SPEAKOUT

Morality issue is all muddled

I SEE someone called in picking on Christine Stephens again, but I don't get the caller's logic. He claimed that her pro-life views have to be religious, because she says that abortion is wrong. So is the caller saying that if you're not religious, then you don't know right from wrong? Or right and wrong isn't an issue for a person who's an atheist? I just don't get it.

Don't make me listen to your music

TURN YOUR car stereos down, please. I live on a well-traveled street in the northeast part of Cape Girardeau. To these people who drive by my home with their stereos blasting in their cars, I want you to consider one thing. You're only one out of 25 to 30 more who will be doing the same thing in front of my home on a daily basis. I don't mind if you play your music, but please don't submit me to having to listen to it, especially when I've got all my doors and windows closed.

The real issue is the Chinese problem

I WANT to comment about these scandals involving Bill Clinton. A lot of people are taken aback because Americans don't hold adultery against the president. The truth of the matter is most Americans don't have any morals. That's why they will vote for somebody like that. You remember Waco? Even people who voted for Clinton have no conscience about it. They feel no remorse or guilt over that. They remind me of the Germans who put handkerchiefs over their noses and walked past the gas chambers knowing what was going on in there. Beyond that I just want to say Clinton's not going to be impeached over these sexual escapades. It just shows his character. The real problem is coming down the line, and I wish they'd get with it. It's these Chinese, taking contributions from them and then allowing them to go into the Pentagon and passing this missile technology to them.

Tailgating in passing lane: Road rage

I'M JUST calling in regard to the comment about the people who do not get out of the left-hand lane, the passing lane, on interstate highways. My wife, family and I went through Tennessee recently. We did the same thing. We ran up behind somebody, and I mean I was absolutely wrong. Lo and behold, the next thing I know there a Tennessee state trooper behind me. He turned his lights on and pulled me over. In Tennessee, if you pull up behind somebody like that it's considered road rage. They call it a rolling roadblock. From what I understand from the Tennessee trooper, Missouri has adopted that also. These cars were unmarked. So people might want to start thinking about that here in Missouri. If you get in a hurry, you might run up on a rolling roadblock.

Give thanks for bologna sandwich

TO THAT prisoner in Scott County who complained about a bologna sandwich. Just why are you in jail? If you would have lived by the system, you would not have been there. We taxpayers have to pay for your meals. Bacon and eggs for breakfast and a big steak for dinner and fried chicken and all the trimmings for supper? You need to be on bread and water for breakfast, a bowl of beans for dinner and a baked sweet potato for supper. If you don't want to eat it, go hungry. I'm 72 years old and have been paying taxes all my life, and some of that goes for people like you. If I was in charge of your meals, that is what you would get. I don't feel sorry for you one bit.

Stop feeding problem birds

REGARDING THE geese. I know where they are. They are at Lake Wappapello State Park, the city park at Branson and cemeteries eating the flowers. People feed them and then shoo them off after they start their droppings. At Branson, this couple buys 50-pound sacks of grain to feed them. When they flew in for the feed, the geese knocked a fishing rod out of a fisherman's hands. The Conservation Department needs to step in and do something, or a lot of us will get bird diseases. If people would quit feeding them, they will go back to their natural habitat.

Confused about shopping for milk

I'M SO confused about milking a cow from the left or the right side that I caught myself standing in front of the milk case at the supermarket wondering if I should reach in to get my milk with my right or my left hand.

DEAR CONFUSED: Not only are you faced with a major decision every time you buy milk, there are other concerns as well. For example, do you take milk from the front of the display case or the back? Purists would probably take the carton that's easiest to reach, but followers of the Gateley movement might stretch and turn to get hard-to-reach cartons. Although there is no help line yet, there is bound to be a Milkers Anonymous group in the near future.

Mowers put clippings in the street

I WISH the city would do something about these people that do all this mowing and put their grass clippings and their trimming all out in the street. Some of it is piled up. It looks terrible. Our streets are starting to look a disgrace. It just aggravates me.

Doctors have God-given gifts

NOBODY IS bashing doctors. We have no jealousy for them. Maybe we have envy that God has blessed them to give them the knowledge to serve us in our need of a doctor. Heaven knows we need doctors. You can look at your graduating class in high school. You're lucky to have one out of each class that has the intelligence to become a doctor. Besides their hard work, it takes God, a blessing from him. Luke was a physician. So I think our main gripe is envy that God has placed faith in them to care for us. They're here to serve, not to be served. We in no way should be humble to them and bow down because they spent their time in college. It doesn't mean we should have to reimburse them for their time in college. There are doctors here who will not take new patients when they very well could. I think they live very well, compared to the days when they took chickens for their services and when they stayed up all night long with patients and made house calls. The doctors in those days didn't live quite as well as they do now. I think they should bow down each day to thank the Almighty who gave them that gift and to be more humble. There are dedicated doctors, but there are fewer and fewer of them everyday.

Forget all the costly legal stuff

EVERYBODY INVOLVED in the federal government is so bogged down in muck that they can't see forest for the trees, and it's really very simple. I'm just an outsider looking in, but I know a lie when I see one. I know a diversion when I see one. I know a cover-up when I see one. Why in the world they want to piddle around talking about this legal stuff is beyond me. It certainly is a waste of our money.

