SPEAKOUT

Complaints about students

I HAVE a bit more to add to what the caller said about student behavior on North Clark Street. I work from 3 in the afternoon to 11 p.m., arriving home between 11:30 and 11:45 p.m., which means that I need to sleep to approximately 8 a.m. However, I am awakened every morning to the loud concert of music appreciation ranging from rap to country western all at the same time plus the blaring of car horns. If I had a decibel meter, the volume would probably be astounding. It shakes my windows like an earthquake. Added to that is a barrage of student conversation yelling foul innuendoes. At this point, I am up, half asleep, trying to see if the world is coming to an end. I realize that there are still good young people. However, in the real world where I live, all are restricted by the foolish acts of just a few. Once I recover from my rude awakening every day, my next concern is trying to pull out of my driveway because I cannot see traffic from either direction because student vehicles are parked halfway across my drive. Another observation that I have made is that these young adults are driving brand-new cars. How? Another observation I have made is the school must not have a dress code because some, not all, of these young people look like gigolos and hookers complete with gestures, body language and verbal expression. I have not forgotten what it feels like to be a teen-ager but morals, values, respect for your elders and God all seem to have been cast aside. If I could move, I would, and that would solve my problem. But I pay a fortune to live on a street where there is no law for fear of invading these little sweethearts' civil rights. However, how would you like to walk out your door in broad daylight and see two young people have intercourse in your private parking lot? But it doesn't stop after school is out. These young people have a game they play called scavenger hunt where they sneak around town at night and steal license plates, door knobs, anything loose.

Hiding in the military

I DON'T understand how the president can claim being in the military and using military laws when he never served in the military. He was overseas as a draft dodger.

Report did a good job

KFVS-TV DID a great job of exposing the high level of ignorance in the community. They didn't ask any off-the-wall questions. They asked easy questions that any junior high kid should have known. Now some people are complaining that KFVS was wrong to do the report. These people should be ashamed. They act like it is much better to be dumb and hope no one notices.

Kowtowing in academe

THE MAY 25 Opinion page was excellent, and the prayer too. I wish I could address the whole page, but I will limit my comment to one opinion now. To the Speak Out caller about putting students first, you are dead right. But there is more. After attending seemingly endless undergraduate and graduate courses at SEMO University, I can maybe name only two professors I respect and even admire. A few others were somewhat moderate and fair, but the rest present an arrogant, elitist and extreme bias towards students. You're in enough trouble as a conservative Republican student, even worse if Christian. But God help you if you have those characteristics and are a non-traditional student to boot. Liberal professors despise and fear us because non-traditionals are usually older and wiser about the real world than they, and they know it. We are inclined to challenge their tidy, little academic theories with our real-life experiences. They just hate that. Even so, we non-traditionals, in the end, must also prostitute ourselves for the almighty, albeit meaningless, grade. Nevertheless, hang in there students all. We'll be back in the real world soon.

Don't feed birds in summer

I WOULD hope that the people who enjoy feeding the birds and the squirrels would think of their neighbors. Would their neighbor do this to them? My wrens came back this year to build, but they're scared off by the squirrels and the starlings. We cannot have the flowers because of the squirrels digging in our mulch. Birds and squirrels can find plenty of food in the summer months. I do not hate birds, but I do not believe in feeding them in this season. Feed them in the wintertime when snow and ice are on the ground. Let us enjoy our little wrens. All the squirrels do is try to steal eggs from the robins and the other birds. Think of your neighbor and stop feeding these pests.

Second-rate military?

IN MAY America is supposed to remember the young men and women who sacrificed their lives in defense of this great nation. On Memorial Day we decorate the graves of our honored dead. How long will we continue to remember? How long will America remember the cost of freedom? Someone once said that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat, and I believe that Clinton is doing that now. We were so weak before Pearl Harbor that the if Japanese had pushed on they would probably have taken us over. Our military is substandard. It is now rumored by many that we don't have enough fuel to fly the planes, run the tanks or men to train. Our military has been reduced to a second-rate peacekeeper. We don't have the military strategy we once had. I think if we don't watch out we will become another second-rate nation subject to some foreign country wanting to take us on just to see if can be done.

Thanks to honest customers

I MUST say, Speak Out, that Wal-Mart Supercenter in Cape Girardeau sure has some honest customers. Within the past year, I left my purse inside the store, and it was returned to me. A week ago I left my brown clutch purse in a shopping cart on the parking lot, and it was turned in by a customer. That is just wonderful. To whoever found it, I just want to say a big thank you and God bless.

Use sense at emergency scenes

ON MONDAY morning there was a fire on North Georgia Street in Jackson at one of the older houses. There were three fire trucks and several vehicles on the street belonging to those who are volunteer firefighters. There were firefighters in equipment with oxygen tanks and hoses. The people are insane for coming up and down this street and driving through all this mess. When they get up here and they can look up ahead and see there's a great big old mess on the street. Why don't they turn around and go around the block? I have never seen such infantile stupidity by drivers the whole time I've lived here, and I've seen a lot. I would never think of driving through a mess like that. Try to be an intelligent driver. When you see an accident, go around it. When you see fire, go around it. When you hear a siren and you can't tell what direction it's coming from, your best bet is to pull over to the side of the road.

Right kinds of help

NOBODY WILL probably mention it, but after looking for days with all the modern equipment for the black box on the budget airline, it was found by a man with the help of God on the second try.

Be a snake helper

I HAVE something to say about our own neighborhood snake. They are in a hard battle for life. Not just the poisonous snakes, but the non-poisonous snakes such as the king snake, milk snake, hognose snake and the bull snake. Many people are killing them for no reason. They are very helpful, and some are cute and very beautiful. Most non-poisonous snakes kill bad snakes. They will also help your garden such as garter snakes. Many just keep the nuisance away. So next time you see a snake on the road or around the house, let it stay. Don't kill it. You're not just making me happy but giving a snake a second chance.

Clinton needs four more

I SURE hope President Clinton gets four more years as president to help everyone in this country. He would get more done the next four than he has, if that's possible, the last four. The Republicans would have nothing to gain by fighting on everything he wants to do. This is their main objective. They did Jimmy Carter the same way. They're not worried about the country. They're worried about the Republican Party. And the last thing this country needs now in the White House is Dole and Gingrich.

Shortchanged on the torch

WHILE YOUR newspaper and other media praised the torch run, I'd like to express my disappointment. We live on Highway 61 north of Jackson. Many people came out to intersections, private drives etc. to watch the torch. We were told there couldn't be runners as in 1984 but the torch would be carried by bicyclists. OK, not what we expected, but we could handle that. But what did we get? Motorcycles. Children who were expecting something special never even got a glimpse of the flame as the motorcycle sped by. So what if they visited watchers at Uniontown? The rest of us were cheated. This is what we get when we live out in the county.

And more shortchanging

THIS IS in regard to the Olympic torch that was supposed to pass through Cape Girardeau and Jackson. A lot of people parked their cars along Highway 61 north, and people sat in lawn chairs to view the torch. When they came by, we saw no torch except bicycles on a truck. Is this what the Olympic torch is about? This is not fair, because Fruitland is a growing town just the same as Jackson and Cape Girardeau. No one saw the torch. I asked the lady in the vehicle where the torch was. She said on up the highway. We didn't even get to see it. Big deal.