SPEAKOUT

Latecomers couldn't buy tickets

I WOULD like to comment on the Sammy Hagar concert. I thought it was an incredible show, actually better than the St. Louis one that I attended Aug. 1. The thing I'd like to address is the fact that St. Louis obviously did not advertise this concert well. I spoke with several people from St. Louis, and they had to hear about by word of mouth. Also, I would like to address the fact that St. Louis people who heard about it and drove down from St. Louis and got here after the concert started were disappointed that the box office at the Show Me Center closed early, and they could not buy tickets and get in. They were disappointed. Of course, they made that two-hour trip down here to go to that concert. I just believe if somebody's going to sell concert tickets and they want to sell to the maximum, they at least need to keep the box office open as late as possible to allow latecomers to buy tickets.

Teacher salaries are the culprit

YES, TEACHERS' salary increases do put the schools in a financial bind. Higher salaries and the keeping up with the Jones's put a burden on every district. Cape has abundant teacher applicants. Hire teachers who want to teach instead of salary-minded, militant teachers who are not thinking of the children first. Teachers are on the defensive about the school finances, and they should be. They know and we know that that is where the blame lies.

Teacher salaries are not the problem

THERE HAVE been several references in the newspaper lately to substantial raises given to the Cape Girardeau teachers in the past five years. I've been in the district six years and never have gotten what I would consider a substantial raise. We are still below neighboring districts on our pay scale, and the 8 percent raise mentioned in Thursday's paper -- I don't know where you got that. We did receive a 5 percent raise at one point, but that was to make up for previous years of almost no raises. I hope that the public will understand that teacher salaries are not the problem.

Poor support for top rock 'n' roll

THIS MESSAGE is to you so-called Cape rock 'n' rollers who whine and complain that no quality rock acts perform at the Show Me Center. I'm 43 years old, and I've been to shows from the Rolling Stones to Jane's Addiction. I witnessed an outstanding performance by Sammy Hagar, and I was embarrassed to the low attendance. So to all the complainers out there, fill up your gas tank and cruise to St. Louis for your rock concerts, because rock is dead in Cape Girardeau.

Retired workers and Social Security

I CERTAINLY agree with the caller about older people who draw Social Security and keep on working. If they didn't want to retire, why did they quit their jobs? Especially these retired people who work in fast food places. To me, they're taking a young person's job who might be trying to finance his education or car. If these retired people have idle time on their hands, why don't they try some of the many crafts that people are doing, or do some volunteer work at many places that welcome volunteers? What it really comes down to, they want that mighty dollar. When I see them taking a job away from someone younger trying to make a start in life, they don't impress me one bit.

Against halfway house near school

THIS IS about Parkview State School. My daughter attends school there. I can't believe they are considering a halfway house right next door to the school. I just talked to my state representative, and she said there is a need for a place to help rehabilitate these prisoners who are 30-90 days from probation or parole. I was very disillusioned. She listened to me, but it was clear where she stood, and it wasn't on the side of the schoolchildren.

Government is separated from citizens

MY CALL was prompted by a survey in Cape Girardeau's utility billing mailings. It is a recycling survey, and I think that this is just an indication of how they are privatizing this business, which is becoming much more lucrative as they are accepting more and more materials for recycling, not to say this is not good for the country and the environment. What about the citizens of this city? We are not realizing any benefits from our efforts separating our materials, spending our water money in cleaning these materials and sending them into the city to be marketed from which there is revenue that is realized. The citizens should realize some type of reduction in their costs of solid waste on their utility billing. Cape Girardeau is living off the citizens of the town, and it is not right. Citizens make the town of Cape. The city government is becoming much more like the federal government all the time, separating themselves from the people. The Public Works Department is a prime example. I wish the citizens of Cape Girardeau could realize that we have a right to realize benefits from the efforts that we take to make recycling a successful project.

Retirees work, pay Social Security

A NOTE about Social Security. When you're 65 years old and retire and draw Social Security, you are entitled to make $14,500 in 1997. So the government encourages us older people to work and pay into Social Security.

Use sense, or we'll destroy ourselves

HISTORY IS our greatest teacher if we are willing to listen. Mrs. Kempe seems to be a very studious learner and teacher of history. Yet I suppose that even old history makers can learn new truths. Many people have used tobacco in the past. Many other products were also used in the past until it was found that they posed serious health problems to those same people. It was then that people with common sense (lacking today) logically chose to cease usage and to even outlaw the ingredients as a public service. Cocaine in Coca-Cola, snake oils and marijuana are examples. For decades the American public have been lied to (even in the face of scientific truth) about the serious health hazards tobacco causes. Now we are given the new philosophy of tobacco interests: "We lied, millions died, so today we hope you will try. Please use your personal choice and buy our deadly cancer-causing product priced too high. Only this time in truth, we now stand by and take your money as we watch you die." But I do agree with the new ideology of personal choice, whereas the nonsmoker chooses not to allow smokers to infect us with their personal choice of premature death. If our society has lost the common sense to differentiate between good and bad, healthy and deadly, personal choice with responsibility or irresponsible behavior to the detriment of others, history shows it is just a matter of a short while till we destroy ourselves.

