SPEAKOUT

Drug information

I ADMIRE Bobby Joe Allen Jr. for taking on the opinion of Gary Rust about the facts of marijuana. However, he does have one problem with his letter. He claims that heroin and methamphetamine are Schedule 1 drugs. Heroin is a Schedule 1 drug not to be used or experimented with. But methamphetamine is a Schedule 2 drug sold under the brand name Dezoxin, and doctors can prescribe it.

RVs and mobile homes

AN RV park downtown? How interesting. Crossing the bridge is a hassle and pulling an RV downtown on unfamiliar one-way streets isn't? You want an RV park downtown, and this town doesn't want mobile homes in neighborhoods? Come on.

For the working man

I THINK President Clinton is really proving himself and showing the remarkable president he is. The unemployment is way down in 24 years. Next election he deserves a Democratic Congress to really get things done. My biggest regret is that his national health-care bill failed, something the that people who are without coverage need today, the working poor. He's the working man's president. I'm all for him, and I think he'll go down in history as a great president.

Try helping your neighbor

LAST WEEK a caller from Jackson really shocked me. The comment was that someone on her street did not care for their yard and home in a manner that she appreciated and everyone else on that street had perfect yards. I moved to a new neighborhood in Jackson last fall. We have had not a tremendous amount of outside-the-home work time available. I must add that this is a big lawn-care neighborhood. My neighbors mow every three days. Although my lawn is not perfect, it is mowed and trimmed regularly. I even clean the street. My whole gripe is that in a community like Jackson, this lawn snob caller needs to leave town or wake up. I have lived all over the U.S. and have never found a more helpful and friendly town like Jackson. Remember Acts of Kindness Week? Well, let's make it all the time. Be neighborly and go help. Be a good neighbor. These people in question may have a problem that a good Christian neighbor could help with. "Be nice and neighborly and do unto others as you wish them to do unto you."

Wrong apology

HERE WE have a politically correct president trying to apologize to the African Americans for something that happened 130 years ago or better. I didn't know he was that old. What did he do? Why doesn't he apologize for something he did in his lifetime? Like he could apologize to the Armed Forces and the veterans for being in a foreign country and protesting while they were fighting the Vietnam War.

Still no C-SPAN

I THINK that everyone who cannot get C-SPAN on a programmable television station set should call their city councilman. I cannot get it, and I do have a programmable TV also, as several callers to Speak Out have mentioned. When I called TCI they told me it's my problem with my television and that I should fine tune it some.

Saving lives

THIS IS to the mayor of Oran. I don't understand how a little motorist inconvenience compares to saving lives. If it takes a few more minutes to cross town and you save a life, what's the big deal? Second of all, to address the thing you said about the fire department. We have a volunteer fire department. They never save a house. They get there to control the fire. Besides that, I know of a house that sat right next to the fire department that burned down.

Photos for homework

THIS IS for the person who said that they saw someone taking pictures of their house. I would just like everybody to know that there is a class at SEMO called Housing Perspective that requires us to take pictures of about 20 houses and make a report. So if you see anybody taking pictures of your house, that's probably what it is.

Plenty of chuckles

YOU HAVE run three stories lately which gave me a lot of chuckles. First was the lady who was four years late for court. Then in the 75-year-ago column was the man who stopped on a trip to California to rest his liver a few days. But the biggest laugh was the one I got out of your editorial trying to twist the facts around to make Emerson and the Republicans the heroes of the ill-fated rider on the South Dakota disaster relief bill.

Spend like it's yours

I THINK city engineer Mark Lester hits the nail right on the head in the Missourian and exactly describes what is wrong with the city of Cape Girardeau and the Broadway project. He says, "At worst, we'll have a nice looking street that's a little two wide." Well, maybe that's the worst thing to him, but the worst thing I can think of is $1 million that has to come from the hardworking taxpayers to provide a street that's nice looking. We already have a street that's functional. What I would really like to see is if the City Council could ever have one meeting where they don't have a proposed multimillion-dollar project. Why does a town the size of Cape Girardeau need a $53 million budget? It's because people like this have to keep developing projects so they can make a bigger and bigger ever-increasing bureaucracy. Where does it end? Please, this is not your money. It is someone else's money. Spend it as it was that, or spend as if it was your own.

