SPEAKOUT

Pool hall concern

I FEEL like if you're going to hire a manager to run a pool hall, maybe he ought to at least care and want to know something about the game. I certainly would hope that he would change his attitude about the sport and look at as a challenging and great opportunity for someone to get involved with.

Not represented

I WOULD like to challenge the Big Three: Hancock, Tallent and Emerson, the representatives of the privileged and the rich. I can maybe understand Mr. Tallent. He has a pretty high income district in St. Louis County and St. Charles County. For the life of me I can't understand Emerson. There are people here on fixed incomes. He does not have a wealthy man's area. So I think the working poor, the welfare people, the fixed income people and the people who are working ought to get together and register and make sure they vote, because Emerson is not representing your cause. He's friends with the insurance company, the bankers, the wealthy and the privileged. He's against everything that would help the needy and the minimum wage. He's against national health care, so I urge you people to get to the polls and vote.

Election aftermath

PRIOR TO the November 1994 landslide election, the media told us repeatedly that all incumbents were endangered species because Americans were angry at all office voters. It turned out that only Democratic incumbents were at risk. Not a single Republican incumbent in the Senate, House or governor's chair was defeated. Voter anger was obviously directed at big government, wasteful spending and arrogant over regulation of people and their business. That's a very healthy sign, not something to worry about. The reason why the November 1994 election was such a repudiation of Clinton, liberalism and feminism is because the American people have finally figured out that government is not the solution to our problems. Government is the problem. The liberalism of the 1960s is a proven failure, and it's time to try new ideas that do not involve giving government more power or money.

Numbers problem

THE SOUTHEAST Missourian appears to have a problem with headlines and numbers. The headline in your Feb. 18 edition referred to the deaths of eight KC firefighters. The article itself indicated that unfortunately six KC firefighters perished. Does anyone check your headlines for accuracy?

REPLY: There is no good excuse for making headline errors like the one caught by this reader. Headlines are checked for accuracy, but occasionally something like this slips by.

SEMO record in Kentucky

I was wondering if anybody knows if Southeast Missouri State University has ever beaten a Kentucky basketball team in Kentucky. Even Murray State and Morehead State kicked them over here at Cape. I don't know how they do it with the kind of officiating they get here at the Show Me Center, but I'd like to find out about that.

REPLY: The Southeast athletic department says the Indians have never beaten a Kentucky team while playing in Kentucky since the university joined the Ohio Valley Conference.

Your job is done

Both Prosecuting Attorney Swingle and Sheriff Jordan are fine men and dedicated public servants, and I feel you're making a mistake by wanting to bring this young man (sentenced in the hazing death) back here to stay a year in the county jail at the expense of the Cape Girardeau County. We must remember that your jobs stop when the prosecution is done and when your arrest is done. You should not be involved in the sentencing or the execution thereof.

Enough taxes

WE NOW pay federal tax, state tax, county tax, city tax, sales tax, new car tax, gasoline tax, utility taxes, telephone tax. I would like to tell the mayors of both Cape Girardeau and Scott City that we've got all the taxes we can handle. Most families now have both parents working in order to make ends meet. No more taxes, please.

Appraisals too low

IN REFERENCE to the Sunday paper concerning the Walker Creek project: Seems like the appraisals are too low rather than the city paying too much for the property. I watch these appraisers work, and it seems like they want to see how low they can appraise it, they're so ultra-conservative. They're not offering actually what it's worth. Rather they're trying to not pay too much to protect themselves from some type of suit. So I think we need to look at the appraisal system and not how much money the city paid for the property.

I WAS reading the article on the flood control issue relating to the acquisition of land. We had our land appraised, and we still received below what we should have got.

Effects of violence

AS A rape victim, I experienced sadness and disgust when I read the article about the woman raped in Cape Girardeau. The last paragraph stating the victim didn't receive any serious physical injuries during the attack seemed to minimize the spiritual and emotional effects that rape has on a person.

Smart athletes

CONGRATULATIONS to the Central High athlete scholars that were on the A or B honor roll the other night. I believe there were 76 of them.

Just a fair share

PRESIDENTIAL hopeful Gramm made the statement that liberal Democrats want something from the government -- a foolish, asinine statement. We liberal Democrats only want belongs to us: the trickle-down economics from the rich man. We just want the rich man to pay his fair share of taxes, and we want our government back again. We want to share the same as he's got, the same privileged rights that he has. We want the same medical care that he gets through his companies or whatever, that he's able to afford but we're not. Also, if you want something from the government, I think the Democratic Party has given to the federal government and given the United States of America much more than the Republicans and then some.

Keep Speak Out

I'M CALLING in response to Mr. Sullivan's column about Speak Out, whether to keep it or not. I hope you do keep it, because it does give some of us a chance that wouldn't otherwise have a chance to speak out about things that concern us in our community. Thank you Mr. Sullivan for a job well done.

I THINK that Mr. Sullivan is 100 percent correct in his rationale for anonymity for callers that call in. I do think that this is the greatest community in Missouri, but we have to admit that there are some things that we need to speak out on. Also, as he says in his column on the Opinion page on Sunday, we do have to be very careful, because some of us could have retribution. We still are able to get our remarks and our feelings out to the public. I do have to agree that some of them are rather bitter of individuals or organizations. This is the way America does: You speak out the way you like.