SPEAKOUT

WHEN THE TOTAL cost of the Cape school board meeting at Paducah's Executive Inn is available, please multiply the cost by the number of school boards in Missouri to get what the total cost would be if all Missouri school boards had meetings in some other locations. By the way, I hope there was a good show at Paducah's Executive Inn while the school board was there.

I WOULD LIKE to know if the school board retreat included their families' costs? Since the taxpayers are paying the bill, please give us an itemized account such as the cost of shows, rooms, food, and the cost of the room to conduct the school business in. Thank you.

None of the families of board members or administrators was in Paducah, Ky., during last weekend's school board retreat, said Larry R. Dew, business manager of the Cape Girardeau School District. Dew said the school district's total cost for rooms and food at the Executive Inn and travel to and from Paducah was $1,341.16. He said the district has not received an itemized accounting from the motel, so he could not break down the costs. He said he was given the total cost of the motel over the telephone.

TO THE MAN who sits in that comfortable-looking chair in the TV commercial and asks why we in the audience don't just blow it up, has it never occurred to you that the Salvation Army knows hundreds of people who could use just such a chair? And the last thing anyone needs is to have more air pollution. Plainly, you need to say more. You need to change that commercial.

SPEAK OUT: IT LOOKS like another political controversy is starting on the City Council with the decision to stop the selling of bus tickets and processing of freight at Spanky's. When will all of this end? Thanks Speak Out.

DOES ANYONE KNOW when the Cape school board will start promoting their next tax increase? They might need some additional spending money to have some meeting at a fancy motel.

THE SIZE OF Cape and it can't find a bus depot. What a joke. I have a niece in Poplar Bluff who wants to attend Southeast, and she has to come to Cape by going through St. Louis first.

IN THE INCIDENT of the handcuffed person spitting in the face of the police officer, the prisoner is lucky he isn't charged with assault instead of the officer getting the reprimand.

OUR CHILDREN ARE forced to try to learn in overcrowded classrooms, buildings that are more than 50 years old, classrooms that don't' have ceiling fans or air conditioning or the most up-to-date equipment, and here our school board is saying they just can't concentrate unless they go on a retreat to the Executive Inn. What a bunch of baloney. While your editorial was excellent, we must disagree with the statement concerning the cost of the retreat: $1,500 is not really significant in the district's budget of more than $19 million. That $1,500 would be significant in a budget of $100 million when our children are being subjected to any or all of the above conditions. This is a direct slap in the face to every child who attends our schools as well as to the taxpayers footing the bill for the school board's mini-vacation. We know many business people who have cookouts in their own backyards so they can discuss and concentrate on matters of strategic planning. There are many beautiful parks in this area where a group could go for a cookout and have lengthy discussions. As taxpayers, we are outraged at this idiotic mini-vacation the school board members and administration are taking at our expense, not to mention their total lack of sensitivity to the taxpayers and the financial crisis facing every school district in Missouri. The Southeast Missourian is a top-notch newspaper and we appreciate the opportunity to express our opinions. Thank you.

I'M PHONING TO dispute an article that's in your Speak Out column about the recycling of aluminum cans in the state of California. I've lived in California for 47 years. I'm a native of Cape Girardeau, but we do pay a deposit on our cans when we purchase them the soft drinks and the beer and things like that and we also pay a deposit on our plastic bottles. We have machines by all of our markets where we recycle. We put them in the machines and receive money back for them: two cans for a nickel and one bottle for a nickel. They do not pay 97 cents a pound for aluminum; the top price is about 57 cents a pound. So I want to make a rebuttal to that person who thinks they know about the state of California because they do not. I live there. So thank you very, very much.

I TOO WAS very offended by the Benson cartoon in the July 23 Missourian, as should be all Catholics and black persons. Judge Thomas is a black person who is at the top of his profession and he is depicted as a dunce sub-servant to a bunch of dictatorial mostly-white females.

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE tell me when the DuQuoin State Fair is? I have called three times and no one has ever answered. That's all I want to know. Thank you.

We carried a story on July 18 that gave the dates of the fair, but we'll make an exception and repeat the dates for you. It is scheduled for Aug. 24 through Sept. 2.