SPEAKOUT

Complaints about 13-year-old league

JACKSON, you think you have problems in your Little League Program. You ought to see the three-ring circus in the 13-year-old division in Cape. Inconsistencies from the commissioner of the league all the way down to the umpires during our regular season have prevailed all season long. Interpretation of league policy and rules is made up by the commissioner and umpires on a case-by-case basis and is rarely the same. Inconsistency cannot be tolerated. If the commissioner of the league cannot get his act together, maybe he ought to step down. Even though this is a lower-level league, umpires should take a personal interest in trying to improve their skills and not make the players suffer because of their deficiencies. Maybe the league should provide some sort of training for the umpires. Parents are paying good money for their children to play and learn the correct way of baseball. They are not throwing their money away to buy peanuts for the elephants.

Relieved to get purse back

TO THE person who found the tan purse on the Wal-Mart parking lot July 3 and turned it in, thank you. I cannot tell you how relieved I was. You did a great kindness.

Airport should lure visitors

I BELIEVE that the airport ought to put in a aviation museum to draw people down there and to make them want to come to the airport. Maybe a restaurant or fast-food sandwich shop would be successful down there. The people of the area need a reason to go to the airport to just visit.

People who could help become hypocrites

THIS IS in response to an earlier comment in Speak Out about real friends who will not forsake you when a person is having troubles. My nephew also went through some troubles recently. He became involved in some matters that he should have stayed away from, and he now knows that. But it's the holier-than-thou people who have tried to ruin his life by ostracizing him, making his life guilt-ridden and cutting off contact from him. It must be great for them to know that they are living their lives in such a perfect way. What hypocrites.

Don't believe in something for nothing

FOR THOSE who have been calling out for nationalized health care, especially like that in Canada, I have a short quote from a Dr. Fitterman from Canada: "In Canada, we have our own HMO, and it is called government. In the last 10 years, quality and accessibility in medical care have seriously eroded. Politicians of all stripes say it is only the doctors who are greedy and want to ruin the system for their own monetary gain. Yet if we were all really that money hungry, we would have moved to the United States. The doctors in this country, just as in yours, are mostly hard-working individuals who have increasing frustration with the personnel and policies of an unworkable system. In the end, it is up to the public, who will have to start disbelieving political promises of something for nothing."

It's time to stand up to abortion extremists

IT IS interesting to note the direction and progression of some of the groups in the so-called pro-life movement. First, it was only about late-term abortions. Once they won that battle, they switched to midterm abortions and then early-term abortions. In the last week, I have seen two articles in this paper where certain factions decry the right of a woman to do anything with her body, even 72 hours after the possible start of a pregnancy. Now I see this fallacious and unreasonable argument has been extended to test-tube fertilized eggs. These are the same people whose religious beliefs preclude any birth control at all. They would impose their religious beliefs on all of us if we stand by and let them. They already apply political pressure to our government to stop any birth-control aid from being sent to undeveloped and poor countries where overpopulation strains food supplies that already are near disaster. When will reasonable and right-thinking people say "Enough!" to the extremist pro-lifers?

Put young criminals to work on a farm

I'M CALLING in response to the person in Jackson who called in about his house being broke into. I think little thugs who break into people's houses need to be put to work. I grew up on a farm, and I worked in the heat putting up square bales. I guarantee you by the end of the day you will be too tired to get into any kind of mischief. I get up at 4 o'clock every morning and usually don't get home until 6 or 7 o'clock at night, and I'm 40 years old. I've worked hard all my life, and I'd like to keep what I've got. The caller has the right idea what to do with these kids who break into people's houses and commit crimes. They need to be put out on a farm and work in that kind of environment for about a month or two. By the time they get done, all they'll be worried about his finding a bed.

Not likely to support a third term

I HAVE become an avid reader of Gary Rust's columns. I find them thought-provoking and enlightening. I don't always agree with what he writes, but he provides more than ample food for thought. Though I am not one to rush to judgment, I do think I have discovered a pattern in Mr. Rust's political orientation. As a result, I have tentatively concluded that he will not be in the forefront of the forthcoming effort to amend the Constitution so that William Jefferson Clinton can be eligible to be elected president again.

It's hot after 6 p.m. too

AM I ever grateful to God that I'm not one of the poor people in Cape. This big joke. The Red Cross decided that since it is so hot it would open a few places for poor people who don't have air conditioning. But look out. At 6 p.m. when I think it's still too hot for human endurance, they will be told to leave. Does nobody have any common sense anymore?

The turn of which century?

HISTORIC PRESERVATIONIST Philip Thomason was recently quoted in the Southeast Missourian. Among other things, Thomason said, in effect, that when you walk around downtown Cape you can tell you're in a turn-of-the-century area. Does this mean those of us who live in downtown Cape don't need to worry about the year 2000 computer bug?

It was in the hats all along

LUCY ANN Goldberg, a member of the so-called vast right-wing conspiracy to get the president, was on TV the other night. At one point she said Monica Lewinsky was still on the president's side, implying that she would lie and go to prison for him. When asked to elaborate, Goldberg said Lewinsky was sending the president signals with the hats she wears. According to Goldberg, the signals were that Lewinsky was still on the president's side. That shook me out of my slumber. I fell forward, out of my recliner, landing on top of spilled microwave popcorn. Finally, I said to myself, finally, after all of this time and expenditure of taxpayer money, Miss Goldberg has given us an unchallengable piece of evidence that can be used to get the president. Let the impeachment proceedings begin. And hats off to Miss Goldberg.