SPEAKOUT

Bring back WGN

AFTER HAVING a couple of days to review the new channels that TCI has put on in favor of WGN, I just can't believe that's what they picked over WGN, two channels that nobody will ever watch. A useless cable TV here in Cape Girardeau. We need to get WGN back on our cable system.

Punish the parents

CAPE GIRARDEAU needs an ordinance that punishes parents of children who are out after curfew. Many of our crimes are committed by juveniles in the early-morning hours. Don't the parents of these young offenders know where they are at 2 or 3 in the morning? Being a fisherman, I often leave in the wee hours to fish at lakes in Illinois or Kentucky. It is not unusual to see dozens of youngsters in the Sprigg Street and Morgan Oak area at 3 or 4 in the morning. If the parents of these youngsters are so irresponsible that they let their children run all night, then they should be punished with fines, jail or whatever it takes. If this is unacceptable to them, then they should move to another town.

Other systems better

FROM WHAT I understand from a friend of mine who lives in Fruitland, their cable is much better than ours. It doesn't go out, it has much better programming and they don't bully people around the way TCI does. Here they've taken WGN and the Bulls off, and the Bulls are back on. Does that make any sense? No, they shouldn't have taken WGN off. They don't ask anybody, they just do it, because Cape won't do anything about getting rid of them.

County pay is low

I JUST saw in the newspaper where the county commissioners and everybody were being sworn in for their terms of office. I just moved down to the Cape Girardeau area from up near Jefferson County, another first-class county. I'm an income-tax preparer by trade, and I just can't believe the amount of difference between Cape Girardeau County and Jefferson County for the pay disparity that is between county employees, between Jefferson County and Cape Girardeau County. Cape Girardeau County is barely above the poverty level. I just can't understand why Cape Girardeau County, being one of the richest per capita counties in the state, can't pay its employees a higher wage.

Don't take the pay raise

IF THE lawmakers in Jefferson City do not accept that raise they're offered, I imagine there'll be a lot of them that will be kept in office. I vote Republican, but if there are any Republicans or Democrats who vote for the raise, they'll not get my vote.

Take the SS raise

I THINK the lawmakers in Jefferson City indeed do need a raise. I think they should get the same raise that I got on my Social Security the first of the year, which was $29. I think they deserve that.

Why all the fighting?

I AM tired of people going around beating the crap out of other people for no reason. What is the point in fighting? All you are doing is hurting someone. Why? Because you don't like them? If so, stay away from them. My opinion is it is very immature. If you want to fight, fight fair, not using crowbars and tire tools. If you have something against somebody, don't mess with their vehicle either. We aren't here to fight people. We're here to live, support our families and have fun. Let the teen-age years be fun while they last, not to hurt people. Do we think parents like to see their kids in the hospitals for no reason? I don't think so. They live for their kids. They want them to be safe, but anymore everybody is worried something is going to happen to them, their house being broke into, getting mugged for their money. Look what Cape Girardeau has turned into. I would like to know that I can go to bed being safe in my own home, but you have to think it could happen to you just like everybody else. Someone has to put a stop to this. People need to grow up and live a little, use their brains.

What about the eyesores?

WHY WOULD they have to tear down St. Vincent's Seminary as early as Feb. 1 when it's in really good shape and nothing has been done about the Marquette Hotel or the old St. Francis Hospital. They've been sitting there, going down hill for a long, long time. They're terrible eyesores, and no one ever seems to have a problem with that.

Credit help

I WONDER if you could give information in Speak Out about when a person has kind of dug a hole for himself with credit cards, where can he go to get help to get relief from this situation?

REPLY: Go to Consumer Credit Counseling Service, 1606 Independence St. in Cape Girardeau. The telephone number is 334-7050.

Satellite stock

EACH TV station has cartoons, kids shows or reruns. No more movies in the afternoons. This sure would be a good time to buy stock in a satellite dish company. I bet we would make a fortune.

Speaker should go

THE SPEAKER of the House, Newt Gingrich, is as crooked as a dog's hind leg is an outstanding example of the crookedness in politics in this country as far as I'm concerned. We got to start somewhere getting the crooked politicians out of office, and getting him out would be a good start. If the elected officials think that I'm going to vote for people who back a crook, they've got another think coming. I don't like it, wouldn't want it, wouldn't have it. I think he ought to be wiped completely out, lose his seat and everything else he's got because he won't do like he's supposed to.

Making up play-by-play

THIS CONCERNS the newscaster, Walter Cronkite. In a recent biography on he admits to making up ballgames and Ronald Reagan doing the same thing. They laugh about it, because the technology was not complete, 100 percent efficient, so that they sometimes had to make up lost innings. Is that ethical or not? I don't know.

Short route, long delivery

THIS IS too good not to share. When I went to my mailbox to get my mail, among the numerous pieces was a letter addressed to a family living in the 2100 block of Groves Street, Glenview, Ill., with a plain ZIP Code of 60025. I flipped it over, and it was from a family in the 2100 block of Groves Street in Glenview, Ill. Do you think that since both these people lived in the same block, they would have had faster mail service if they had hand delivered it? I have no idea what happened, and I really don't care for an explanation. I just attributed it to our very efficient Postal Service. Needless to say, the letter has been sent on it's way. I only hope the Ducksons and the Dolans are not angry with each other.