrong or stupid. I think this is ridiculous. They're not geniuses or even smart just because they've got a title like deputy sheriff. It's very, very disturbing to me. I'm making light of it, but it's very serious. I want to know his name. I deserve to know. I'm a citizen and I'm one of the people he's protecting.

School support is more than shoe polish

HOW DESPERATE are our citizens of Cape Girardeau for something to do? Recently I saw a grown man across the street from Dr. Tallent's office with shoe polish on his vehicle saying Impeach Dan Tallent. He was waving at teen-agers and bowing to anyone who would look his way, and they would all honk and laugh. I guess freedom of speech allows this man his 15 minutes of fame. I don't know his motivations of his current attack on our superintendent or school board members, but I do know two things. Maybe if we hadn't let the last superintendent do so much damage before he finally left, Dr. Tallent wouldn't be left picking up his mess. Since this man has so much time on his hands, maybe his time would be more well spent working with the school system instead of working against it. I have no ties to the school board or the school system except I have children in it, and I know that it takes loving and caring and time and patience and not shoe polish on the back of your vehicle.

Background check for guns costs too much

WHAT I wanted to comment on is gun registration. The new FBI background check of anyone who wants to purchase a gun will cost $16. This assures me, the ATF and the FBI that no one who buys a gun has a criminal background including misdemeanor charges such as drugs or domestic violence. Illinois has the same background check for over 15 years that I know of, and they charge $2 for this check. The feds need $16? If you look at the gas taxes in Illinois, you look at the property taxes, they're not cheap. And I'm sure that $2 is not cheap either in Illinois. But the feds have to have $16 for this? Come on, something's wrong someplace.

Compliments for the Municipal Band

I WANT to compliment the community band on the concert they had at Capaha Park Wednesday night. It was very good.

Different viewpoint from Greenspan

HEY, MR. Greenspan, everything is so great in the economy? Interest rates at the banks are the lowest they've been in years. The farm prices for soybeans, corn and wheat are the lowest prices in years. And the stock market fell over 400 points in the last couple of months. The economy doesn't look good to me.

Schools should check swing sets

DEAR EDITOR: On June 11 at Scott City Elementary, I was swinging on a swing set and the chain broke in two pieces. The place where it broke was rusted and weathered. I fell on the ground and the chain came falling down on my head. Then my finger got caught in the chain. I think every school should get new swings, new chains and inspect all the swing sets every month. A concerned student.

Complaints lead to teaching-load information

I WANT to thank the Cape Central High teachers who have been attending classes at Southeast Missouri State University as well as various community activities such as soccer games and baseball games where they have been so extremely vocal in their criticism of the current administration. If it wasn't for all their complaining and griping, I would have never learned that they teach only five hours per day. I appreciate their informing me of the fact that they teach less 900 hours per year when I teach almost 1,100 hours in my present job almost eight miles from Cape. Now I will contact each school board member and ask them to decrease class numbers by having our secondary teachers teach a regular load. I really appreciate their vocal complaining.

Child supervision at river was careless

PARENTS, WAS your child in the small group children in the care of an irresponsible teen-age girl down at the riverfront on Thursday morning? As I walked through the gate at the Themis Street opening, I observed three children playing on the rocks just a few feet from the water's edge. This teen-age girl sat with her back to the water and seemed very complacent when I asked her if she was supposed to be watching the children. She did take them way after I urged them to come up from the bank.