SPEAKOUT

Clean ups after dogs near school

TO THE people who walk their dogs in the grass beside the Alma Schrader school ground, please take a bag and shovel along with you to clean up after your dog. People and school children other than yourself walk along there.

Bicycles on sidewalks are dangerous

WITH ALL the talk about bicycles on the highways, I would like to comment about bicycles on the sidewalks in Cape. Walking on the sidewalk can be dangerous when bicycle riders come speeding by.

REPLY: Bicycle riders are supposed to follow rules of the road that apply to motorists. They are supposed to ride in the street going the same direction as traffic and are supposed to use appropriate hand signals when necessary.

Handicapped parkers who shop a lot

CONCERNING THE comment about the misuse of the handicap spaces. I'm sure the ones on the defensive are the ones the caller was referring to, the able-bodied ones, the ones who can do other physical things but cannot walk to the store but can spend considerable time shopping.

Women play music, know about sports

ALTHOUGH I'm uniquely qualified to say it, I don't usually get up on a feminist soapbox and bluff and bluster about this kind of thing, but I do have to say something because there have been two incidents now that bother me. Recently, a young man wrote about the alleged perils of rock and roll, and his letter was a pretty good statement by a teen-ager. At the end of it he said "rock and roll is just a bunch of guys making music." Well, excuse me, but have you looked around lately? It really does seem like the chicks are their way, you know. Not just in rock and roll. Musicianship is not uniquely male or female. It is a universal trait. And a lot of women make a lot of money in the music business. The young man needs to look around too. If he enjoys rock and roll by guys, I think he'll enjoy it by chicks too. And I wonder why the Southeast Missourian decided only to ask men or print men's opinions about Mark McGwire in the sidewalk talk. You know, we women watch baseball too and sometimes know quite a bit more about it than men do. I happen to live next door to some men who wouldn't know a grounder from a fly ball if it came up and hit them on the head in Busch Stadium. Anyway, just think about it next time because you're falling into some easy traps about women and what they're qualified to do or think or say or what their careers might be.

Concerns about bikes on roads need attention

I JUST read the letter to the editor, "Bicyclists are a problem on roads." I'm concerned that you will be getting calls to Speak Out which may consider this a mean-spirited letter. I do not. I think this letter voices some very serious concerns that are really very realistic concerns that should be given serious attention.

Big motorsport event held at Benton

ONE OF the greatest motorsport events ever witnessed for this area took place at Missouri International Racepark in Benton. The circuit of all-stars came into town and gave the fans their money's worth. The country's best in sprint car racing rode into our community and put on a great show. My hat is off to the track owner and all the drivers at Missouri International Racepark for a job well done. What occurred at Missouri International Racepark is exactly the reason motorsports is the country's top sport, and I'm proud to know that we have one of best racing facilities in the country right here in our community.

Landlords get off too easily

I NOTICE in the police reports how certain landlords in Cape are continually issued summonses for failure to maintain property under the city's property maintenance act. The operative word is "continually." The city has little power under the property maintenance ordinance except to issue warning notices and summonses as landlords are rarely if ever fined. Instead, tenants who are usually the initiators of the complaint are either forced out or locked out of the only homes they have as punishment by the offending slumlord. The slumlord then superficially brings the property into compliance, thereby avoiding financial loss, re-rents and continues to make money on property unfit for human habitation. Instead, the property maintenance ordinance should make the slumlord come into compliance, order the tenant be able to live rent free until he or she does, and the tenant be paid an amount equal to the rent for their inconvenience. As it is now, well-heeled slumlords are tried before judges and city officials who have at least two conflicts of interest. One, they themselves often own interest in rental properties, and two, friends may let friends drive drunk, but they don't bite the hand -- well, you know what I mean.

More about student parking at SEMO

MY FRIEND and I are college students who would like to offer our opinion on letting students park at the Show Me Center. The problem could be solved easily by building a parking garage. College students would gladly park closer to campus if there were adequate and sufficient parking available. The university sells more parking permits than it has spaces at cost of $45 and $80. There are spaces left in Capaha Park and in many of the parks throughout Cape. We believe kids have a right to play in the park, and we're not standing in way of their enjoyment. I can't recall seeing very many classes meet Capaha Park. As for not having any business to vote on things in Cape, I believe that right was given to us long before any of us were born. In a democracy, everyone has a say, and everyone's say is important. It is not up to anyone to decide that because I have a beer on the weekend, eat three meals a day and attend college, my vote becomes less important.