Some retirees provide jobs for others

I WOULD like to respond to the comment in Speak Out that says everyone on Social Security should quit their job. For one thing, some people are only getting about $300 a month, some even less. Could you live on that? Why should anyone be forced to try to live on that? The other thing, people who continue to work also continue paying into Social Security even while drawing their small checks. Some self-employed people who run a business also provide jobs for others and pay Social Security taxes for their employees as well as their own. Self-employed people pay the full amount of tax for themselves as well as half of their employees' share. Why force these people to quit? Think about it.

Publicity is good weapon against meth

I JUST finished reading the Southeast Missourian. I'm amazed at all the news articles about methamphetamine on the front page especially. But I probably want to say thank you to Jeffrey Jackson and Mark Bliss for keeping public so informed with these articles. And I do agree with the police chief's letter to the editor that the Southeast Missourian news staff's excellent article will in time help us win the war against illegal drugs such as meth. As far as in response to the article in Speak Out about the lawyer that got one year jail for meth. He was stated as saying it has ruined his life. I'm sure he regrets ever getting involved in this. It's illegal. Keep up the good work informing the public. Maybe some day we'll be able to pick up the paper and it will say meth is not so widespread as it is at this time.

Some don't have Internet access

THE NEXT time you have a contest, please considering opening it up to a larger segment of your faithful subscribers. A large number of us in the community don't subscribe to the Internet or even have a computer. Possibly, a contest with dual entry methods would be in order. It could be entered via mail and computer. It would be greatly appreciated.

REPLY: The Beanie Baby contest is a special promotion for the Southeast Missourian's web site at semissourian.com. It is intended to encourage visits to the web site. From the number of entries received so far, it appears to be working. The Southeast Missouri regularly sponsors other contests for readers of the newspaper, including the just-ended Christmas Cookie Contest.

Plenty of room for lots of Bible views

A RECENT caller urged another caller not to put his personal interpretation into the words of the Bible, which I find pretty laughable. In fact, almost any caller that calls Speak Out gives his own interpretation to the Bible. Also, if there were only one interpretation to the Bible, there would be two, possibly three, denominations involved in Christianity in this whole world. Unfortunately, there are actually hundreds, all of which involve people's personal interpretations of what the Bible actually says. There is plenty of room for discussion on what was meant and what is said in the Bible.

Taxes are paid willingly

I KNOW that a lot of people will think what I'm about to say sounds strange, but I have been willingly paying income taxes more than 30 years. I know it takes a lot of money to run our government, but one needs to consider the benefits we receive daily, such as being protected by the best military forces in the world, as well as many other things too numerous to mention, I count it a privilege to do my part. I believe if more of our citizens practiced tithing, they would find that they would have more than enough money to pay their bills with.

High tax bill and school funding

I JUST received my tax bill, which was $225 higher than last year. I hope Cape's public schools can live on their $24 million, because I am not going to vote for a tax increase for at least five years.

Making the most of retirement income

THIS IS to the caller who said people should not draw Social Security if they work, or if they had money or if they draw another pension. Well, I draw the maximum Social Security and a union pension. That gives me take-home pay of $550 weekly. My wife is still working, but we will draw her Social Security, a union pension I've arranged for her and a pension from her work. How do you like those apples? I bet you're a rich Republican.

Another landlord's woeful tale

MY HEART goes out to the St. Louis resident who owns property here in Cape. You give some people a break in rentals and then they seem to think later on, after they've paid six months rent or whatever, that they've got it coming to them. If there's any damage, they never did it. I suppose somebody broke in and damaged and littered the place up. Well, thank God, a lot of times you can get a tenant that could pay rent, and you swear you've got a good tenant. Then they stop paying, and you're the victim, and you finally get them out. You should see how they trash your apartment. I've had an apartment with human feces all over it, a mattress damaged, a bathroom and commode hadn't been cleaned must have been over two years, rugs that hadn't been vacuumed over two years, boxes and litter all over the place, dirty dishes that had been in the sink since God knows when and grease at least a half inch thick. That's the kind of tenant I've had. He paid rent, but he stopped paying, and I got a chance to go in and take over. I saw how he left me. I say let's end this HUD.