SPEAKOUT

Go to assigned school

MY DAUGHTER is getting ready to go into the sixth grade at Clippard. Of all her classmates, only half began and finished at Clippard. So why should we worry about the kindergarteners who are possibly being shipped to other schools when most of them probably will not end up spending all their years at Clippard? They should just take the lump and go to the school that they're being assigned for kindergarten and come to Clippard at first grade.

Soap bubble recipe

I HAVE a soap bubble recipe. Take one cup dishwashing soap to 10 cups water and add about 1/8 to 1/4 cup glycerin. The glycerin helps hold the bubbles together.

Water is blocked

AS USUAL, Peter Kinder screws everything up. He doesn't seem to understand that the only reason that there's a lot of times the water doesn't come down the river is because it's blocked up by dams and by buildings on each side of the river. In the flood of 1993, Des Moines, Iowa, was flooded terribly. The reason was because the bridges were too small and too narrow. There was no way to get the water out of there, so the water was up to the first story of many buildings in downtown Des Moines. If the water could have moved out of there, you have to have more capacity below.

C-SPAN would cost extra

THIS IS to inform Speak Out that not all new cable-ready TVs will receive channel 95 for C-SPAN. TCI informs me that they don't know why some new cable ready sets won't receive 95. Apparently, they really don't care and they're not going to do anything about it. If I can no longer watch C-SPAN, that's just too bad for me. If I want C-SPAN for another $1.70 a month, I can rent a converter. As far as they are concerned, they say take it or leave it. Thank you very much.

An acre of land

FOR THE caller who would like to know the size of an acre in running feet, not square feet, an acre is a strip of land 33 feet wide and 1,320 feet long, which is 1/4 mile.

We saw you

THIS IS directed to person who stopped in front of our house twice on Friday the 13th at about 10 o'clock and took pictures from different angles. We want you to know that you were observed doing this.

A good citizen

I WAS driving on Bloomfield Road one morning. Can you believe what I saw? A young lady taking her walk. And you know what she had in her hand? Pieces of cardboard box, soda cans, old cups and sheets of paper. Thanks. She's a good citizen, and God bless her.

No wild accusations

I'D LIKE to comment on the letter to the editor "Developer comments on Fairway Estates" in your paper on June 15. It seems that Mr. Unterreiner is a little out of tune as to what's going on with his own development. As far as wild accusations for runoff here, there are no wild accusations. The city and Mr. Unterreiner have known about this for well over a year, yet they keep grading and pulling things out. There are three to four springs back here which make me wonder are they going to disclose this to any future homeowners? And as far as having a meeting to discuss these things, the city's aware of it, Mr. Unterreiner's aware of it, but nobody wants to take responsibility. So don't accuse the homeowners of Fairway Estates of making wild accusations when you refuse to do anything to correct the problem.

TV set skips channels

WE HAVE a 20-inch 1991 RCA television in our living room. It is cable ready, it has auto programming and many other very nice features. The problem with it is it doesn't receive the channels in the band from 90 to 97 so if you try to auto program it, it's going to skip from channel 89 to 98. If you try to punch in the numbers by hand, manually, it's going to do the same thing. What does this mean, kids? It means we can't C-SPAN. Now, it tells about this little anomaly of this '91 set in the '91 booklet, and if you call the 1-800 RCA number as I did, they're going to tell you the same thing. I just discovered I can watched C-SPAN if I have my VCR on at the same time, because the VCR remote will let it turn on Channel 95. You can punch it right in. We don't have any other sort of a problem like that in the rest of the house because whatever else we have is newer and more channels are available on them. But I'd really like to thank Roger Harms and whoever else decided to put C-SPAN on Channel 95, thereby eliminating some sets which are cable ready and don't need a converter box. A converter box wouldn't have helped us in this situation, I don't think. At any rate, we're certainly not going to rent a converter box every month and pay that fee to get C-SPAN, which we do watch many, many times but we're not rabid fanatics about it. I know they had to put it someplace up on the channel system to make room for UPN. I don't understand why they had to pick this particular band of channels though because, I'll swear to you, this is a legitimate problem, and we can't be the only ones who have it.

Why so tough on budget?

TRENT LOTT, why are you for the rich? You have money. The average American doesn't. Why do you stand so tough on the budget? What is your problem? Get your head out of the sand and realize what the average American goes through, like me. I am disabled, I am retired and I don't appreciate the way you're acting. Act your age, not your I.Q. In other words, do your job and do it right. That's what we pay you for.

