SPEAKOUT

Win lottery, build lake

IF I won the lottery and say it's less than $10 million but more than $5 million, I would make sure the Bollinger-Cape Girardeau lake would be built and everybody would be happy.

These shows aren't funny

LAST NIGHT I came home and looked in the TV directory and all there was was comedy, people who think they're funny and they're not. We don't enjoy these people who are crazy and think they're funny. We would like some movies, something that you can sit down and watch. We would like something on late after 10 p.m. I'm a night person, and I sit up and watch TV, but we don't have anything on TV then. All we've got is these people who think they're funny and they are not one bit funny. I refuse to watch these people. Please, put something on that's enjoyable.

Phones for the elderly

I'M CONCERNED about the elderly in Cape. It is so sad that the elderly have to live in such fear day in and day out and at night also. Maybe churches, clubs, organizations could help them get cellular phones or cordless phones, and I too think they should keep guns and use them if necessary.

John Wayne was no actor

I'M GOING out on a limb by saying this, but it's something that I know to be a fact, because acting and show business are in my blood. John Wayne, much to my sorrow, was never an actor. He was pure and simply tall, lanky, easy-going and maybe good-looking. But he couldn't act his way out of a paper sack. The person who should be given credit for any accomplishments that John Wayne had is his director.

Changing city spellings

THIS IS not an opinion, it's a question. I wonder if anyone on your staff or in your reading public can tell me the reason for this. When I was a kid in school I learned that a major city in China was Peking and it was spelled with P. Now all you hear is Beijing, spelled differently, but I think it's one and the same cities. Does anybody know why the media has gone to changing the name or spelling of that Chinese city?

REPLY: Like many other foreign cities, Beijing is a city whose English spelling only approximates the what it is pronounced in its native tongue. Through the years, these spellings have been altered to more accurately reflect current pronunciation and the preferences of the country in which the cities are located.

Immoral leaders produce lawlessness

I WANT to comment about these burglaries in Cape of elderly people. A lot of these elderly people aren't concerned about sending troops over to Bosnia. They're not concerned about young men having to go to war over in Zaire. Only about their check. The election showed that seniors tended to vote Clinton. We can be for everything as long as we get our checks, but what happens with the decline of the country? As Daniel Webster said "When you vote a scoundrel into office, you betray your country." This falling apart of society and the rise of lawlessness -- how you going to vote that out? You do reap what you sow. There is a correlation between an immoral government and the fall of law and order. If the politicians and your leaders don't obey the law, how can you expect the people who doing these robberies to obey the law? As the twig is bent, so goes the tree.

Parking is for visitors

I FEEL like I must respond to the Speak Out comment from a student complaining about the parking meters. First off, I'd just like to say there are six parking meters. Out of all the parking spots that there are on campus, there are six parking meters. There are now and have always been visitor spots. Those have never been spots that were rented or charged out to students. Those spaces have always been for visitors. So this young man complaining about paying $80 for parking and then having parking meters in front of his spot should research his own comments and realize that he is the one making the idiotic comment. If you have any questions, please call the university about this policy. They evidently are the only ones that can answer your question. Don't certainly rely on somebody making a comment like this.

Pots and kettles

JIM GREBING whines about "partisan cheap shots" against Bekki Cook. Bekki Cook's campaign was one long, expensive, negative distortion. Save your tears, Jimmy. You're the pot calling the kettle black.

Turn down the sirens

I WATCHED the parade for the Festival of Lights, and it was lovely, beautiful this year. But one thing offends me: The use of emergency lights and sirens does not fit in with the spirit of this parade. I think the organizers should discourage that in the future.

No mind of your own

I WAS reading your editorial in the Sunday paper, and you mentioned how you agree with the Republican leadership. Well, I would hate think that you would ever develop a mind of your own.

Comments on Commerce

I'M A resident of Commerce, and I can't believe some of this stuff some of these people are putting in the paper about how bad Commerce looks. We haven't had enough time after the cleanup, tearing down the houses and all this and enough money appropriated to buy the equipment to really clean up. And probably in the spring, it will be cleaned up real good and will look real nice. The ones who still live in Commerce like it, and some of the ones who moved out didn't gain anything at all because they had to go in debt to build new houses and have places to live. So I can't understand the complaints that some of them have about the people who moved out. They did it to just better themselves like any of us would. I think we should just stop and think about some of this stuff.

Good holiday story

MERRY CHRISTMAS to Wiley Albright and thank to Wiley for his story in TBY for pointing out the female Santa Claus that comes to town. It's a lovely, timely story. It really illustrated the highs and lows of the holidays with all the bells and bows and family and community. I urge everybody to read the December edition of TBY. It truly touches on The Best Years and the true meaning of Christ.

Support for dalmatians

I'M CALLING in reference to the story in the Southeast Missourian about the dalmatians. I am a dalmatian breeder. I live in Cape Girardeau County, and I've owned dalmatians now for about five years. I've noticed that the folks that they spoke to have some negative comments about dalmatians. I do agree with some of them, but the others I don't agree with. I find dalmatians to be very good animals. They're just like any other animal. Their reaction is going to be how you train them, how you raise them up as pups.

GOP should be satisfied

CONGRESSMAN Emerson, get real. Writing a letter to Janet Reno, like your other fellow Republicans did, is utterly ridiculous. They want to start with the White House. What they want to do is butcher the administration because they can't get it through heads that they lost the election. President Clinton won the election fair and square. He took it to the American people. They want him to be president. You got your way. You got your Republican Congress. So let us Democrats have our representations through our president. That's our only help, this Democratic administration, us Democrats and us working people. You Republicans have that whole Congress. Be satisfied. Be thankful for what you've got and let us Democrats alone.

Remarkable family

I WAS very pleased to read the story and see the pictures of Rick, Donna, Lindsey and the beautiful Janie Propst. The Shell family is remarkable. Here's one of the better teachers at Scott City. They could have done much more if they had continued with the thespians. Those were the days and no one worked harder than Donna. She was very giving and very patient and was a friend to the students at Scott City. She was truly a beautiful, beautiful person and I'm sure still is. She was my teacher, and I learned so much from her. I feel she added so much to the school. I'm happy for her. She took a lot of enthusiasm when she left Scott City High. We're all praying for you and we know everything will work out.

Thanks for magazines

THANK YOU Missourian so very much for the In The Spirit magazine and TBY magazine.