SPEAKOUT

Happy Hollow was open sewer

FOR ALL who are interested in Happy Hollow, it never was filled up with garbage. That was an open sewer line back there, and that's what caused it all. All the people in those years had chickens, and they used their scraps to feed their chickens, so there was never any garbage dumped into Happy Hollow where you're talking about. It was an open sewer.

REPLY: Before any site is selected by the General Services Administration for a new federal courthouse, environmental tests will be made. This includes sites that don't have a history of dumping or sewer problems.

Wake up about abortions

AMERICA, I want to get one thing straight. Clinton vetoed the ban on the partial-birth abortion not because of the life of the mother. There was already a clause in that bill that took into account the life of the mother. Eighty percent of the partial-birth abortions are purely elective. The majority of the other 20 percent are due to depression. America, you must wake up and see what your president has done. Educate yourself on abortion. Realize that people are doing this for money, not for women. Please, America, wake up before there is no America left. For those of you willing to stand up and fight the issue, do it because as long as people lie sleeping and just say "It's a bad issue, it shouldn't happen" they will continue to walk all over us. America, wake up and see what's going on in your country.

Presidential responsibility

I'M TIRED of hearing that the Democrats are responsible for our $5 trillion debt. Who was our president when incurred the first $4 trillion? During the big arms buildup when Mr. Reagan was asked about our paying $400 for a hammer and $800 for a toilet lid, he replied "Well, I want them to make money." And those cost overruns were just the tip of the iceberg. Defense contractors ran way over their estimates, millions and millions over, and who was in office when the laws governing the S&Ls were repealed resulting in $200 billion being swindled?

Clinton allowed Iran arms

TO THE caller who was discussing the situation about character of candidates playing a big part in the presidential election, that's why he favored Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton has got the character of a snake. He's the biggest liar that God ever gave creation except his wife, Hillary. This guy talks about Dole's friends, Reagan and Bush, being liars to the American people in the Iran/Contra affair. There never was any proof of such thing, and they were cleared of it. But in the last couple of weeks, Bill Clinton, it has been revealed by several media, national and international, is responsible for Iran shipping arms to the Muslims in Bosnia even though he was saying at the time we can't do this because we've got to maintain the embargo and honor it. And that's what he's telling all his European allies, but he arranged for Iran to ship arms into Bosnia to the Muslims going through Croatia, and the Croatians were allowed rip off a little off the top for themselves so they can build up theirs. He is the one who's got the character that's unbelievable, low, sneaky, lying, cheating, stealing, double-dealing, adulterer, pot smoking, draft dodger, everything else that we can possibly think of. He's the worst president we've ever had.

Pothole recognition

I HAVE a proposition. Why don't we call Cape Girardeau the City of Potholes instead of the City of Roses?

How to reach the FAA

COULD YOU please put in the paper who you could call or write the FAA to stop these children from flying? I think we need to have some input to this organization so they get these children out of these pilot seats. They do not have the reasoning, and their instructors seem to have no sense at all. I would like to know who in the world to write about this. That death of Jessica was totally uncalled for.

REPLY: You may write to the Federal Aviation Administration at 800 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20591. You might want to send your letter to the associate administrator for regulation and certification. The FAA administrator's telephone number is (202) 267-3111.

Minimum wage and welfare

I WANT to comment about the minimum wage, how they're wanting to raise it. The minimum wage is just a starting salary. You move up when you get more experience. But if the wage is too high to start with, there won't be jobs for people starting. In my opinion, this is just a ploy to keep people captive to the welfare state. These liberals and Democrats don't want people to get off the welfare state. They want to keep them captive because they use them for voting. And this is just a ploy. If an extra dollar makes such a big difference and is going to help people, why not make the minimum wage $20. See, when minimum wage goes up, these entry level jobs are going to dry up for the simple reason, you're not worth that much money. If you've got a job where you can pay $4 but you can't pay $5 and you've got to pay someone $5 for this job and they're not worth it, they don't have enough information and enough knowledge and training, then you're not going to hire. You're just going to do away with the job. Because I'm in business myself, I know what it does to me. It's made me where I'll never hire anyone else because of government bureaucracy, all the taxes you have to pay. So what this is going to do is make more and more people tied to the welfare state.

Other donations too

IN RESPONSE to the comment that said in 1995 the NRA gave $5.6 million to the Republican candidates according to the Center for Responsible Politics. I could not find anyone who knew anything about the Center for Responsible Politics. But the NRA also gave and supported 45 Democrats in that election. How much did handgun control give? How much did the American Trial Lawyers give to Bill Clinton? How much did the gay and lesbian alliance give? I'd like to say that the NRA is a single-issue organization, and that's what they do. They lobby. They raise money to support their cause.

Movies are good or bad

I'D LIKE to respond to the comment regarding which movies are shown in Cape Girardeau. First, I wanted to say to the caller that I didn't even realize that there were "black movies," just as I didn't know there are "white movies." But there are good movies and bad movies, more profitable movies and unprofitable movies. Due to the limited number of screens in Cape Girardeau, there are dozens of movies out at a given time which are not being shown here. The movie theaters are businesses, and they try to make a profit by showing the films which will sell a certain number of tickets per performance or per run. The caller's complaining about enough "black" movies is trying to bring racism in where capitalism is the culprit. Perhaps the reason some of the movies with the black themes or black stars don't do well here is because there are way too many people who think just like the caller and see everything as black or white. So the caller suffers from the same problem that's causing the limited number of black-themed features in this town.

All abortions are murderous

THE PARTIAL-birth abortion is an atrocity, but an abortion at any time from the moment of conception is just as murderous. My dear friends, we are in a Holocaust. How can we let this happen to our babies? Wake up and pray, America. God's justice will be done.

Keep dogs controlled

THIS IS to the caller who thinks that the $71 ticket for letting a dog at large was too much. Well, one, you have a choice to own a dog or not. And two, you should keep a dog under control. And three, small dogs are the ones that bite people more than the bigger dogs because they are so nervous.