SPEAKOUT

Parents at egg hunt

I TOOK my daughter to the Easter egg hunt that was held at Capaha Park. While I waited at the top the of the hill with other parents as we were instructed, the announcer said that the field had been divided into different segments for the different age groups. He then told all of the older children to walk down to the edge of the ballfield to the park official that was standing down there and to wait for the signal to start the hunt. The children did as they were told. The parents, however, ran down the hill with big buckets and began picking up eggs as fast as they could. By the time the announcer let the rest of us go and we started down the hill, the parents and older children had already progressed completely around the pond leaving nothing for the smaller children to pick up. I was appalled at the behavior of the adults there, and I will never subject my child to it again.

Exercising firemen

I'm glad our firemen are staying in such great shape with their aerobic exercises. I just want to know if they're doing this on duty time and who's paying their membership to that high-class health club they're going to.

REPLY: The exercise sessions are during duty hours, because the physical-fitness training is mandatory. Universal Physique doesn't charge the city for the use of its facilities by the firefighters.

Thoughts on NOW

JON RUST had a good column, "NOW rally: Women using women." He says something which I have felt for a long time. "Using women who have been beaten and raped to falsely discredit policy ideas you disagree with is exactly that, using women. NOW discredits itself with such tactics." He also comments on the fact that the president of the largest women's group in the nation, Concerned Women for America, says such tactics indicate just out of touch NOW feminists are with most American women. NOW's hysterical rhetoric about violence is a facade for its real agenda of big government, abortion on demand and abortion rights.

BIG CORPORATE brother has got us again. First off, they say the floods of California destroyed all the produce and that's why the prices are raised. That's wrong. Ninety percent of our produce in this area comes from Mexico. In California, the only produce that was damaged was strawberries and artichokes. Don't let them fool you. Another thing is half-gallon milk carton. Do you see them in the store anymore? We want our half-gallon milk cartons back.

REPLY: Grocery wholesalers in Cape Girardeau say most produce in local supermarkets is purchased from California, Texas and Arizona. On occasion, wholesalers will purchase produce from Mexico that isn't available in the U.S.

Good luck, atheist

I'M CALLING in response to the atheist who says there's no God. I have two words for you: Good luck.

Need national health

YOU HAVE a few doctors who will not accept the payment that Medicare pays them. You have to pay at least 20 percent out of you pocket. You're fortunate if you have another insurance policy to subsidize what Medicare doesn't pay unless you're just wealthy. I don't know if you call it greed or physicians who took that oath are kind of going back on it. That's a good example why we need a national health care bill to make sure every citizen -- young, old, rich, poor -- gets medical treatment. And these Republicans are trying to kill it. They've been trying to kill it for the past 45 years but I don't think it's going to be much longer. The chickens are bound to come home to roost. We need it.

Commencement idea

I'M CALLING about the comment in Speak Out about letting everybody participate in commencement, and the people who don't have enough credits to graduate receive a certificate of attendance. I think that the Cape Girardeau and Jackson school boards should consider that. I would like to hear other comments from people to find out whether people really do care if someone goes up to the podium to get a certificate of attendance or a graduation certificate. I really don't know what people are so hung up about on this particular issue.

Recycling incentive

DOES CAPE Girardeau really want people to recycle? It surely doesn't sound like it to me. They are postponing the two-bag trash pickup for another year. It appears to me that they are asking people to not recycle. I have been recycling ever since this went into effect. We recycle our paper, our metal, our plastics, and I am tired of doing this while other deadbeats do not recycle anything. I don't go along with the city's excuses for not implementing this reduction in trash bags. I will no longer do any recycling. I might as well put it in the trash as other people do.

Thanks for assistance

OUR HEARTFELT thank to Randy and the other people from Marble Hill who stopped to help our daughter when her car overturned on Highway 34 east of Burfordville. Thank God for people like you who aren't afraid to get involved and help other people. She's doing just fine. Once again, many thanks.

Get tornado sirens

WHEN WILL the citizens of Cape Girardeau demand the city council get its priorities straight? No. 1 should be tornado sirens. The claim that sirens cost too much is ludicrous.

Jenkins for school board

I AM a white citizen of Cape Girardeau. There seems to be such a high dropout rate and lack of interest in the school district and community among the black students and parents. This needs to change. Why is there not one black member on the school board? Although there are several excellent choices for role models, I personally nominate John Jenkins. Go for it, John.

Meet at schools

THE SCHOOL board should meet each month in a different school building. Problems of space would be solved and parents would feel they are welcome.

What is conservatism?

DO YOU really know what conservatism is? Ask anyone who was born from 1910 to maybe no later than 1915. Just ask someone who lost the farm or who had to live in the bigger city or had to work in a factory if there was any work for a living. They'll tell you what true conservatism is. They want the government out of everything. The government did nothing, only gave you the military. That was about it. Everything was left local. That was true conservatism. You had no help at all. You baby boomers don't really know what conservatism is, or even you people born in the 1930s might know a little.

Easter symbols

WILL SOMEONE please help me remember about some of the symbols of Easter? Our mother taught us the Easter bunny represented abundant life. Jesus died that we might live and have abundant life. The breaking of the egg shell represented the rolling away of the stone for Christ's grave. Purple, she said, represented royalty because Christ was our king. The red Easter egg represented the blood Jesus shed to save us from our sin. Now I can't remember some of the others. Can someone help me please?

A-bombs saved lives

I'D LIKE to add to the comments about dropping the atomic bombs on the Japanese in World War II. These acts not only saved American lives but many Japanese lives also. If we had invaded the Japanese mainland, hundreds of thousands of casualties would have been inflicted on both sides, probably a lot more on the Japanese. Medical supplies and food would have been diverted to the front lines, causing famine and disease to spread throughout the Japanese mainland. This did happen to the Soviets and ultimately the Germans during World War II. Dropping the atomic bombs did cause many deaths to the Japanese citizenry but probably saved many, many more. The Japanese could possibly thank us for ending the war and saving many of their lives instead of blaming us.