SPEAKOUT

Nine-day delivery

I'D LIKE to make a comment on the postal service that we receive these days. It seems the higher the rate goes for mailing a letter, the worse the service gets. I'm speaking of mailing a letter in Cape Girardeau on Feb. 1, and it reached its destination in Peru, Ill., on Feb. 10. Now isn't nine days a little while to get a letter from Cape Girardeau to Peru, Ill.? After all, this is just a little bit south of Chicago.

Good column

CONGRATULATIONS TO Peter Kinder for his superb column on partial-birth abortion testimony. This is the best column that he has written in 10 years. Congratulations.

Bad column

I AM aware that your newspaper does not always agree with a columnist that you publish. However, the Feb. 16 column that Mona Charen wrote is a disgrace. It should never have been written much less published. I suggest you disavow your views from hers. She is a shame to the country.

One-and-a-half month delivery

CAN YOU believe this? On Feb. 15, I received a piece of mail that was postmarked Dec. 30 in Battle Creek, Mich. It took this piece of mail exactly 1 1/2 months to get here. What is wrong with our postal department?

Liberals who bash

I WOULD like to address the liberals calling in bashing Peter Kinder. Has anyone noticed what the emphasis on education is now? Self-esteem, aerobics, arts and, at the university level, what it feels like to be poor. I thought education was instruction in learning the basics of making a living, contributing to society and being a good citizen. And on the issue of clean air, by whose standards is it not clean? These people on these commissions are neither elected or accountable to the American people. And with the pitiful record of credibility among bureaucrats, who knows what their motives are? It's Peter's responsibility to question and inform his constituents, which is why I believe he was re-elected.

Support the police department

THIS IS in response to the person who made the comment that the police department is about as ineffective as a one-legged man in butt kicking contest. As far as statistics go, maybe those other cities are lower, but they also have a higher pay rate for their police officers. Cape does not reach its potential in pay for their police officers. Therefore, it is constantly losing good policemen to higher paying jobs and is constantly rehiring and having rookies. If Cape would take care of its police officers, we would have a better, more skilled police force with more experience to do some of the jobs. I'm really hurt by the fact that this person shows such a lack of respect for our police department. It has really done a good job considering the lack of support it's got from people and other officers.

Turning on red lights

ATTENTION DRIVERS in Cape Girardeau. Missouri law says that you may make a right turn on red unless there is a sign posted otherwise. A lot of people are misunderstanding the light at Siemers and Route K. People are stopping at the stop light and not turning on red when they can. I have called the police station, and you're holding up traffic. If there's nothing coming Route K way, you can go ahead and turn right.

Be prepared

I'M AN elderly person. I'm 80 years old. When it snows, I have my driveway cleaned off immediately. Now the reason we do this is in case an ambulance must come to our place and get one of us and take us to the hospital. Now that's why we clear our driveways in the morning and I hope all you people who hear this will understand.

Now less gas mileage

IT'S AMAZING what assumptions cause us to think and say. People bashing those who do not agree with the EPA assume that EPA is always right and good for the environment. This isn't true. Last fall, we got a recall notice from General Motors to take our car in for a computer change. This is good? Wrong. We were averaging between 28 and 31.8 miles per gallon on the highway before. Now we average 23 to 24 miles per gallon on the highway. How can using this much more gas to go the same distance be good for the environment? It costs us more and we pollute more.

Trees butchered in park

MY WIFE and I went for a walk in the Jackson City Park, and I just think it's a shame the way the park department is butchering the beautiful pine trees down along by the highway. They've cut some of them up, looks like about six feet. They're totally ruining them. I think the board of aldermen or somebody needs to put a stop to this and see who's in charge of it.

Eyes are wide open

TO THE person who says he would ban things that do not glorify the Lord. Then you should be banning television and various other things you contain in your home. Not everything glorifies everything. As for the nude male, do you wear a blind in the shower? Is nudity that horrible a thing? I am not a Christian, nor do I glorify Christian beliefs. I have no religion, but my eyes are wide open.

Observing Presidents' Day

I BELIEVE the Cape school system has given itself another F in American history by deciding to go to school on Presidents' Day when they didn't go to school on Martin Luther King's birthday. They need to look back in American history and see who is more important to our country, our presidents or Martin Luther King. It's pretty much a clear issue. And also I'm proud to say I don't send my kids to Cape public schools for apparent reasons. We go to a private-parochial school where we support ourselves with our own money. And once again, I will be voting against the tax hike for Cape public schools because of their incompetent leadership.

Against taking land

I HAVE a couple of things that have been bothering me lately and I'd like to take this opportunity to voice my concern. First, I'm proud of my conservative heritage. I have been a staunch Republican ever since conception along with my family. I am a supporter of Sen. Kinder's. However I must take issue with his pro-lake stance. At no time do I believe it is right to take away property or force owners to sell. My family has property that is generational, and I will protect that which I love with my life if necessary. Which brings me to another concern of mine which is the Environmental Protection Agency. Two words: junk science. This organization should be completely disbanded and then reorganized into an agency that could first of all conduct proven reliable scientific studies and secure individuals with some common sense. To me this money vacuum agency is like the Psychic Network, truly focused and takes advantage of the ill-informed.