SPEAKOUT

A cynical response

THE WISH giving father to the thought award for November goes to SEMO's George Dordoni. In a recently published letter to the editor, Dordoni praised Cape for being an international city. Yeah, right. And Speak Out reflects Cape's multicultural cosmopolitanism.

Angry voters will decide

YOU REPUBLICANS are in a bind. God forbid if Clinton would resign, which he no way is. Come Election Day 2000, the voters are going to be more angry, and Al Gore is a quick, sure victory for the Democratic Party, plus he'll probably take a Democratic Congress with him. And if they keep up trying to get rid of Clinton, trying to really build up to hurt him and his family, the voters are going to be more angry, because they told you what to do last election. Get on with business. He should not be impeached. Let him do his job. Let him finish his term out. We hate what he did, but we want him to finish his job. The economy's good. Let well enough alone. That's the handwriting on the wall. And if you don't want to take heed, these radical Republicans are going to take you down in defeat.

Movie advice

I JUST wanted to warn parents who had planned on taking their children to see "Babe: A Pig in the City." It is a dark, depressing movie. Do not take your children. Ours cried. We had to leave.

Pressure from employer

AS A parent with two boys in high school, I agree the attendance policy encouraging students to come in when they're sick is very bad and counterproductive to learning. But I think even a bigger problem is the attendance policy at one of the big employers in town. They don't even want to see your doctor's explanation for why he thinks you shouldn't be at work. There's a big cut if you miss a certain amount of days, and you're automatically fired. It doesn't matter if you're sick or your car broke down and your house flooded or whatever. So, there are a lot of employees going into work when they're sick and should be home, infecting other workers who then have to work when they're sick too. I think that ought to be stopped. When a doctor tells you that you shouldn't be at work, that ought to be good enough. I've not been fired, and nobody's said anything to me. I'm just real tired of working with people who are sick and I'm tired of feeling like I have to go in all the time even when the doctor tells me to stay home. I just don't think it's right.

Enjoyed those vegetables

I'M JUST reading your editorial about the Missouri Electric Works. I wonder how many of the people in the immediate area of Cape had tomatoes and onions out of Dick Gerald's garden in back of Missouri Electric Works 15, 20 or 30 years ago. I know my wife and I ate them as long as Dick grew them, and I'll be 71 next month. Just a question about PCBs.

Don't spout off

I'M CALLING about the editorial about the PCB cleanup at the Missouri Electric Works site. You question whether PCBs cause any harm to human beings and say that there's never proven to be any link between PCBs and harmed people. Well, if you haven't read all the scientific literature on this, you have no reason to be spouting off. Judging from the previous editorials I've read in your paper, it's not uncommon for you to shoot your mouth off without knowing what you're talking about.

REPLY: Perhaps this caller would share any information that shows a link between PCBs and endangered human health.

Moment of stupidity

EVERY NOW and then, the editorial of the Southeast Missourian becomes a lunatic caricature of itself. The commentary on PCBs was just such a defining moment of stupidity. Denying the evidence regarding the toxic effects of PCBs does not make it so. Fortunately, the EPA does not breathe the same ozone as the Missourian editorial writers, or we'd be surrounded by high-level carcinogens and toxins, denying to the death that they are hazardous. But thanks once again for reminding us what lack of credibility really means.

Birds of a feather ...

HILLARY STILL says the Christian Right is to blame for all her husband's bad publicity. How she can strut around with a big smile on her face after so many affairs and perversion of the president is just sickening. The media and their obedient followers are hanging on to every word that Miss Power Hungry and Mr. Pervert say, like they were royalty. To repeat an old proverb, people with no values and no character follow people with no values and no character.

Traffic misdirections

WHAT A wonderful Christmas parade we had. I just have one question. Is there any way we keep the police away from the parade? For example, at Pacific and Broadway I stood and watched the police officer way before the parade started trying to direct traffic, and he almost caused a wreck. And I saw him almost get a mother and two children hit. Also, does the motorcycle cop have to see how fast he can go up and down the street before the parade begins?

Not good for hog farmers

EVERYONE SEEMS to think the economy is so good. Nobody cares about the farmer, especially the hog farmer. A few years ago, he could sell his hogs for 60 cents a pound. Now he gets 15 cents a pound. Has the price of pork gone down that much in the grocery store? How would you like for your paycheck to be one-fourth of what it was a few years ago?

There's no comparison

WHAT A spectacle the Democrats of the House made of themselves with their rude and crude behavior. You can see why these people support every perverted group and the sex pervert we have in the White House. It's plain to see they have no character or values. It wasn't an inquiry. It was a trial. Mr. Starr's character vs. Mr. Clinton's is like comparing ice cream to horse manure.

