SPEAKOUT

Administrators should teach

I WAS wondering when will the Cape Girardeau school system make the maximum use of the administrative staff. Their administrative staff all started in the classroom. I believe they should teach at least one class per day. The gains would include smaller class size at no additional cost, and the staff would really be in touch with the student body and the parents.

Referee responds

THIS IS in response to the person complaining about soccer referees being affiliated with Central High School. I am a soccer referee. I have no affiliation with Central and no affiliation with Jackson. But your point is that it's a problem with Central's sports program. Central's sports program has nothing to do with how the soccer referees are scheduled or how any referees are scheduled. That's up the referee association. If you have a complaint, you need to complain to them. I do ref a lot of games, and I go to a lot of games to get added experience. Jackson adult fans are very poorly behaved.

Where does the money go?

I NOTICED that Scott City has the highest property tax of any of the six cities that the Southeast Missourian reported on, is more than 2 1/2 times the property tax that somebody in Cape Girardeau pays. I see that some Scott City's costs are slightly lower than some of the other towns, but I was just wondering if our property taxes are so high, why are our roads so bad and why are our water system and sewer system in such bad shape? Where is all this property tax money going?

City needs to be cleaned up

There is so much trash -- beer bottles and two-to-three-year-old leaves in the yards in my neighborhood. I feel if the tenants don't clean up, then the landlord should be responsible for it and be fined if they don't clean it up. It's not just in that area, it's all over Cape. Cape isn't the clean town it used to be years ago. It's getting so filthy.

Keep auto inspections

WE SEEM to be going backwards in our development as a state and as intelligent people. Why in the world would anybody want to abolish vehicle inspections? After all, they come only once a year. This car or truck or whatever you're driving is not a toy. Unlike a toy, you need all the working parts to play with it. A kid can play with just a cardboard box. It's got no wheels, it's got no brakes, it's got no steering column, no windshield, but he can pretend it's a car. If you're out there driving on the street in this multiton vehicle endangering the lives of others, I'm going to want you to have all of your parts working. I'm going to want me to have all of mine working so I can avoid people like you who just think it's just a big hassle. What's the matter with this state? If there's one law you're going to keep, keep this one. I don't get it.

Hard-hearted about homeless

IN RESPONSE to this conservative Republican who does not buy the homeless because they only run ads in the winter. This person must have lived out in the sun too long. He must be in Florida. Common sense tells you that the ads are run mostly in the winter and around Christmas time because it's cold. It's unbearable in the outdoors to survive. It's must easier to survive in the summertime. You don't need the help you do in the wintertime. Tell this hard-hearted varmint to get his facts straight. Thank God the Republicans have him, because we don't have room in the Democratic Party.

Weeds at the post office

I'M FROM Jackson, and I'm calling about the weeds and the grass not being mowed at our post office. In the city of Jackson, everyone keeps their yards just beautiful. When you drive by the post office, I am actually embarrassed to see the weeds, and no one's taking care of it.

Smoker offended by fat

I FIND it ironic that many of the individuals who apparently find pleasure in scolding me about my smoking habit are so addicted to food and are so grossly overweight they look as if they could drop dead of a heart attack at any moment. The biggest killer of this country is heart disease, and the primary cause of heart disease is fat. So please don't be offended when I tell all you non-smoking walruses out there how completely disgusting your eating habits are and how gross you look. I'm only doing it for your own good.

The price of smoking

TO THE smoking nut who stated there are a lot more important things going on in this world to care about whether or not you smell a little smoke or get a little smoke on your clothing when someone is smoking in a restaurant. He is absolutely right, like finding a cure for lung cancer caused by second hand smoke. I bet if they raised the price of cigarettes to $10 a pack, the smoker would sit in the non-smoking section post haste.

Concerns about attendance policy

I'M CALLING about the Cape Public School attendance policy. By the school year of 1999-2000, students missing more five days per semester will not receive credit for that semester unless a letter of appeal is written and the policy is waived. This is a total of 10 days per year. I understand and support this policy wholeheartedly. However, I'm concerned regarding several points. First, my mother passed away in October, and my children missed two days of school due to the trip out of town for the funeral. Teachers have two days of personal leave that are in excess to their 10 sick days. Students are not allowed such personal days that are in excess of their 10 sick days. However, my daughter's teacher took a personal day just last month to go to a concert with friends in St. Louis. The concert was Thursday night, and the teacher wanted to stay in St. Louis for the weekend to go shopping. She told the children this and was very clear about why she was using her personal day. Secondly, I think teachers should be allowed the same number of absences as the students. The teacher should also have the right to an appeal to a committee, but in their case the committee should be made up of parents and administrators. I also think that if the teacher misses in excess of 10 days and the appeal is denied, they should not be credited that year's teaching toward tenure or toward moving up a step in the policy schedule. When the policy was outlined, the explanation was given for students to learn the material and be educated they must be in class, and I agreed with this. But the teacher needs to also be there to teach the material -- a teacher, not a substitute who's been left worksheets and videos to fill the day. As a parent and as a teacher, I am concerned about this situation and hope the school board will soon realize that they are holding the children to a higher standard than they are the adults. I realize that a child is not an adult and that adults have certain rights not given to children. However, children, just like their adult counterparts, get sick and have to attend funerals. However, how often do you hear of adults breaking a bone, getting chicken pox, strep throat or an ear infection or being sent home by the school nurse because of a fever above 101 degrees? Furthermore, I think adults are supposed to be setting examples for the children.

