SPEAKOUT

Stop red-light violations

MY QUESTION to the Cape Girardeau Police Department: Why is there nothing done about the red-light violations in Cape? As a citizen of Cape Girardeau, my wife and I have turned in several license numbers and descriptions of people. As far as I can tell, no one has really made any effort on this. I know some cities have a camera set up, which I'm sure is very expensive, that could monitor the street lights. But the Cape Girardeau Police Department, if it had any inclination to stop this problem, could put an officer at any red light in the Cape Girardeau city limits and issue tickets throughout the day. It's a nationwide problem. I travel extensively, and I see it everywhere. But in Cape Girardeau, I guess no one will really move on this until some child or adult is killed in a traffic accident. There's absolutely no one who is afraid to run a red light in Cape Girardeau.

More convenient schedules

THE JACKSON Junior High School has parent-teacher conferences when it's convenient for the teachers. You go, and you might have to sit and wait a couple hours. How is a parent supposed to get in and talk to six or seven teachers when he works and the teachers are only having conferences a few hours on Thursday and a few hours Friday morning so they can have the rest of Friday off? There's no way that all these parents are going to get to talk to all the teachers they want to. They need to stick with scheduling a time and make it convenient for the parents. They want the parents involved. They want to talk to them and have them know what the children are doing. They need to work with the parents' schedule too, not just theirs.

What did you expect?

IS THERE some kind of requirement that you can't be intelligent and call Speak Out? I was just reading Speak Out, and I found that the comments were enough to make me nauseous. This is especially directed at the person who was complaining about seeing Roger Clinton on "The Nanny" and complaining about his lack of talent. Well, you know, you were watching "The Nanny." I hope you weren't expecting the Royal Shakespeare Company. And some of the rest of you people just need to get a life.

Inhumane treatment

I CAN barely read this. I am so upset, appalled and disgusted and hopefully you will be too after you read what I am about to say. I saw something so inhumane, awful and cruel that it's hard to believe that it occurred, that I witnessed it and that a lot of other people did too. A man was walking his dog. It looked like a pit bull mix with weights -- yes, I said weights -- tied to this poor dog's neck, the kind of weights that come off a dumbbell. This poor creature could hardly walk or lift up his paws or his head, and he was whimpering loudly. This has to stop. This dog has to be taken away from this so-called human being. Animal Control was called, but what will it take for them to act? Finding a dead dog because of a fractured or broken spine or neck or some other kind of abuse? If this person does this kind of abuse in public, what does he do to that poor dog in private? We are a community of compassion, kindness and action. Please help. Also, the Humane Society needs all the members and financial help it can. The goal is to be a no-kill shelter. Please take action. If people stand by and don't do anything, it just keeps perpetuating the problem. Think of what that poor dog is enduring. So, please if you saw this, even if you didn't, complain about it, make a stink about it. We cannot allow this to continue.

Campaign signs stolen

THIS GOES to whoever the dishonest people are who have stolen campaign signs out of the yards. I support my candidates, and I work for them. Everything I do is aboveboard. I don't do any underhanded things, and I don't mind that people know who I support by putting a sign in my yard. Someone stole one of my signs for the person that I support a few days ago. On Election Day, they stole the other sign from directly in front of my house and replaced the sign that was stolen a few days ago with the other party's candidate. I don't support your candidate and do not appreciate somebody taking my things off of my property and putting your sign in place of it. My property is not the public property. Stay off of it. And if you act this way with just trying to get your candidate's name out there, I wonder what else you do that is illegal and dishonest.

Hats off to a great teacher

YOU MADE our family's day with your article about Diane LeGrand, first-grade teacher at Clippard Elementary. Our daughter had Mrs. LeGrand for a teacher a few years ago, and we can attest to the fact that you won't find any teacher more qualified, more loving, more caring, more professional than Mrs. LeGrand. Our hats off to Mrs. LeGrand. We love her, and we're proud of you for writing a story about her.

Bring back card catalog

THIS COMMENT is to the Cape Girardeau Public Library. Please, please, please bring back the card catalog. You have six card-catalog computers. Many of them are missing keys. Many of them get hung up in some kind of system that a lot of us don't know how to get out of, and some of them have sticking keys. Many people could use the old card catalog at one time. The computers, only six people could use it at one time. We didn't have the problems with the card catalogs like we do with the computers. Anybody could use it, it took no special talent and the cards never got stuck and couldn't be used. Please bring back the card catalog. We're willing to go into the basement to use it. Just think about it, please.

Mumford doing a good job

I THINK SEMO football coach John Mumford has done an excellent job, given the situation he's in. It has to be terribly difficult to recruit quality Division I athletes when the big schools are trying to recruit the same players. SEMO's ancient football facilities also are a definite liability. Coach Mumford's won-lost record isn't that great, but most of his losses have been close. If someone the caliber of a Lou Holtz or Joe Peterno were put in the same situation, I seriously doubt they could do any better. Successful Division I football programs aren't built overnight. It takes a few years, and I think Coach Mumford is very close to achieving that success. I say give him a decent contract, not a year-to-year contract which, in my opinion, is an insult.

Some campaign advice

THIS IS for Joe Heckemeyer and his able electioneering staff. If you decide to run next time, please stop pestering people on Election Day with your telemarketing schemes. Don't call me at 4:45 p.m. after I've already voted. Twice I was interrupted from something that I was very busy doing to answer the phone to hear people say "Please vote for Joe Heckemeyer, we'd appreciate you vote on Election Day." They didn't ask me if I'd already voted. They don't care what I think. It reflects on you as a candidate. If you run again, skip the telemarketing in the afternoon of Election Day unless you're going to ask first if we've already voted.