Cheering is really important legal issue

RAH-RAH-RAH to the Scott City parents of a cheerleader who are suing the taxpayers supporting the Kelso School District. Everybody knows about the Texas cheerleader mom. She took matters in her own hands. However, in this instance, the parents remained calm and rational as reflected by their decision to settle this most important matter in a court of law. In the old days, schools were exempt from laws like this under what were called sovereign immunity statues. Thank God that is no longer true. The extremely important legal issue of whether or not a cheerleader was victimized by a civil rights infraction when she didn't make the squad may be the most important school related case since the historic Brown v. Topeka Board of Education decision in 1954. If the decision goes against the parents, I expect it to be appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. If it is, I think the court will rule in favor of the parents and the cheerleader, and well as they should. The civil rights of cheerleaders do not end when they enter the gym.

Those who love their work will do it

I'M CALLING in regards to the recent series of comments concerning physicians, fees and certification of the new surgical center. Someone believes bringing up legitimate concerns is doctor bashing. That is taking the issue a bit too personal. Airing problems in society is one step closer to solving serious disparities. The point made about doctors' years of schooling justifying the huge fees they charge is flawed. Couldn't teachers make the same point and thus rightfully expect to earn 10 times their current salary? See what happens when a teacher asks for a salary increase. Physician would not be where they are without dedicated teachers. The caller mentioned "absorbing the huge cost of college education and other sacrifices of the profession." Tell a law enforcement officer of the huge cost of absorbing a bullet to wage the war on crime when no one shows appreciation, much less the salary to raise a family on. Each individual chooses his profession for many, many reasons. Those who love their work will continue in it despite finances, lawsuits and danger. Medicine was once considered a helping profession. Many doctors would continue with limited or reduced financial compensation. Many others would not. Please do not try to justify the huge salaries made by most physicians for the rest of society. It won't fly.

What were they doing wrong?

GERALD BEAM recently wrote a letter to the editor saying destructive weather occurrences are messages to sinners from an angry God. His letter focused on weather phenomena in the United States. However, a while back there was a terrible tidal wave in an underdeveloped nation. It reportedly took tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of lives, destroying entire villages. I was wondering if Beam would write back and tell us what those people were doing wrong. They must have really been immoral.

Thanks for message about the dog

I WOULD like to say a special thanks to the kind man from Union Electric who stopped and said the Humane Society had picked up our dog. We had searched everywhere. We had already tried animal control once and they may not have called back. He had been gone for five hours and we were frantic. Thanks again.

Medal of Honor belongs at tomb

I'M CALLING to comment on the article concerning Michael Blassie, whose remains in the Tomb of the Unknowns were identified. I don't believe that Mr. Blassie was the only unknown in the tomb. I believe the Medal of Honor should not go to just him. That was a medal of honor awarded symbolically to all of the unknown soldiers of several different wars. I believe that medal should remain there. It is fortunate that we have identified Blassie, and I'm glad for his family. It should take an act of Congress for a veteran to receive the Medal of Honor. If it's proven that he did something to deserve the Medal of Honor, then that's great, but I don't believe they should award it to him because it was hanging at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

Opposition means he's on right track

IT SEEMS the entire delegation of Southeast Missouri legislators is lining up in opposition to the way Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon is moving to sue big tobacco. This tells me one thing: Nixon must be doing something right.

Name school for former property owners

I WOULD suggest that the new school be named the Miller School after Ivan Miller who owned the property or his daughter Lila Drew Miller. The farm on that property at one time was called the Lila Drew Farm. Someone should check the history of that property.

The truth never changes

MY DADDY told me a truth years and years ago, almost 70 years ago: Truth is the only thing that never changes. He told me that if you sleep in a pig sty, you'll soon get used to the smell. That applies to every truth your parents ever taught you in your entire lifetime. If you were taught all of your life that there was something wrong with being a homosexual, that truth still applies today. But if the federal government and moviemakers are trying to brainwash you, as they are, and they brainwash you long enough, you'll pretty soon get a guilty conscience, and a homosexual won't seem so bad. That's just the way the media and the federal government works.

Message to mailbox vandals

I LIVE out on County Road 637. I just want the boys to know that they have destroyed a bunch of public property out here by destroying our mailboxes. The mailboxes cost money, and it costs to put them up. So would you guys please leave them alone next time? If you're caught next time, you will be put in jail. I guarantee you that. I hope you had a good night of fun, because it sure has not been fun for us. We can't receive any mail.

Paving of street 30 years overdue

WE READ in the paper of street projects in various parts of town. Well, when is the 1100 block of North Missouri going to be paved? Neighbors all around this block are complaining about the dust problem, and drivers find it fun to spin around in. Then there's the water problem. There are no storm drains, no culverts under some driveways and gravel in yards.

City shouldn't pay university's way

IT'S TIME for the state university to start working for what they want and don't expect the city taxpayers to pay for it. That is a state university and should have nothing to do with the city of Cape Girardeau. They should quit wanting everything they see. I think it's time that our city fathers start working for the taxpayers and quit working for the university. I've had enough, as have all other taxpayers in this city.

River Campus has huge potential

THE PASSAGE of a tax for the construction of a SEMO River Campus would lead to a renaissance of Cape equal to or perhaps surpassing that of 16th century Florence, Italy. There, art and culture flourished to a degree unprecedented in the history of western civilization. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our community. I'm confident an accommodation can be worked out on a tax proposal so that business and civic leaders can rally around and promote it. The benefits accruing from the construction of the River Campus are immeasurable. When the details are worked out and the proposal is before us, we will all realize this to be a tax proposition we can't afford not to support.