Extra pet: $500

I GUESS by now everyone has noticed how our beautiful city of roses has become a beautiful city of dogs. I have nothing against dogs, but too many is too many. In the block we live in, there are at least 22 dogs, and I know there are more but I don't know just how many more. My neighbor came up with a suggestion: If a family has one dog or one pet, OK. Any other ones, they should have to pay $500 for a license. The city may want to look into that. I, for one, don't like smelling dog pens when I go to sit outside, and I sure don't like stepping in dog mess when I go out into my yard. Think about it.

This home is no trailer

OUR FAMILY now lives in a beautiful double-wide manufactured home in Cape County, and we just love it. We have purchased four different conventional homes in the $80,000-100,000 range during our marriage and lived in other cities, and this is our first experience with a so-called trailer. Believe me, this home is not a trailer. It is an absolute pleasure to live in and maintain, and we are no trailer-trash family. My husband and I both earn over $100,000 a year together, and we are both professionals.

Waving the flag

THIS CALL is in answer to the Ph.D. who wrote to the Southeast Missourian. I am a 1959 College High graduate -- and I emphasize high school graduate -- and even I know the difference in a flag waving in the wind and an imprint of a flag on a stamp. Maybe you'd better check your education, Mr. Ph.D.

Support stations you like

I'M CALLING in support of the person who called in regarding Scott Moyer's column on radio stations. There's mostly country music station and hard rock stations. KRCU and 1550 AM are the best stations for listening to contemporary and nice music. I believe that's needed since it's very cosmopolitan. It is a college town, and people do like things other than hard rock and country. So I support those two stations in town.

Straighten this town up

I HAVE never seen all the streets as bad as they are since I've been living in Cape Girardeau for a number of years. You cannot go anywhere in this town without hitting a chuckhole, and I was wondering when the city's going to start fixing these streets. Yes, there's been a lot of rain, but there have been dry days too. People are shaking their cars to pieces. And as far as the City Council enforcing ordinances and raising the trash fee again, if they would start fining these people who put these yard and garage sale signs on utility poles all over Cape Girardeau, it would be the easiest ordinance to enforce that they have on the books and they do nothing about it. And it makes Cape look ragged, seeing all these signs up. And they don't come back and take them down after they have their sale. That's what irritates me. I think it's time for the City Council to get off their duffs and start straightening this town up.

Apologies are farcical

BILL CLINTON and his apologies are farcical. First he apologizes to black men experimented upon years ago in government syphilis tests with which he had nothing to do. Now he is considering apologizing to black Americans for slavery -- something that happened 200 years ago! What a presumptuous clown! His apologies would be less ludicrous and more appropriate if made to Paula Jones, Jennifer Flowers and Hillary Clinton.

More respect for the living

I'D LIKE to address this to Scott Moyers and his article on the Lizenbee trial and Gary Sams' murder. Shame on you, Scott, for not having a little more respect for Gary's parents. They are living and they are hurting and still loving their son, homosexual or otherwise. You did not have to put details of the crime scene in the article. Let the Globe and supermarket tabloids do that. Shame, shame, shame on you Scott for not having more feelings for people. Gary was a wonderful man even though he was homosexual, and he was not still in the closet. Anyone who knew him, loved him, heterosexual or homosexual. Shame on you.

No military honors

HOW IN the world can the U.S. government even think about giving that Timothy McVeigh a military funeral with full military honors? Who can we call to protest this idea? I think it's a disgrace that we would be able to give this man any honor at all? I don't care if he was honorably discharged. He's a criminal.

REPLY: Congress is considering legislation that would prohibit any military honors for veterans convicted on serious crimes.

Deal with the living instead

WHY NOT let the dead rest in peace? We've got enough trouble with the live president in the White House. We don't have to kick a man who's dead and gone.

No rights

A CONVICTED felon loses all rights as a citizen. Just because McVeigh once was in the military does not set him above the law. So why do the TV and newspaper spread this gross lie about a killer, McVeigh, being allowed to be buried in any military cemetery? Check the law, civil or military. He has no to be buried in a military cemetery whatsoever. Any veteran who believes this is a fool and a disgrace to his country. Ask the military lawyers.

REPLY: Other convicted felons have been buried in national cemeteries.

Cable ready, but...

WELL, TCI has done it again. There are several cable-ready TVs that will not pick up channel 95. They will rent you a converter box for your cable ready TV or will program it on your VCR at no charge. Ain't that a dilly?