SPEAKOUT

Paying for education

SINCE everyone is saying that you can't make a living without a college education, then public education should not end at the 12th grade. It should continue in the same town for at least four more years paid for by cities, towns and states. And by the way, how can a tax credit for a college kid be a tax cut? What if that child doesn't want to go to college?

Where are the police?

HERE IT is 6:18 on a Tuesday. Where are the police? There are kids riding motorcycles up and down the street without helmets. There is loud music on Albert Street. There is a 1995 licensed car sitting on the wrong side of the road that has been there for a month. I would like to know what you have to do to get in touch with the police.

REPLY: Did you dial 911? The non-emergency number at the Cape Girardeau Police Department is 335-6621.

Real family values

BOB DOLE'S commercial talks about family values. I suppose divorcing his wife when she had cancer is a sign of having real family values.

How much in the budget?

I HAVE a question about the city council meeting. When they proposed the city budget, they did not mention what the city budget was, and I think it would be informative to all the citizens of Cape Girardeau to know what the city budget was.

REPLY: Good point. The total budget proposed for fiscal 1996-97 is $54.7 million, which is down a bit from the current year's budget of $58.5 million, mostly because of decreased spending in sewer and water operations. The council is expected to give final approval to the new budget at its June 17 meeting.

Clean up the smut

THERE ARE pedophiles. They solicit young children and teen-agers. It's written on the walls in the bathrooms. If the city workers have time to mow the grass and all that, they have time spray paint over that stuff. Please, let's clean that up.

Perot abandoned ship

THIS IS in reference to the person who said it was time for us to have Ross Perot run for president. Have you forgotten that Ross Perot jumped ship the last time? What makes you think he won't do the same thing this time?

The truth about Medicare

I WANT to comment about the Medicare crisis. The Democrats have been playing Medi-scare. They've been scaring people that Republicans are going to cut and everybody's going to lose when there were no cuts at all in the Medicare program. But the facts are -- even the president's own trustees say -- it's going to go broke by the year 2001. It's much worse than the president and the trustees knew. The Democrats have been running all these slick ads on TV about how the Republicans want to cut programs to children and cut Medicare. There never was any cuts. They were simply trying to keep it from going broke. And the Democrats have spent millions promoting that these Republicans are hardhearted, when in reality what they were trying to do is preserve the program. Now we're in a position where there may not even be any Medicare. Our children may have to pay up to 80 percent of their salary. Do people really want their kids and grandkids to pay 80 percent of their salaries? Maybe some of them do.

Scott City work rules

I HAVE a couple things to say about the criticism drawn by the appointment of Councilman John Rogers in Scott City. I don't know why everyone is raising a fuss over the ordinance that says no two family members can work under the same boss. Is anyone else in this city aware that there are a husband and wife working for the police department and that a police officer also has a son working for the public works department? I don't understand why everyone is drawing so much attention to Mr. Rogers when it shouldn't be a big deal for him. Why isn't it a big deal for everybody else that works there?