SPEAKOUT

Fly-through is silly

I WISH Channel 12's fly-through radar would fly away. It's the silliest thing I ever saw, and everybody in our family laughs about it when it comes on.

FLY-THROUGH weather is for the birds.

And a photo too

I WOULD like to comment that Jeff Breer's article on Notre Dame district title championships was well written. However, I think they would have been more effective with photos. Jackson's district win had a photo. Central had photos. I think you forget Notre Dame is an important part of Cape Girardeau's academic community also.

A wedge developing

RECENTLY THERE have been those who have called in Speak Out and complained about senior citizens who own and drive a new and a cleaner undamaged car and those who purchase and eat a meal at the Senior Center. There seems to be a wedge being driven between younger folks and senior citizens. Don't blame the senior citizens for all failures. We are probably the only members of society in history of mankind for which the younger generation has so little respect. I would like to point out it wasn't the senior citizens who took the melody out of music or the beauty out of art or the pride out of appearance, the romance out of love and marriage, learning out of education, servility out of behavior, refinement out of language, dedication out of employment, and we are certainly not the ones who took patience and tolerance from relationships.

Hands off Social Security

I GUESS the people who are drawing Social Security know just how the Republicans feel about the people on Social Security. It is time for the people to stand up and let these politicians know to keep their cotton pickin' fingers out of the Social Security fund. This was not the purpose of Social Security. This is a tax that the employees and employers have paid in over the years so that when these people retire and get unable to work that they may draw a small monthly pension. If these politicians cannot find a way to balance the budget without going into Social Security, then may I suggest that they clamp down on the waste in the government and stop -- don't cut -- foreign aid altogether. Let these countries living off of the United States start taking care of themselves, and they would not have to cut programs in this country.

Newsprint OK for mulch

I WAS wondering if there was any harm in using the newspaper for mulch in the garden since it has got so many colors pages in it now. I would appreciate your information on this.

REPLY: Newsprint is a wonderful way to mulch a garden. The color inks used have much the same content as black ink. Most inks in the Missourian are soybean based.

Another Clinton term

JACK STAPLETON, I enjoy your column very much. You're the best columnist the Southeast Missourian has. You have sense. However, I do hope your wrong when you say this is Clinton's first and probably last term. The people here may not like Clinton, but if they get Dole with his Republican congress, God forbid, they will hate Dole. By the time they get through with us, Cape Girardeau, there will not be any college programs, because there will be too much unemployment. The only thing the university will have is maybe the foreign students, and people will be abandoning Cape Girardeau to go look for work in bigger cities, which they probably won't find. We'll be living like our forefathers and have the Great Depression all over again. I think the people were foolish in the last congressional election, but I don't think they have gone insane.

Graduation guidelines?

I'D LIKE to ask Dr. Tallent, high school principal at Cape Central, if there have been any progress made on the graduation procedures. It was indicated in the Southeast Missourian several weeks ago that an advisory committee had been formed and has been several months in operation. I'm wondering what progress has been made there. We have graduation coming up, and I would like to have Dr. Tallent to comment or at least release the suggested policy.

Sheriff wants too much

WHAT SCOTT County really needs is a new sheriff. He is always wanting and wanting and wanting. He will break Scott County.

Hatfield protects SS

HOW I admire Sen. Mark Hatfield. He stood by his convictions when all the other Republican senators were voting to rob the social security trust fund. More power to him. I hope he stays in Washington a long time.

Timely, troubling

SEN. KINDER, thanks for your timely but troubling columns on the Outstanding Schools Act and Senate Bill 380. Keep up the good work, and may they alert many to turn back the so called educational reform here in Missouri.

PETER KINDER is doing a great service with his continuing series on Senate Bill 380 and Outcome Based Education. I have a child at Cape Central High School, and she gets assignments asking about her home life. Teachers ask her what she thinks of her parents, yet she can barely spell her own name. Outcome Based Education is a psycho-babble fad promoted by overpaid government educrats. So keep up the good work Peter, and keep on the heat. I think you would make a better governor than that old socialist Carnahan.

Protecting SS

AFTER READING what your caller had to say on Monday about Bill Emerson's letter, I'd like to comment on one that I got from him. He assured me that the balanced budget amendment will in no way change the status of Social Security or Medicare. My question is this, how long can it exist with them dipping into the trust fund? Members of Congress don't worry about their retirement pay. They've voted themselves huge pensions just a few years back and are they worried about Medicare. No indeed, all of their medical care is paid for by, guess who, the taxpayer.

AIDS treatment costs

REGARDING the Sunday story about the AIDS patient in Cape, we should offer him our sympathy. The sad but hard truth of the matter is that he has a fatal disease. His medications therefore are ultimately futile, but they cost up to $70,000 per year. This would be enough money to pay for my child's entire college education, an expense for which I get no tax credit. It was also said that this AIDS patient's treatment was "free" and paid for by the "government." Excuse me, please. Health care is never free, and the "government" is made up of working taxpayers. We are the ones who actually pay for his treatment. Are we suppose to be happy about all of this?