SPEAKOUT

AT&T charge

I GOT a letter from AT&T saying they were going to charge me $5 a month whether I made any long-distance calls or not. I tried to call their billing office the next day (Good Friday) and their business office was closed. I just don't know what this is all about. Could somebody tell me? I don't think they should be allowed to give us one day's notice, and then they're closed the next day.

REPLY: The Southeast Missourian news staff will check with AT&T to get an explanation. Watch the paper for details.

Retired officers?

WHERE ARE all these retired military officers coming from? I don't believe that any one of them was really a military officer. If they were, they were probably forced to retire due to incompetence. They don't have the intelligence to be an officer. I'm a veteran, and I support Clinton's efforts in allowing information to be released on POWs and MIAs. He's also fighting the Republicans who want to take away veterans' benefits. They want to take money from the VA hospitals.

Yard judging

I WOULD like for someone on the committee that judges the best yards of the month as printed in your Saturday newspaper to explain how they select the yards of the month. There are so many beautiful yards in Cape Girardeau that far exceed the ones that are pictured in today's paper. Could someone please explain how this is done?

REPLY: A Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce committee visits the yards and makes the selections. If you are interested in helping, why not call the chamber and offer your assistance and ideas?

Ask lab questions

I'D LIKE to make a comment about the recent news piece regarding the two women who's pap smears were diagnosed incorrectly by a laboratory in another state. I would like to tell patients in the area all you need to do is become educated. I worked for a very large reference laboratory in another state. We did quality work. We did not discriminate between our HMO patients, paying patients, insurance patients or Medicare patients. It is up to you as a consumer to make sure that your insurance company is contracting with a competent laboratory. What you must do in order to assure that you receive quality medical care, not just pap smears, but all types of laboratory work is to become educated and discuss this with your physician. If at any time, you are not satisfied with his answer, you have every right to call the laboratory that is doing your particular test and ask questions as to their licensure and what organization they are accredited by.

Milk in plastic jugs

WHY ARE we being forced to buy half-gallons of milk in plastic containers? I despise the taste that plastic imparts on the milk. And I feel like I must recycle, which is extra hassle. I know that a lot of people don't recycle, therefore they are being forced to do something that is detrimental to our environment.

An atheist's viewpoint

I, TOO, am an atheist. I think it's very pathetic that all the Christians go to church every week because they're afraid of death, that's why they hold on to this God concept. They're afraid of dying and going into darkness and nothingness. We atheists, on the other hand, are not afraid of this. We know it's inevitable. So I suggest to all these people that belong to the Christian religion to wake up and smell the coffee. There is no God.

What's the sport?

I'M CALLING in reference to an April 15 sports article. I think it's just a very good representation of the very poor reporting techniques you have. "Otahks stay afloat in Frost Cutlery tourney pool play." Not until the ninth paragraph can you even tell what sport you're talking about. You need to have some classes in proper reporting techniques.

The four R's

I'VE BEEN reading a lot lately in the paper about the schools. I think the schools should stick to the four R's. They should teach reading, writing, arithmetic and responsibility.

Amy Randol on board

AMY RANDOL should be a candidate for school board. She knows how to get things started, she should have vast knowledge of the school records, and hopefully she has a solution to our distress.

Only a fool

ONLY A fool says in his heart, "There is no God."

Steve Wright listens

IN REFERENCE to the caller of Mr. Wright's reading skills: If you will check the qualifications of filling the school board, it does not require a person to know how to read. Someone that knows how to read may not always know how the people want to participate on the board. They do not have their ears open on their eyes. I personally have known some very intelligent people who can neither read or write. If you do not know someone of this great quality, then what a great loss to your life. Whether Mr. Wright can read well enough for your standards is not the question. Mr. Wright is able to do his job and does it very well. According to Mr. Limbaugh's comment in the paper, all that it really takes to sit on the school board is someone with good common horse sense. Steve seems to have qualification. He is able to relate to the people. We understand that he is willing to listen. Listening is more important reading. Anyone can go to school, get a good education, be very well educated. As long as he is able to listen to the people, he will always have the quality and the ability to sit on the school board.

They know liberals

I WANT to comment on the person who said people do not know what conservatism is. I think they know liberalism because liberalism has given us a $5.5 trillion deficit. Our children may be put at a 85 percent tax bracket. Social Security has turned out to be a farce for the people who will be collecting it. In about 10 years it will be broke. Like the ants and the grasshoppers. The grasshoppers fiddle all the time, and they take away from the ants. That's exactly what liberalism is. It's a way to complete dictatorship and it's ruining our country. We've had liberal government for 50 years and look at the shape.

Others resign too

AS A taxpayer and a longtime resident of Cape Girardeau I feel that the professional way for the school board to get on with the business would be for the resignation of Steve Wright and Bob Fox so the board can start off with all professional board members from this point on to work with the administration. There's not that much experience between Mr. Fox and Mr. Wright and I'm sure that they have some faults as well as the other board members. So it would be my suggestion that both Mr. Fox and Mr. Wright to resign so we can have a totally new school board.