SPEAKOUT

speak15.ad1

Humor, plain talk in column

THANKS, JOE Sullivan, for your weekly column. I enjoy it so much as do my friends. You have a gift putting words together, humor and just plain telling it as it is. Every subject from Kelo Valley to your cat, now adopted, makes reading a joy. Please keep it up and we wish it was more often.

What about the old hospital?

I SEE in the paper where the city is really going after bad houses and property around here in Cape Girardeau, forcing owners to fix them up or tear them down. I just wonder what the City Council is doing about the old St. Francis Hospital? It is terrible. It is beyond being terrible.

Defiling nature terrorizes God

I AM Taoist. To me God is nature, the animals and the environment. How do you think I feel when watching the news seeing corporations and consumers defile nature? This is tantamount to terrorizing God.

What's left after historic buildings?

IF WE keep tearing down historic buildings in downtown Cape Girardeau and other places, what we'll have left is clean, simple, economic buildings.

Teaching values must start early

THIS COMMENT goes out to a caller who said there's no better way to teach reinforced honesty, respect, tolerance, work ethics, discipline, self-respect and respect for others. Cape board, are you paying attention? Where is the parents' responsibility? Why does it always have to be the teachers' responsibility to teach these things? If the children do not know these things by the time they reach high school, then it's too late. You have to start when they are little, when they're still home with their parents. Quit putting the blame on the schools.

Trading places with the great, famous

THE MAJOR difference between the life of Princess Diana and the life of Mother Teresa is illustrated by the fact that during their lifetimes, almost everyone envied and would have traded places with Princess Diana in a nanosecond. During the lifetime of Mother Teresa, almost everyone greatly admired her but few would have traded places with her.

Facts are still hard to come by

ALAN JOURNET recently had a letter to the editor published in the Southeast Missourian. Apparently, Mr. Journet has some reservations about the Bollinger-Cape County lake project proposal. I disagreed with almost everything Mr. Journet wrote except for one thing. Toward the end of his letter he wrote, "Facts are few and far between in this world." On that point, I agree with Mr. Journet wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, I do not think that the things Mr. Journet wrote in his letter in any way add to the world's repository of facts.

Reporting crimes would increase workload

I AGREE with the Southeast Missourian's editorial that SEMO should have "an ironclad policy that crimes committed on campus will be immediately reported to local authorities." I think that is the sensible thing to do. It would have little if any impact other than to increase the caseload of the Cape County prosecutor.

You can't require volunteerism

THIS IS in response to the person who is advocating that our high school students be required to do community service before being able to graduate. I think that mandated volunteerism is an oxymoron. Our school system has enough problems educating our students without further social engineering. If a student wishes to volunteer for anything, it should be out of the realm of the school district's mandate. I believe that volunteers are a great and wonderful asset to our community, but when the government -- the school system or in any other sector -- mandates volunteering, it just becomes a problem. Let our school board ignore the Clinton administration's efforts, with the help of Colin Powell and all the others, to make us into a communistic society.

Not all handicaps are visible

I'M CALLING in response to the comment in Speak Out about able-bodied people with handicap licenses. Just because a person can walk does not mean that he is not handicapped. There are many more types of disabilities than not being able to walk. The person who called in regarding these handicap licenses needs to take a look and think a little bit because there are people with heart disease, lung disease and many more other types of disabilities who can walk, but you cannot see their problems. They are just as entitled to park in the handicap spot as someone that cannot walk.

Basketball loss is recalled

SINCE THE topic of the Holy Family Church has been a matter of public discussion, I would like to throw in my two cents worth. The basketball team I played on in the seventh grade took on the Holy Family basketball team. They beat the holy you-know-what out of us.