SPEAKOUT

Farmland means food

MY COMMENT has to do with the article in today's Missourian and the legislation sponsored by Sen. Kinder making it easy for cities to acquire farm ground for airports. This farm ground is used to raise food, and I think it's time that people like Sen. Kinder understand that farmland cannot be replaced. If they need a place for a new airport, they just need to go back and put it in the cities and knock down some of the fancy houses.

Best and brightest

I AM appalled at Donna Shalala's comment: "We sent not the best and brightest young sons to Vietnam. We sent young men from small towns and rural areas." This liberal condescension of the fine young men who laid their lives on the line for America is representative of the Clinton administration. Is it any wonder the American people are in a revolution against liberalism?

Foxes and chickens?

HOW CAN a newly elected mayor and council in Advance in just one day after being sworn in relieve an entire police force that operated and carried out the direction of the previous administration? The former mayor and council not only endorsed the police action, but provided a budget to help the police in their drug investigation. Several arrests were made, and others were eminent. Maybe they were getting too close for somebody. Talking about the foxes guarding the chicken houses.

No street ball

I READ in the paper about the two ladies who were very upset about the children making their street a playground. The city council didn't seem to be too sympathetic about it, but I would like for them to know there isn't a rule against children playing in the street, but there definitely is an ordinance on the city's books that there is no ball playing in the street. Maybe that will help them a little bit.

Crime in the county

I LIVE in Cape Girardeau County. I have been watching the news on the Advance firing its entire police force for apparently doing its job by conducting a drug investigation. If this investigation would have been conducted in Cape Girardeau County, the citizens would have been in support and would have encouraged them to continue. We in Cape Girardeau County and Cape Girardeau city have been riddled with gang violence, drive-by shootings and drug dealings on the street corners. I think it's time for Advance and the new board to wake up. They have given a free key to the city, and it sounds like they're trying to hide something for someone bigger than they are.

Greensferry accident

IT FINALLY happened. We had a bad accident on Greensferry Road here in Jackson. Citizens have called the police and asked them to try to help with motorists driving too fast up and down the road, and they've ignored our pleas. We finally had a bad accident where some children have gotten hurt pretty bad on Greensferry Road, and I'd just like to say thank you, Jackson Police Department, for not helping and making that possible.

County P&Z

THE VOTERS decided to do without our county planning and zoning. I wonder why it was still left intact. The voters have spoken to do without planning and zoning commission's help or hindrance, as the case might be. I was wondering why they are still allowed to be.

REPLY: Cape Girardeau County voters eliminated planning and zoning, but that applies only to unincorporated areas. Cities like Cape Girardeau and Jackson, however, still have planning and zoning commissions.

`Christy' was great

I AGREE with Cal Thomas' column about the TV show "Christy" being one of the best. I'm going to write to CBS. Will someone give the address of the network and where to write to?

REPLY: Write to CBS, 51 West 52nd St., New York, N.Y., 10019.

I WOULD like to thank KFVS-TV for airing "Christy" Saturday night. It's a wonderful show. They have 13 episodes already written. Please help make this show a series. Also, "A Mother's Gift" on Sunday night was wonderful. Those are the kinds of programs that people in Cape Girardeau and the surrounding areas want to see. Please keep them on TV.

Best friend in a cage

THEY CONSIDER man's best friend to be a dog. We live on a small area, and when you see dogs, big dogs especially, penned up in a pen, it's amazing to think they're considered to be man's best friend. It's really sad to look at to see dogs in cages where they can't get out to run and play like other dogs that people take care of. It's just sad to see that.

Marijuana in Oran

THE BIGGEST thing in our school district here at Oran is for the kids who smoke marijuana, for a big kick, to get some kid who doesn't smoke marijuana in the vehicle with them, roll up the windows and drive up and down the street. The one who isn't smoking is sitting there breathing, not realizing he's sucking in that used marijuana smoke. Marijuana is so addictive. I think that's so awful that kids will do another kid that way. I just think I'll take the law into my own hands and do something about that.

Tax for police raises

I'D LIKE to say to Mayor Spradling that he is all wrong about giving the police and city employees an increase in pay. I will never vote for a quarter-cent tax for the streets. We taxpayers paid when we were getting our improvements done. But I will pay a quarter-cent or even half-cent sales tax for the city employees or the police department for higher wages and also to put more police on our streets, because we're certainly going to need it when the gambling boat comes in. I'm not against gambling, but I do know it's going to bring in some crime and dope peddling. If the city council will put that on the ballot, I'll vote for it. I believe many others will.

Trash on Easter Sunday

A SUGGESTION for Cape Girardeau: Please, in the coming years, move your spring cleanup to the weekend after Easter. We hate seeing all the refuse sitting on the curbside on Easter Sunday, and people just don't have time to get ready for a pickup with all the Easter activities.

Forests are gone

I JUST read the editorial about the forests in Illinois that said there are now more trees than there ever have been before. But 95 percent of Illinois' original forests are gone and have been for quite some time, and most of them are replaced by farm land. So please get off you pedestal and think about who wants everything their way because with only 5 percent of their forests left, Illinois migratory birds can't be choosy, and farmers already have plenty of land to fill up with their crops.