200 years of advancement

A RECENT caller managed to reveal, in a single call, a misunderstanding of socialism, the Clinton health-care plan and the principle views held by the Founding Fathers. Regarding the latter, the Founders used principles which allowed for the enslavement of fellow humans, the denial of the right to vote or own property by women and the driving of American Indians from their ancestral homelands. Those principles may have been all right as a place to start, but we have made over 200 years of advancement since then, and this nation is not going to revert to the good old days even if many Clinton haters would like to do so.

Practical items needed

THIS IS the time of the year when everyone opens his heart and gives and gives to the needy. These people are mostly on food stamps. What they really, really need is toilet paper, toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash, razors, shampoo, soap, detergent -- and the list goes on. There are so many things that they can't buy with their food stamps that they really, really need.

Music, not trash TV

IN THE past year, my family and I have had to visit several doctors' offices in the Cape area. We are shocked at the television that we are forced to watch in the waiting rooms. The soaps and the daytime programming are disgusting. Once while we were there, a mother with her two young girls looked so embarrassed that her children were seeing such filth. And the receptionists most of the time turn it up so that they can hear it. It's so loud the patients can't even talk to each other. Then they get mad at you if you ask if they will turn it down. We've stopped going to some of the local restaurants because of this trash. Whatever happened to some nice, soothing music?

Muddled thinking

PETER KINDER'S thinking is flawed again. His comments that higher speed on highways results in fewer accidents is completely contrary to what state after state reported shortly after speed limits were increased. Instead, there were more accidents, and insurance rates increased when limits were increased. It stands to reason that a driver of a truck or car has less control of a vehicle in an emergency when traveling at 75 mph rather than going 60 to 65 mph. Does Peter Kinder think we are complete idiots to believe his muddled thinking?

Perjury fiasco

IF CLINTON is not impeached, then Congress will have to release all perjury felons from prison so that justice will be served and to prove that all men are equal. Clinton will have set the precedent that perjury is not a punishable offense backed up by Congress. What a fiasco.

No leaves in the street

RESIDENTS OF Cape Girardeau, please stop raking your leaves into the streets. They either end up in someone else's yard, down the drainage pipes creating problems for people in the lower areas when heavy rains fall, or they end up all over the streets with freezing temperatures creating frozen mounds that can make driving hazardous. Please have some consideration for others.

Conservation officers

THIS IS a response to the person who's son and son's girlfriend were stopped at a roadblock which was manned in part by conservation agents. The individual seemed to think the agents shouldn't have been there. In the caller's opinion, the conservation agent's job didn't constitute real law enforcement. For the caller's information, conservation agents are graduates of a special program at the Missouri State Highway Patrol Academy. They are commissioned as Missouri law enforcement officers and can enforce all state laws, not just conservation laws. Do a little research and you'll find that a conservation law enforcement officer's job is considered one of the most dangerous jobs in law enforcement. Also, Missouri is considered one of the two or three most dangerous states in the United States in which to be a conservation law enforcement officer. In rural areas, conservation agents provide back-up to city police departments and sheriff's departments and work closely with the highway patrol. Statewide, they are involved in a variety of law enforcement activities such as drug raids and apprehending murder suspects, which I'm certain even the caller would consider real law enforcement. I know an agent quite well. Evidently the caller doesn't, because he certainly doesn't understand an agent's job description.

Doctors seek convenience

AFTER THREE and a half decades of contributing to the disruptions in classrooms in both public and parochial schools in this area, the orthodontists have finally be outwitted by the principal, Mr. Fidler, at the high school. To be rewarded for perfect attendance, students would rather stay in class than take an hour for the orthodontist during school time. As a retired school counselor, I have waited for this challenge for years. From seventh grade through grade 12, there is or was a constant flow of students coming and going to the orthodontist all day, every day, and each student's coming and going disrupted at least two classes, plus two interferences in the office. As the orthodontists cry foul and become overly concerned about sick students attending school to the detriment to all students, they are not being honest. When one decides to be an orthodontist, you are aware of the ages of your clientele: school-age children, mostly. Wouldn't it be wiser for you, the doctor, to have office hours so as not to disturb your patients' education rather than asking parents, patients, and schools to accommodate you? Don't mention extracurricular activities or health concerns as a defense. Just admit that you want it your way for your convenience. Other doctors provide services, and so can you. Come on, school board, six professionals shouldn't be allowed to make the rules. No excused absences for orthodontists' appointments. I've been there, seen and done that, and it's never been acceptable to anyone.