SPEAKOUT

Renters pay taxes

HOW STUPID can a person be? A caller said someone who lives in an apartment or duplex pays no tax. I own a duplex, and I bet I pay four times city and state, county real estate tax than you do. The people who rent pay taxes for food, gas, and entertainment. I even have to pay a state and federal income tax on the money I receive in rent. All I can say is for you to wake up.

No paid days off

I AM calling in regard to the complaint in Speak Out about teachers getting so many paid holidays off of school. Just for the record, teachers do not get paid a dime for any day they're off school. We do not even get a paid vacation every year. So I would like the public to recognize that teachers are not paid for any days that are not worked.

Scripture says...

I'M CALLING in about the man finding scripture in the Bible about homosexuality. I'm reading from Romans 1:26-27: "Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lust. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way, the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalties for their perversion."

Too much trash

I HAVE just finished reading the Speak Out comment about the two-legged pigs who leave trash on the highway. I agree with 100 percent. Not only that, how about the people who leave their garbage cans in front of their house, driveway or on the street from one pickup day to the next? If those people have no pride in their own surroundings, would they please consider their neighbors and the neighborhood? And if it's too much problem for them to clean up, make things look attractive, move out to the country where you will not disturb or litter someone else's property.

Education answer

I HAVE often wondered how it was possible for Missouri to have the best educational system in the United States, how it was possible for Missouri to attract and keep the best, brightest and most dedicated teachers in the United States and how it was possible for graduates of Missouri schools to go into the world and out-perform and out-achieve the graduates of the schools in the other 49 states. Now I know. Peter Kinder has finally given me the definitive answer to my questions. Missouri has the MSTA. The rest of the nation has the NEA.

Police information

I WAS furious when I finished the article in Sunday's paper about police officers' safety. One of the biggest safety issues is a modern, workable radio. Some of our police officers are carrying such. Mr. Miller, please interview the patrolman, not Chief Boyd, if you really want accurate information about what's going on in our police department. Many educated and trained officers are barely making $19,000 per year. Give me a break, Cape Girardeau. Our officers deserve more salary than that.

Racism traffic

IN RESPONSE to the caller who finally let everyone in on the fact that racism is a two-way street, I'd like to say a few things. I, as a black person, have obviously been discriminated against, and more often than a white person. Frequently, all the way from the parking lot of any store, I can hear doors locking and I can see people out of the corner of my eye clutching their purses as they walk by me. I have never given them cause to do so, and I've yet to complain. Everywhere I go, there's someone discriminating against me. I agree with this person, but my people have been excluded from white businesses for years. So perhaps it is only fair that we have a few places of my own. In conclusion, racism is a two-way street, but most of the traffic is coming our way.

Scripture opinion

THIS IS in response to the person who wrote in about Leviticus and homosexuality. I had always wondered about that information myself, and I decided to look up and read the passages the person was referring to. Leviticus 18:22: "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman." The said she read more in the scripture in regard to Jesus' teachings and his life. Her words were "In reviewing as much as I could very briefly of his word, I did not find anywhere he condemned homosexuals or homosexuality." When the word of the teachings of God says "you shall not lie with a male as with a woman, it's an abomination," how can you read anything but straight text from that? To me that means homosexuality is wrong. I know everybody's entitled to an opinion, but if you read that and read it truthfully straight, there's no other way that I could see it could be interpreted. I don't mean to offend anybody, but I just wanted to give my opinion.

Caller ID?

HOW COME you don't ask us to leave our number anymore? Because somebody called and said you've got caller ID. Is that why you don't ask for our number anymore?

REPLY: We've heard it said more than once that we use caller ID to see who's calling Speak Out. Not true. We don't have caller ID. We stopped asking for phone numbers for two reasons: No. 1, many callers were complaining that the recorded message was too long. So we tried to shorten it. No. 2, most callers to Speak Out weren't leaving their telephone numbers anyway, so it didn't seem useful to ask for it. The only reason we ever asked for phone numbers was to assist our staff in responding to concerns or complaints that needed some follow-up. Callers are still welcome to leave their names and/or phone numbers if they want to discuss a problem with someone at the newspaper. Thanks for asking about caller ID so we can clear that up for good.