Cemetery flowers removed

ON A recent trip to Lightener Cemetery, I was disappointed to see that they are taking away all the flowers out there. Lightener's has always been a pretty cemetery. It just makes you sad when they put flowers there and they take them away, even when they're new flowers.

Now who's the nut?

TO THE person who says I am a nut because I do not smoke. Please take a minute and tell who the nut is. I don't spend between $10 and $16 for a carton of cigarettes to support a nasty habit. I don't smell like an ashtray. I don't have holes in my clothes from hot ashes. I care about my lungs and my children's health. They have proven that cigarettes do cause cancer, especially secondhand smoke, and I don't want to die from someone else's shortcomings. Look around you. No smoking signs are going up everywhere, and when you can't smoke anywhere but in your own house, you tell me who the nut is.

Where's Powerball?

I WOULD just like to know why the Southeast Missourian failed to published last Saturday night's Powerball numbers.

REPLY: Because of the switch to daylight-saving time last weekend, it was necessary to have an earlier deadline for Sunday's paper. However, Powerball numbers were released at the regular time -- too late for publication.

Soldiers on the jury

I WOULD like to make a comment about Tim McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing. McVeigh was a soldier, and every person on the jury should be a soldier for the simple reason that the first thing they tell you when you go into the military: Everything you have learned in life, forget about it. We are going to deprogram you. Then when you go to the fields to do your target practice, the first thing they tell you is that person that you are shooting is not a brother, an uncle, a cousin, a father, or anything like that.

Voters have spoken

I'M A Scott County taxpayer and the Scott County Commissioners don't seem to understand when people have spoken by their vote. They will have to learn to live within their means like I do. I pay about all the taxes I figure I can afford. Otherwise, they'll be selling my place off the courthouse steps. Wake up, commissioners. We have spoken. If you don't understand, we may need some new commissioners the next time the vote comes around.

Remember the Gulf War

I DON'T think it is right how they are making all these monuments for people who have died in wars but leaving out a war that happened recently: the Gulf War. Why don't they include that war? Was it not bloody enough for it to be recognized? I think Cape Girardeau should make a monument for the people who died in the Gulf War.

Deadbeat moms too

I WOULD like to comment on the new measure that they're passing concerning joint custody and the father's ability to get some assistance and visitation. I really appreciate whoever did this, because there are a lot of women out there who would like to use the term loosely "deadbeat dads." But there are a lot of us fathers who do pay our child support and do everything the court tells us and still do not get our visitation. I think it's about time somebody stood up to these deadbeat moms, because there's a heck of a lot more deadbeat moms than there are deadbeat dads.

Stop blaming the schools

OBVIOUSLY, the people calling Speak Out actually condemning the Jackson School Board, administration and school nurse are in need of further education. One, students who want to smoke will do it anyway and hide if necessary. Two, they are abiding by the law. Three, the school has no authority over students on private property. The next claim is too many laws, big bad government taking away our rights. Four, in the elementary grades, any student with normal intelligence knows smoking is bad for your health. You cannot live their lives everyday. Five, if they violate the law, punish them. The sooner any of us learn we are accountable for our own actions, the better. Stop blaming everyone else for students not obeying school rules or actions or laws. Stop blaming schools for Johnny not learning because he does not work at it and probably comes from parents who did not work when they were in school.

Environmental cult?

I WOULD like to make a comment about these so-called cults that people join. Isn't it true that in these cults they tell you what you can do and what you can't do, what you can eat and what you can't eat and what you can drink outside and what you can't drink inside and stuff? Well, wouldn't that describe the environmentalists? I think someone needs to check out the EPA, because they are the biggest cult in this country, and they're getting ready to take care of everyone.

Student remains anonymous

I AM the student who called supporting Dr. Journet as far as him at least printing his name in the paper. I did not put my name in the paper because I did not want any special consideration from Dr. Journet, nor do I need it. Dr. Journet does not know who I am, and Dr. Journet will never know who I am.