SPEAKOUT

True championship

I'M A parent of a Notre Dame soccer player, and I want to recap a story of true championship spirit. The Central High School football team sent a note to the Notre Dame soccer team the other day that was presented at a pep rally wishing the soccer team well after winning their district championship. The boys were very excited, and our hats are off to Central High School and the CHS football team for its stellar season and its undying championship spirit. Even in the clench against Poplar Bluff, instead of going for the tie they opted for going for the win which resulted, unfortunately, in the loss of that game. But we won't forget the fact that all the players and the coaches were of one mind and showed Southeast Missouri what a true championship is all about. We hope that we can live up to those standards. Thank you very much from Notre Dame High School and the Notre Dame soccer Bulldogs.

Food for needy not picked up

THE REASON I'm calling Speak Out is so that maybe this will not happen again next year. On Nov. 1, I was delivered a bag at my door. It said the bag would be picked up for the needy on Nov. 7 after 9 a.m. We filled the bag at 7:30 a.m. Nov. 7 and left it out on the doorknob, and nobody has picked it up. There were several cans of food in there plus a $20 money order that was to go to the Sixth Annual North American Food Drive. I read in Speak Out that somebody had said this had happened to them. I'm sure this is happening a lot, but even if it happens once, it's too much, with all the people who need the extra food and stuff. I hope the people who are sponsoring this will see that they are not picking up the food when we leave stuff like this out. I will not put stuff out next year unless something more is done. There's no number on this little brochure, it just says "North American Food Drive, Brothers feeding others."

Hospital competition

WHEN IS the Southeast Missourian going to do a real analysis of the hospital situation in the region? As you know, many of the doctors in Cape also practice in other cities in the area. In the case of many things such as normal childbirth, the nearest hospital will and should get the business. In the case of complicated surgery and treatment, many of us want to go to the best like Barnes Jewish. So why don't you get a real analysis of the situation, particularly the beds and the ability to give complicated treatment? A map showing the real service area of the hospitals in Paducah, Carbondale, St. Louis, Memphis and other cities in the region would be a real help in the geographic analysis of the competition. Each of the local hospitals cannot do all things for all people and still be efficient and competitive. Get real.

Call for help

TO THE person who saw so much cruelty being done to the dog with heavy weights hanging from his neck: You said that there were other people around. Why didn't they do anything to stop it? Someone in this city must know where this man and this dog are. No one cares for cruelty to animals, so please call the Humane Society, police or anyone who can help this dog in distress.

Another perspective of the coach

I COULD not believe the comment in Speak Out about SEMO football coach John Mumford doing an excellent job. I know John Mumford's family personally, and he is a nice individual, but he is not a head coach. He was a good assistant or position coach, but he is not a head coach. I thought the one-year extension he received was wrong. If he is retained this year, the person retaining him needs to be fired.

Donation for Central America

WE HAVE Lambda Chi Alpha and Alpha Chi Omega dropping off bags to collect food for FISH. They dropped off these bags a week ago. We put about 20 pounds of food out to be picked up, and no one ever came by to pick up. I think it was a nice effort, and I hope they did well. But since they didn't pick up our food and we have all this food and since we've been watching the devastation and seeing on TV and reading in the news how the people in Central America are suffering and then we read in the newspaper that international students at SEMO are collecting canned goods and everything for the people of Central America, we decided to bring our stuff that the fraternity didn't collect over to SEMO at the University Center and see to it that it gets donated to those people. I was just wondering if anyone had the same idea or if you were in the same shape. It might be a good idea to send that stuff down to the people down there.

Character and resignation

A SPEAKER of the House who resigned was blamed for everything by the Democrats. Now, they praise him. It's a shame we still have a filthy, lying pervert in the White House who should have resigned, but he doesn't have the character.

Dog should be taken away

ABOUT THE inhumane treatment discussed in Speak Out, I don't even own a dog, but I think that was the most terrible thing I've heard of: to put weights on a dog's neck. I think if I would have seen that, I would have had to make a citizen's arrest. There shouldn't be any second chance, trial or question about it. The dog should be taken away from him. I wonder how he would treat a wife and children.

Try the cigarette cure

I HEARD on the news that smoking is the leading cause of sexual dysfunction and impotence for men. I believe Hillary should go buy Bill a whole big supply of cigarettes.

GOP is out of touch

WELL, THE election is over, and the results were not amazing. What is amazing to me is that the Republicans in all of their glory are still trying to figure out what happened. I don't think I have ever heard of such a major, plentiful party that is so out of touch with the American people.

Lying as an art form

THERE ARE a couple of falsehoods being called into Speak Out that need to be corrected. The first lie is that Republicans are against Social Security and Medicare. It would be political suicide for any politician, regardless of party, to come out against Social Security and Medicare. During every election, the Democrats will spread these lies knowing that there are a large number of voters naive enough to believe them. The second lie is that Clinton is responsible for the good economy. The economy runs in cycles. Ask any trained economist. Clinton is lucky enough to be president during a good cycle. Clinton is no more responsible for the good economy than Jimmy Carter was responsible for the bad economy during his term. The bottom line is the Democrats have made an art form out of lying. During the last election, they told blacks that if Republicans won, black churches would be blown up and crosses would be burned on their lawns. They told the elderly that their Social Security would be cut. They told the poor that Republicans wanted to cut school lunches when in fact Republicans increased school lunch funding. It's sad to say, but it seems like Bill Clinton has taught his party that lying pays. And the reason that lying pays is there are millions of voters out there who lack the mental capacity to see through these falsehoods. Now you know why Democrats always fight educaiton reform. Their philosophy is, the dumber we can keep them, the more votes we can get.

Analyzing the election

THERE'S SOMETHING really rotten in Denmark. I realize that Jo Ann Emerson got the majority vote. Evidently the people wanted her awful bad. Why I don't know. The qualifications didn't near compare with her opponent who was a judge, a farmer and a native here all his life. One thing that troubles me is that Heckemeyer lost by that much. I wonder if it was a vote against President Clinton and the Democratic Party. The same with his son. She carried the same way with the last election. Her opponent did not carry ordinarily Democratic counties. Either Emerson's awful wonderful, which I have reservations about, or else her opponents are awful bad, or the voters hate President Clinton in this congressional district so bad that they'll do anything, vote against any Democrat. I read a complaint about Heckemeyer's people. Well, I had Emerson people call me up on the phone. I was polite to them. I consider that their political right. They just asked the gentleman if he voted. He seemed to be offended by that. I think he was offended because it was a Democrat who called him. They're strictly party people. They're strictly Clinton haters. And any Democrat is going to suffer unless it's local where there aren't any opponents like the two county officials did here. We sure have changed. We've gone to the dogs completely.

Golden age of whining

I'M CALLING to say how tired I am of reading the opinions of people in their golden age. The people in this age group whine about Social Security as they wait for elderly welfare, which is Medicare and Medicaid payments. These payments should be for those elderly people who cannot afford doctors. It should not be for everyone over 65. And they whine about the decline of family values, yet they support Clinton and the Democrats. These people use liberal and conservative in place of Democrat and Republican when liberal and conservative have nothing to do with party affiliations. Either you want more and bigger government rotting our lives and you're a liberal, or you want individuals to take responsibility for themselves and you're a conservative.