SPEAKOUT

Let board do hiring

I WAS pleased with the school board questions but not with the answers the board members were getting. I'm 67 years old. There are 11 votes between my grown children, their wives and myself. Many other people feel as I do. Until such time as the hiring of teachers is placed back into the hands of the school board and the principals of Cape Girardeau schools, we will continue to vote negative on anything that they want.

REPLY: School administrators, including building principals, are involved in the interviewing and selection of new teachers. The final recommendations are presented to the school board for approval. It would be impractical for school board members to read all the applications and do the interviewing to fill all the positions that become vacant during the course of a year in the school district.

Mules on the mural

WHY DON'T they just paint a picture of a jackass on the river wall? That way they can honor the official state animal and Rush Limbaugh at the same time.

Good Samaritans

I'D LIKE to thank the people who helped me when my car broke on down on the evening of July 4. I'd like to thank the couple behind me when my car had quit on me completely. They went to a service station and called a wrecker for me, and Wes Payne picked my car up. Meanwhile, while I was waiting for the wrecker to come, this other couple came in a truck, pulled in beside me and asked if they could help me. They wanted to know if they could move my car out of the congestion there on the road. They were awfully helpful too. I thank those people. I don't know who they were or where they were from.

Hiring the subs

THIS IS directed to the Cape Girardeau School Board: While we're on the subject of teachers' increases, what about the substitutes who were promised they would get top preference in the hiring. This has not happened in Cape Girardeau or Jackson. This just doesn't seem right to me at all.