SPEAKOUT

Commerce buyout

AS A LIFELONG resident of the Commerce area, I don't believe there are 45 to 50 homes in Commerce, unless they are counting the dog houses too. I just can't hardly see how there can be that many down there.

Stop the subsidies

THERE IS a simple solution to the tobacco problem. They are trying to discourage teen-agers from taking up the use of tobacco whether it is smokeless or the other kind. If the government no longer subsidized the tobacco farmers, they would have to start putting out other crops instead of tobacco, because they would have to make a living.

Parents: Take control

AS FAR as this teen-age smoking goes, it is very simple. Parents need to be in control over their kids. When my dad caught me smoking a cigarette, he made me smoke a big black cigar all the way. When he caught me drinking a beer, he made me drink a fifth of whiskey until I got sick. Then he told me if he ever caught me smoking marijuana he would inject me with heroine. Need I say more?

Grass in the street

I WANT to respond to the person who chastised another caller who made comments about grass clippings in the street. Grass clippings shouldn't be in the street. There is a city ordinance against it. It looks unsightly, and it clogs up the sewers.

Hit and run

TO THE elderly man who backed out of his parking spot at the grocery store and hit my car on the passenger side: I thought you would stop to see what damage you had done, but you spun away. I hope you can sleep at night.

Stay open-minded

IN REGARDS to the person who complained about people mowing their lawns and grass getting into the streets: I lived in California for 17 years, and that's why I got tired of it out there. They griped about the neighbor's flower bed being over too far. They griped about the neighbor who didn't trim his trees and the leaves getting in their yard. They griped about not being zoned for two families and complain, complain, complain. That's why I always wanted to get back this way, because I thought there were more opened-minded people who worried about other things that are more important.

Trial is a joke

THE O.J. Simpson trial is a joke and a disgrace to the judicial system of this country. It appears that the defense is grasping at straws.

Sunset for sales tax

I WOULD like to bet my paycheck 10 to 1 that the half-cent sales tax won't be removed after five years. If anybody wants to pick me up on this bet, call Speak Out.

REPLY: This isn't as simple a bet as it sounds. If the caller thinks the sales tax will be automatically extended, there are plenty of folks who will take the bet, because they believe the tax will end in the promised five years. But if the caller is betting that voters will extend the sales tax, there may be fewer takers. Why? Many voters will have seen the results of the five-year program and may want to continue the tax for more street improvements.

For deregulation

IF THE United States is going to survive as a free nation we must deregulate America. Regulation has become an arbitrary distortion and an engine of privilege as government agencies issue a never-ending stream of commands based only remotely on the original legislation. This can be changed by enforcing a Supreme Court decision of two generations ago that prohibited the delegation of Congress's legislative power. If Congress is forced to vote on the imposition of rules they are likely to be fewer and simpler. We should also pass a law as specified by Article 3, Section 2 of the Constitution restricting the federal court system's capacity to rebut decisions by state courts. This would restore flexibility the states and localities have lost, thereby expanding diversity.