SPEAKOUT

Publish essay winners

I CONGRATULATE 14-year-old Champ Friend for winning the Missouri VFW Youth Essay Competition. The Southeast Missourian reports accomplishments of residents frequently. Where writing awards are received, I think the newspaper should go one step further. Why not print the essay along with the article about the person who wrote it? I as well as many of other of your readers would appreciate reading award winning essays instead of some of the AP articles not related to the Southeast Missouri region. It would be very refreshing.

REPLY: This is a good idea, and one we have followed in some instances in the past. Except for exceptionally long essays or speeches given by youths in competitions, we would be happy to consider them for publication, as long as the sponsoring organization submits them to us. Thanks for the suggestion.

Thanks for the effort

JUST WANTED to say a great big thank you for our park director, Phyllis, for the good work she has done, throughout the year and especially this weekend. I know she put in a lot of long hard hours trying to get the Summerfest going, and she did a terrific job. Just a little thanks.

Crack down on drugs

AN ARTICLE in the paper states, "Operation Safe Streets cites six for drinking." I am very proud of our police department for maintaining the vigilance and arresting underage drinkers on Good Hope. However, I think they should carry this just a little bit further and arrest the same people for drug sales, I would like to see "Operation Safe Streets cites six for drug sales" in the 600 block of Good Hope and also the 200 block of Middle. You can drive up there any time of day, any time of the night, and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to see the cars come up and down the street, stop for a while, money exchange hands and then drive away. They have Illinois plates, they come in from Charleston, Sikeston, and harp their wares on the 200 block of Middle. Everybody knows it. Why can't we clean that up?

Honorable service

A CONDITIONAL discharge which the government is considering for honorably discharged veterans is like a slap in the face. If a veteran served honorably and was discharged honorably, he deserves all benefits, including McVeigh. The armed forces do not have jurisdiction after you leave the service.

Need to see videotape

THE ONLY reason Tim McVeigh blew up that building was because of Waco. The only problem the jurors didn't get to see is the infrared videotape of the people inside. When a body burns in fire that isn't dead, it gets in the fetal position. But when the body is dead before the fire and the fire happens, they're in a stretch position. What's going on here? I've seen the videotape. We need to see the videotape. The jury needs to see it, and the news media are the only ones that can do it. Is there any conservative news media that can show this videotape from an ex-FBI agent? Look at the people as they're curling up in fetal positions.

Doctor's manners

UPON RECENTLY moving to the area, I inquired about some health problems and found a physician advertising in the Southeast Missourian. I found this physician to be very knowledgeable and friendly, but at the end of our visit, I thanked her and did not get a response. This is not the first time a physician has not said "You're welcome" or "Thank you too." You know, I could have chosen someone else. Did they not teach these gestures in medical school?

Treatment of Indians

I JUST noticed that someone called in to Speak Out saying blame the Indians, not the tobacco owners, for the problems with tobacco now. Well, if it is the Indian's fault, I guess it's the only revenge they got on this country, because we stole the country from them. We still have them on reservations. They're still locked away. They've got the worst land that the government could find to stick them into. They've had it worse than the blacks.

Purse is safely returned

I WOULD like to thank Wendy's in Cape Girardeau for safely returning my purse to me. I left it there when my sister was in labor having twins to rush in to get something for my family. I'm very grateful that it was returned safely with all its contents intact.

Giving both sides

THIS IS in response to the individual complaining that Scott Moyers should have had more respect for Sams' parents. He put shame on him like he was still in the first grade for printing the truth. I'm sorry, but the truth hurts. I would just like everyone to know that it's not Scott's fault he put that in there, because he was just doing his job, and his job is to tell both sides. I, for one, am happy to finally see a little information from the other side of view.

Decision to smoke

I WAS completely outraged when I read where someone commented that we should blame the Indian because he introduced tobacco to the white man. This just goes to show how unintelligent some people are. It's nobody's fault but the person who decided to smoke. Besides, blaming someone isn't going to solve anything. By the way, I'm white.

Controlling speeders

I'M VERY disappointed in the attitude of the Cape Girardeau Police Department towards the broadening of Broadway Street. I lived in a town in central Illinois. They had a very good solution to speeders on the streets. At the city council meeting, some alderman would say that there was a lot of speeding on a certain street. The next few days, you'd look in the paper and there would be 15 to 20 people who got arrested for speeding on that street. If the Cape Girardeau police would do something like that, they might get control of the traffic, and they wouldn't have to say that they couldn't control the speeds.

Minding our own business

A CALLER said that the Bible was God's word and that the gay lifestyle was wrong. At one point and time, people were using the Bible against blacks. In fact, now white supremacists still use quotes from the Bible to do that. I don't think the Bible was written by God. Man wrote the Bible. And to use it in different interpretative ways to back your own opinion, I think, is very wrong. We should allow everyone to live their own lifestyle as long as they're not hurting each other, and we should really keep our noses out of other people's bedrooms.