SPEAKOUT

Need to issue tickets

I READ with amusement and disgust your front page article on our police department's new approach to deterring speeding. The first sentence sums up this new effort as one of police officers being more visible. I can assure you visibility is not good enough. The Smart Trailer was parked across the street from my home several days earlier this year, and we could easily see the screen displaying driving speeds. Cars continued to exceed the 35 mph posted speed limit with great abandon. Oh, some of them slowed down, but they slowed down to 38 or so, still over the speed limit. In fact, one driver sped on by at 47 mph. By the way, a Cape Girardeau police officer was sitting within 100 feet of the Smart Trailer when this occurred. He did not respond. He did not even look up as the car sped by. Perhaps the next new approach should be for the officers to watch for speeders and issue tickets as warranted. Gosh, oh well, that's probably too radical to be considered in this town.

No legacy of character

IT WAS great to see Nixon leave the White House and it will be great when Clinton leaves the White House. Neither had character for their legacy.

Ticket-happy police

THIS IS a response to the lady who called Speak Out about taking a handicapped person in a wheelchair and parked in a handicapped parking space but she didn't have the place card so she got a ticket. Well, all I've got to say about Cape Girardeau Police Department is that it is ticket happy. Officers are giving out tickets for little minor things that cost you anywhere from $50 to $100. I guess that's the way they're going to make up their money here at Christmas. Merry Christmas to you, police department.

In a state of denial

THIS IS in response to the caller who chastised the Southeast Missourian for printing comments that referred to the president as a pervert. What should you call a 51-year-old man who performs unprintable sexual acts with a 21-year-old woman while his wife and daughter are in another part of the house? I think the term pervert describes Bill Clinton quite accurately. People who believe otherwise must be in a constant state of denial.

Calling all Democrats

I'M CALLING all Democrats of Southeast Missouri to call Speak Out to protest this effort to oust the president through impeachment. I'm calling on the Southeast Missourian to be fair and print what I'm saying. I would like Democrats to call Speak Out to encourage people to vote against Jo Ann Emerson for re-election in the year 2000. If Christopher Bond and John Ashcroft are running, I want them to be on the hit list to defeat them. They're trying to go around our wishes. We elected Bill Clinton. We want him in office, and those lame-duck radicals have no right to overrule us. So I'm calling for us to really protest and really work hard to defeat Jo Ann Emerson. Let's work hard.

Salary is unfair to teachers

I WAS calling about the new superintendent for the Cape Girardeau School District. I think it's very unfair that he's going to get paid more than what Dr. Tallent was being paid. It will be about a 9 percent increase from Dr. Tallent's salary, which is a large amount of money compared to what this new superintendent is being paid at Arcadia. And once again the school board has overloaded the teachers with frozen salaries but is giving a 9 percent increase in salary to a new superintendent who doesn't have that much experience as a superintendent. I just feel it to be unfair justice for the teachers who work for the Cape school system.

When the going gets rough ...

EVEN CONGRESS has finally become suspicious of Bill Clinton. Every time something drastic is about to happen to him, he bombs somebody. He puts anybody's life in jeopardy, especially ours. He'll do anything to anybody who stands in the way of his career. It's as simple as that. I wish everybody in this country would realize that. That man is crazy.

Consideration for cats

I'VE BEEN resisting the temptation to call in but I'm afraid I'm going to have to because somebody needs to speak up for the cats in our lives. Would you let your beloved, cherished dogs out running around without a leash, free to get hit by cars? Well, it's true, many dogs are the victims of such negligence by human beings, but if you come to my neighborhood, you'll see that it's cats more often. We've got at least five or six cats at any given time of any given age running around just like nobody cares about them. They are well-fed. They're not skin and bones, and they're not dirty. That means humans are taking care of them. They could not forage that well and look so nice and clean and shiny and tame. But I just wonder what is it that you think about cats, because if you really love them as much as you say you love them, you owners who keep outside cats would never let them outside where they can get into all kinds of trouble. Somehow in this country we've come to assume that cats are smarter than dogs and know what cars are and how to stay out of the way because they walk down the sidewalk sometimes. So let's not try to humanize them and think that they know what traffic signals mean and that they're like just small children and would know better. They don't. They're animals. Keep them inside where they belong. Also, when they're outside, they're prone to all kinds of infections and fights with other cats and other animals. It's really sad. I've called the Humane Society one or two times to come pick up cats from this neighborhood. I'm sorry they're a kill operation because they can't afford to keep them and not kill them, so money donations would be appreciated, I know.

It's our free speech

MANY WHO read Speak Out do not want anyone to refer to the president as a pervert. They don't want the Southeast Missourian to print it if mentioned. Do you Clinton worshipers want to take away our freedom of speech if we disagree with the character of your leader, the pervert? Sounds like you want a state-owned newspaper, comrade.

Protecting his own interests

BILL CLINTON has shown that he is willing to lie and to cause others great expense, hardship and embarrassment in order to protect himself from his own errors in judgment. With the situation in Iraq, how can we trust him to put the good of our military above his own interests? He lied to protect his own interests, and now men and women who put the good of their nation before their own are having to take orders from a leader who did not do the same.

No element of surprise

IF YOU were going to attack Iraq and bomb Saddam, would you let the whole world know about it in advance like Bill Clinton did? There is a method to his madness. He wanted to divert attention away from Congress. He's wagging the dog again. However, Bill Clinton kind of reminds me of a daddy scolding his son. He keeps saying, "Now if you do that again, I'm going to spank you." The little boy does it again. Clinton says, "If you do that again, I'm going to spank you." He never spanks him. And as far as Saddam is concerned, he probably thinks you said you were going to do it before and you haven't done it yet. That's why I have absolutely no faith in Bill Clinton at all. I have more faith in Saddam Hussein.

The blood of the dead

OUR DRAFT-dodging president was willing to take the United States into war to take heat off the impeachment process. What a sorry human being he is. The blood of our soldiers and the foreign troops will be on Clinton's and his followers' hands. Some day they will pay for it. He should have been removed from office before he could get us in a world war at which time he will declare himself dictator of our country.

Keep up the good letters

I THOUGHT the first letter by Robert Cron was one of the best letters I've ever read. But I have to say I think he's outdone himself on this second letter. If you're out there reading, sir, keep up the good work. We need people like you.

In harm's way

YOU CAN'T say I didn't tell you so. I told you that Bill Clinton would do something drastic, and this is about as drastic as it gets. Oh no, he might do something even worse than this, but he's putting us all in harm's way and he is deliberately murdering Iraqis.

More noise coming

I'M CALLING in response to the caller who said he's tired of the noise. I am a teen-ager. I have a system in my car. We teen-agers really do not care what you people think, so just keep on complaining because it's not going to make a difference to us because we're going to keep on doing it.