SPEAKOUT

Agency confusion

I THINK the news media are confusing the public on who does what with families and children. The Division of Youth Services is only involved with children who have been arrested or have been in trouble in some way. The organization that works with families and children in Missouri who are not arrested or in trouble is the Division of Family Services.

Needs in the northeast

REGARDING the city's plans for a half-cent sales tax for transportation: Not one word has been said about the northeast section of Cape Girardeau. We have streets up here in this end of town too. We pay taxes too. Why do they want to keep putting money into the airport in Scott County? Until they promise me that they will resurface my blacktop street, I will not vote for this transportation tax.

School board conflict

DOES ANYBODY wonder why this community thinks we have a sleazy school board? I think their latest antics prove it. The fact that Cathy Swan disappeared during the discussions of the communication issue does not absolve her or her husband from a conflict of interest. They should have immediately removed themselves from any bidding or not even have given it in the first place. People, we are going to have to put a stop to this, and the time is near. The next school board we get into we elect is going to have to be more politically astute and less business oriented to their own interest.

WHY DOES the Cape Girardeau Board of Education need 12 portable radios and four pagers?

Wages and voting

I HAVE spoken to a lot of people who work for minimum wage and a lot of poor people who get public aid for dependent children, Most of these people do not vote or are not registered to vote. That is a sad situation. If more of people working for a low wage and a lot of people who are on a fixed income voted, I just wonder if the election would have turned out the way it did. I certainly think that it would be a good law to have anybody with a driver's license to be automatically registered.

No silver platter

IF YOU know anything about economics in the United States, you know the best route to a good job is to get a job and to work for advancement. Nobody is going to hand it to you on a silver platter, and nobody expects to have people pay out of their pocket when someone else doesn't want to do a good job. There are a lot of fish to fry, and it seems the Republicans are doing a good job, particularly passing a crime bill that gets mean with those individuals who have been mean for too long to us.

Deadbeat mothers

I THINK the news needs to do a report on deadbeat mothers. Here is a man who works hard, pays his bills and is a good father. He pays his child support and is there when they need him. They bleed him to death. The state and his ex want him to pay $800 while he gets to keep $600 out of his check. It isn't fair. He has done well with his life since they have been divorced, and all she does is sit on her duff, her and her boyfriend. I think the state needs to look at it and make the mothers get out there and work just like the fathers do.

Workers and players

MY 25-YEAR-OLD son graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia three years ago. Since graduation he has worked a variety of part-time jobs and only recently landed a full-time job. His starting salary is $18,000 per year. If he excels he can expect raises and eventually bring home a good wage. Contrast my son with a young man his age or younger who plays major league baseball. Most of these young men are not college graduates. Their minimum wage is well over $100,000 per year. If they are just average players they can expect to make $1.2 million per year, which is the average wage for major leaguers. If my son's wages were doubled, it would take him 33 years to make what the average ball player makes in one year. These prima donnas should have been shocked back into reality years ago. Bring on the replacement players and play ball.

Defending mailmen

I AM calling about the column in Wednesday's paper by Bill Heitland. It was an interesting article but you could damage some mail carrier's reputation by printing your jokes. A letter carrier does not choose his route. He starts at A and ends at Z. Furthermore, he is timed for every step that he takes. He is only allowed so many seconds to open a box and drop the mail in. Your column was humorous, but it would have been just as well had you used a delivery man rather than mailman. The mailman is that man that comes around six days a week, rain or shine, sleet or snow and does a wonderful job with practically no credit.

School discipline

I AM 65 years of age, I have put four children through the Cape Girardeau school system, one graduating in 1994 from SEMO on the dean's list. The one that graduated from college spent six of those years at Washington School all six years. Barbara Blanchard was her teacher. Barbara Blanchard was a good teacher. Two of my boys went there, and when they got in trouble and they called me to come to the school, I went. But not like the namby-pamby person who called the cheap shot in against the principal at Washington. When those boys and girls needed a paddling, both my wife and I told the principal to lay it on them. All of them came out good citizens. It was these namby-pamby persons who took the control away.

The welfare wagon

I WANT to comment about the person who said self-righteous Republicans want to turn welfare over to states, and it's going to hurt kids. My goodness, where have you been? Look at the shape of children today. Kids in these ghettos are killing each other. They don't have fathers due to welfare. Fathers are no longer needed because the welfare provides the money that the children need. They are already in such dire straits, how can they get any worse? The states can do it a lot better and cheaper at the local level. In the big welfare wagon, it is the drivers of the wagon who are going to be the ones kicked the hardest, and we will find an answer to these welfare problems.

Bidding is skewed

THIS CALL is regarding the bidding of two-way radios for the Cape Girardeau public school system. During the bidding process the bids are written usually by the bidder and given to the board so as to virtually eliminate all other competitors from bidding on the purchase. They do that so that the purchaser can do business with the company they want to do business with. When taxpayer money is at hand, though, the process should be fair and open to all and not put any undue restraints on any other participants. I believe there is a conflict of interest on the part of one of the board members, since it is her company bidding on the equipment. Every board member knows she owns the company bidding on the radios, so there is some unspoken pressure on the other board members to approve her bid, even if she did leave the room during the actual bid process. What we have here is the board and especially one board member not acting on what is in the school district's best interest but what is in the best interest of an individual board member. I am a taxpayer in Cape Girardeau, and I am requesting that these bids be fair to all those bidding on it.

Baseball blame

IN MARC Powers column he seems to blame the owners for the baseball strike. I beg to disagree. Major league players are paid a minimum of over $100,000 a year, and few are forced to accept that. There are numerous .250 hitters getting over a million bucks a year, and the stars are multimillionaires, and they still charge big bucks to sign autographs for young fans. Their pension plan is the best in all of industries. They play, and I stress play, baseball for nine months out of the year. Most make more in one season than the average man earns in a lifetime. Yes, I blame the players.

Loud music at Show Me

I'VE JUST returned from having a doctor extract cotton from my ears. During the last SEMO basketball game I resorted to plugging my ears with cotton to avoid the deafening music in the Show Me Center. I guess I got a little carried away and pushed it in too far. Why, oh why, must that music be so loud and unbearable. People are even saying they will not buy tickets for the coming season.