Officers should be fired

I AM outraged after reading that one of our off-duty Cape police officers and an off-duty Missouri Highway patrolman displayed such bad conduct at Peppy's Bar. They don't even respect the laws they swore to uphold. They should be fired immediately as they are a disgrace to law enforcement.

Sales instead of delivery

THIS IS about the post office. It takes between two and three days to send a letter within a city. Are they too busy selling T-shirts and memorabilia?

Support the Democrats

THANK THE Lord for Bill Clinton, the man who's running our country and working hard to keep the Republicans from turning everyone out in the cold. They just can't find anything to talk about but the Democratic Party that raised enough money to put him in the White House. And we must keep the Democrats in power. Don't hurt yourself by voting Republican. I've been here a long time, and I wouldn't mislead you.

Widening is overdue

SURPRISE, SURPRISE, surprise. Finally the city is doing something to Broadway which should have been done long ago: widen another stretch of it.

Garner a good pick

I WOULD like to thank SEMO University for picking Gary Garner as their head basketball coach. I know him personally, and he is an outstanding recruiter. So down the road, SEMO will be a very good basketball team. Thank you.

Marijuana success story

I'D LIKE to make one more comment about marijuana because it's been in the paper a couple of times. My cousin had anorexia nervosa which kept her from eating, and a doctor recommended she smoke marijuana. She lives in California and it's OK. Guess what. She gained about 20 pounds and is living a normal, healthy life now. What would you rather have them do? Starve into a skeleton? I don't know. I guess some of the Republican types would.

Dogs that make messes

I'D LIKE to address the problem of stray dogs running loose at night, especially in the northeast section of Cape. I'm getting sick and tired of having to clean up where these dogs relieve themselves in my yard. Just a word of caution to the owner of these dogs: Should I catch a dog relieving himself in my yard, you will be missing a dog. I will promise you that.

Spelling is important

MICHAEL WELLS, this is your schoolmarm taskmaster who had a problem with your problem. I think spelling is an important topic. People like to lay it off and just say, "Oh, it's not that important." In fact it is. There are more important things such as content, but we'll get to that some other time. I would never be so violent as you describe in your article. I just think a severe verbal correction should be enough for somebody who's getting paid to know how to spell words, using the tools of his trade but wants to lay his ignorance off on his computer spell check. Yeah, maybe it didn't catch it. I understand how those things work. Do we have anything to say for independent knowledge of how to spell words, or are we going to just let computers do all our thinking for us? I guess that's pretty much all I have to say about it for now. I won't be calling in to make anymore corrections because nobody is grateful whenever I do that. The only thing I would say is I said in my original call, "Everybody makes mistakes," but everybody conveniently doesn't hear that, they just hear the correction, and that makes them mad. I made a mistake during my call. I make mistakes all the time. I'm not a perfectionist, but the difference is I'm not getting paid to spell words correctly, to make no mistakes as much as I can and to be a as perfect as I can be. I'm only human. It's only going to take me so far in life but it's something to strive for.

The circus option

LAST SATURDAY some fool had the ignorant nerve to ask me if I wanted to buy a ticket to go and hear a speech by Newt Gingrich in Cape. Well, I know things are slow in Cape, but if I want to see a clown, I will go to the circus.

Christian radio

I JUST want to thank KGUT AM 1170 in Jackson for providing Southeast Missouri with great Christian radio. Their music is uplifting, inspiring and encouraging. They also have great programs such as "Marla and Maddux" and "Parenttalk" and "Focus on the Family." Thanks, KGUT, for a radio station this area can be proud of.

I THOUGHT we Americans lived in a country that allows us freedom of choice. So who does the Southeast Baptist Convention think they are? Do they really think that because they boycott Disney that they will hurt Disney? They aren't the only people in this world who have money. Disney has enough money that a few boycotts won't hurt them. The Baptists ought to use their money to teach their congregation to love all people and not single out certain people. God loves us all. God may not agree with some lifestyles, but he does love us all.