SPEAKOUT

Tips for child care

I HAVE a few tips for parents with children in a in-home daycare. No. 1. Bring the kids, kiss them once then leave right away. It's a lot easier on the child. No. 2. Please don't allow your child to bring in food or toys from home. It always causes an argument. No. 3. Please pick your child up on time. The sitter and child would both appreciate this. No. 4. Please pay your provider on time. They need their money too. After all, you wouldn't want your paycheck being given to you late. I hope this helps out all concerned.

What about a real problem?

OUR POLICE have a lot more to do than making sure political signs are at least 10 feet away from the curb. What's Councilman Neumeyer going to do if a real problem comes along?

Low-class humor in column

WHEN I picked up my newspaper and read the Heidi Nieland column on undy picking, I felt like throwing up. Has the Southeast Missourian lowered its established standards so much as to succumb to the likes of this low-class, Hoosier type of humor? Restore some of the respect and dignity your paper has earned in the past.

Against Proposition A

IN THIS day of political mud-slinging, I'd like for everybody to do what's right for Missouri on Proposition A. Vote no. Let the nation lead the way in minimum wage, not Missouri. It could be bad for Missouri. We could lose a lot of jobs. Remember, Democrat or Republican, go out and vote. That's the main thing.

Beginnings of legal abortion

A CALLER recently said partial-birth abortion became legal in 1972 with the signature of President Nixon. This is not true. The federal government was not involved with abortion at all until the decision in the case of Roe vs. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court in January 1973. Until around 1970, abortion was illegal in many states. The plaintiff in Roe vs. Wade was a resident of Texas, and she started the litigation that ended in the Supreme Court in 1973 making abortions legal in every state.

Take voting seriously

SOME PEOPLE have this strange notion about voting, wherein they have decided that one day is not enough time to get to the polls. Never mind the fact that the polling places are open from the crack of dawn to after dark. Never mind that it's one day out the year -- one day out of four years for the presidential election. People are too concerned with their children's activities and their two-income families, and voting is just too inconvenient. Even the president, who I generally support, thinks that it would be a good idea to have a three-week window in which people can vote at their leisure. May I alert everybody to this simple fact: Voting is not a right, guaranteed like food, clothing, shelter, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is, in fact, a privilege. People are being slaughtered and dying standing in line for hours in other countries wishing, praying, hoping, dreaming that they should ever get a chance to vote. Women in this country suffered. For years we're the subject of ridicule, deep into this century, to finally to get the right to vote. Now most women don't vote, and men don't vote either, whose sole privilege this once was. You need to get out and vote. You need to know that you don't have to register more than one time like in Chicago where they have 150,000 people registered more than once.

Conclusion: Vote Democrat

I ALWAYS keep up with what's in Speak Out. I've read everything about the Republicans and I've read everything about the Democrats. I've read all the Bible quotes. I've come to one conclusion: I'm going to vote a straight Democrat ticket.

But I can still vote

THEY MIGHT be able to steal my Dole/Kemp sign out of my yard, but they can't steal my vote.

Call about stolen purse

I'M CALLING just to say that I know that the majority of the people who live in Jackson are model citizens. However, recently my car was broken into at the corner of Donna Drive and Old Cape Road. Whoever did this was no little kid. They had enough strength to put a rock through the window, shattering glass all over the inside and outside of my car and cut the upholstery on the other side of the door. It also wasn't an adult, because there were items in the car that an adult would have rather had than a purse. These were not touched. If you have a young teen-ager and live in Jackson, where were your kids? I just hope none of them had to be treated for glass cuts. I'm only asking for anyone who finds the purse and contents, of course, minus the cash, to call the police department in Jackson and let them know where it is. Or if you're the one who took it, look me up in the phone book. You have my name, and call and let us know where you threw it. I'm sure if this happened to your grandma or your mom, you would want her to have her personal items back. Come on, restore some decency to youth of Jackson.