Bikers need common sense on highways

BIKES ON road. Even though I bike regularly, I feel it is stupid to ride on narrow roads with hills, curves and fast-moving traffic. While it is legal, I feel it is those bikers who totally avoid using common sense by riding on such roads who will be responsible for the usual overkill laws that get passed when people don't use common sense. Then, I predict, even riding on safe roads will be unreasonably limited by law.

Visiting bike-friendly cities

HAVING JUST returned from a trip through Wisconsin and Michigan during which I toured many medium to small towns by bike, it's glaringly obvious that Cape, specifically, and Missouri, generally, is way behind in providing safe roads for bikers. These towns had many dedicated bike roads, bike lanes marked along car roads and wide sidewalks with all curbs knocked down to allow bikes to safely use them. These streets that had bike paths had center lines marked for walkers and inline skaters, and bikes could easily travel these paths throughout these towns without bothering heavy car traffic. When publicized by city promoters, these bike-friendly cities are drawing a great number of tourists who avoid cities like Cape, which do nothing to promote this pleasurable form of transportation.

Speed for cars, trucks should be different

HIGHWAY SPEED limits. During this past year and half, we have traveled some 14,000 miles in many different states. When comparing speed limits in other states, Missouri stands out as being much behind the times in how its speed limits are set. In most other states, while cars are allowed to travel 70 mph or faster on interstate highways, trucks are limited to 60-65 mph. By allowing trucks to travel as fast as cars on Missouri interstates, car travelers who do not like large rocks or chunks of truck tire rubber slamming into their cars are forced to exceed the legal speed limit to stay in front of trucks. When trucks are limited to a slower speed, all traffic moves smoothly without the need for cars to exceed the speed limit or to dangerously follow high-speed trucks. Get with it, Missouri.

States in Old South score low

I CAN understand why the powers of the Republican Party and the Southeast Missourian don't want any national tests on math. I just saw in the World Almanac that the national math test of eighth-grade students that was given in 1990 shows that the only state in the old Confederacy that got above average grades was Virginia. The rest of the states including such states as North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Texas and Mississippi -- places where we have such people as Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond and Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott and Dick Army being the powers of the Republican Party representing these people -- were below average. No wonder they want to cover the thing up. They're cheating their students, and they want to cover it up. It is nothing else but that. If it wasn't that they weren't ashamed of what they're doing, they would want the tests and want the students to be learning more.

People don't want to be disabled

I'M A person who was disabled at 49 years old. I have a disability license plate. I would give anything in the world if I didn't have to have one, if I could go on and work. I'm full of metal inside, have had major back surgeries, use a cane most of the time. It's not by choice, sometimes, that you are disabled. People don't want to be disabled.

Doctors make house calls in France

I HAVE just decided that I am going to move to France. That's where my roots are anyway. The reason for that is I just learned on Larry King Live that 160 doctors make house calls in Paris. Isn't that something? House calls. Haven't heard of that since -- well, I'm 67, and I haven't heard of that since before I was 20 years old.

Graduated licenses make sense

THE PROPOSED graduated teen licensing system is an outstanding idea. Anyone who would care enough to see for themselves, come to North Clark Street behind Central High School between 7:30-8 a.m., 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Or visit the orthopedic units at the hospital some time. If that doesn't convince you, nothing will. Parents should be scared to death.

Humans makes a choice to smoke

THIS IS in response to Ron Farrow's letter, Sept. 24. The logic of your analogy between apes and humans escapes me. The apes have no choice. Smoking is a decisive act of instant, selfish, self-gratification. The smokers were not being "confined for others to look at." They were there by choice. Humans choose to be humiliated. Before the law against public smoking was passed, I can assure you that they were not embarrassed or sorry about their health or yours. As an apparent Christian, did you tell them that there is a better way, and did you talk to the pointers?