SPEAKOUT

Hovis will do a good job

WAS JUST reading the Southeast Missourian about Barry Hovis and his new position. I think it's terrific. I think Mr. Hovis will do a fantastic job. I know him real well. I think he will be great for Central High School and great for the kids. Barry, keep it up.

Tax funding for gay rights

DID YOU know that the SEMO student government is funding the Gay and Lesbian Awareness Week April 14-18? I'm a second-year student of the university with deep convictions about the immorality of homosexual behavior. I am aware of that part of my general fees go to support organizations such as those mentioned. I am attending SEMO on a full-ride scholarship. My incidental fees are paid by the university, and the remainder of my fees is paid by the Missouri Bright Flight Scholarship which comes directly from the state. Taxpayers, are you aware that your money goes to these scholarship programs and, in turn, plays a part in funding organizations that support homosexual rights among other interests? I think people in this area need not look far to see how homosexual rights are being supported on the nation's public university campuses.

Pure stupidity

I SAW all kinds of brain-dead people walking around while visiting in Los Angeles. But after seeing the pinning initiations of the Marines, there is no doubt that they belong at the top of the list for pure stupidity.

Legislating the past

PRESIDENT CLINTON seems to have a problem with creating laws while he's in office. His problem amounts to he likes to create laws for the time before he was in office. I am referring to the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996. It had a retroactive clause in which "Congress directed the Treasury Department to enforce Section 415 rules for earlier years in a manner consistent with the new law." This means that they look at years before 1996 as thought the law had been amended. I don't know if when Clinton fell he hit his head, but he seems to have some kind of amnesia if he believes that he was in office at that time. I think they should stop making laws that govern the past. Let's look toward laws that govern the future.

Looking for "Harte Appetite"

I WAS wondering if the Missourian was going to continue Tom Harte's food column. I noticed in Wednesday's paper that Mr. Harte's column wasn't in there and I was looking forward to it and understood that it would be printed every Wednesday. If you could give me an answer, I'd love to see it.

REPLY: As announced, Tom Harte's food column will be published every other Wednesday. We're glad to know readers like the column and want to see it more often. That may be possible down the road.

Confederacy wasn't lovely

I'M SURE that the person who said the Confederacy was such a lovely thing must be joking. Anyone who could have slavery and then brag and talk about how kind they are has got to be silly. A goodly portion of the slaves died on the boats coming over. They were mistreated, and everybody knows that. There's no question about it. And as far as other parts of the country, Vermont outlawed slavery in 1777. My family came from Cape Cod, and Massachusetts outlawed it in the Constitution in 1783. That was 80 years before the rest of you were forced to live with some of it. Come on, the war's over.

Uninformed referee

I'M CALLING in response to the referee's response in Speak Out. This referee cannot be a very good referee because he is very misinformed. JAOSA and CAYSA referees for the rec programs are scheduled through the referee's association. The high school programs are done through the AD and the head coach of the school. This referee has no idea what he's talking about.

Smoking and being fat

TO THE smoker who criticized obese people, shame on you. Comparing overweight people with smokers, there are a lot of similarities. People are fat because they can't control their intake of food. Smokers get lung cancer because they can't control their intake of nicotine. In a perfect world, everyone would be slim and there would be no smokers.