SPEAKOUT

I JUST WANTED to call in and compliment two houses in Cape Girardeau that I've seen. They both have a beautiful display of flowers in front of their houses. One house is on Cape Rock Drive near the Perryville Road intersection. Your pink flowers growing along your driveway are breathtaking. They look so healthy and so becoming in your yard. The other house is a yellow house on William Street near Del Farm. I see the lady out on her porch quite often admiring her flowers. By the looks of her flowers she has every right to do so. I have never noticed that these two houses have won the Cape landscape award, and it's been a shame. As I pass by these two houses during this long, hot summer, I smile and I breath a breath of fresh air by enjoying your flowers. Thanks for your beauty.

THIS IS IN reference to the bus station issue. I'm reading from the Aug. 7 Southeast Missourian, page 6A. It reported Stoverink said people are looking to City Hall to solve their bus station issue, but that's not where the problem or a solution exist. I have to disagree with that statement. The problem in fact should be plural. Here are three of them. People look to City Hall to solve the issue because it is City Hall, public servants, or have they forgotten? And City Hall must have made an error in the first place to allow the license for the line to operate in the wrong zone at Spanky's to begin with. And no wonder there's a problem if Mr. Stoverink uses inner-departmental communications by the Bus Stop Cafe conversations. Thank you, Speak Out.

IN WEDNESDAY MORNING'S paper the Cape public librarian calls our attention to a problem I didn't know existed. But I think he's got the wrong solution. Since the regional library encompasses so much larger an area, I think the thing to do is to consolidate all of the city libraries into the regional system. This way everybody, whether they live in the city limits or not, could check out books. Our city library would be a branch of the regional library. This would save the $25 fee that a lot of people have to pay if they don't happen to live in the city limits.

I TURNED ON the radio to Y-105 about two weeks ago for the first time. The DJ that was on that morning wasn't on the next morning and I haven't heard him since. Is that the same guy that does the downtown sound system on Friday nights? If so, Y-105, we'd like to hear more of him. Thank you, Speak Out.

I'M A DELIVERY driver for a local delivery place and I just want all of Cape Girardeau to know that even though places charge for delivery the delivery drivers don't get the money. People think we get the $1 or $2 delivery and we don't.

I THINK CAPE Girardeau ought to go ahead and build the lake even though Bollinger County doesn't want it. I think they ought to let Cape County use it and not let any of the Bollinger County people use it. Thank you.

THIS IS CONCERNING the poor financial situation of education in the state of Missouri. I'm just a little bit curious. Where is all of that money that the lottery was supposed to bring to education? That's the way they sold it to us. Now, why is education having so many problems? It'd be very nice if the public would see fit to quit buying lottery tickets until something is done about education. Or was that just a ploy to get the lottery here so once you've got people you've got them hooked? In the meantime what's happening to education in our state? Education is left out in the cold again.

A FARMER WAS complaining about how much money he was making and thought he'd be better off if he went on welfare. Why get off welfare? That's all the farmers have been on for the last 25 to 30 years. Thank you.

I'M CALLING in reference to the businesses without a license. I'd like to know how a garage sale can run every week without a license and not pay city tax or anything. I'm in business myself and I have to have a license and pay city tax too. They're open every week without having to pay any kind of taxes. Thank you.

I'VE GOT A problem. I don't know who I can talk to about it, but I've got a little place out in the country and I want to sell it. I've got a buyer but he keeps trying to get me to finance it. I don't understand all of that. He has been to see me three or four times, and that's all he keeps talking about. He wants me to finance it. I'm getting to where I'm afraid if I don't give in to him he might do something.

I HAVE A BROKEN foot and when I go to shopping centers or stores I mostly go to (stores) where they have wheelchairs. I am a young man but people are so rude for a person in a wheelchair, let alone a person with a broken foot. People ought to recognize that. I got hit the other day on my broken leg in (a store) by a shopping cart. I had severe pain the rest of the day. Please, shoppers, look out for somebody else besides yourself. Think about others. Thank you very much.

I AM CALLING to inform people that they can have a block put on their phone to keep anyone from using the 900 numbers. If they have any complaints or inquiries about these 900 phone calls, all they need to do is write to a Mr. Gregory J. Vogt, chief of Informal Complaints and Inquiries Bureau, Enforcement Division, FCC Common Carrier Bureau, Washington, D.C. 20554. Thank you.

SINCE THE OBJECT of changing everyone's address in Scott City is to make extended 911 service possible, I would like to know when the public information meeting regarding the extended 911 service is going to be. I understand in most communities there is an information meeting in which a Southwestern Bell representative informs the community how much money per family will be needed to start and maintain the service. Also, I would like to know when the election is going to be held on this tax.

A spokesperson for the city said two such meetings already have been held and another will be held but no date for it has been set. She said the election will be Nov. 5.

ANYONE HAVING A garage sale should have a permit of some kind so they can be checked on. Some of these garage sales are a business. Some of these garage sale owners go to other garage sales and buy up everything in sight, then have their own garage sale. I know several and they don't collect sales tax or pay income tax on the profits. They are using the property as a business place. This is illegal. Thank you.

A spokesman for the city said people are not required to obtain a license of any kind to hold a garage sale, no matter how frequently sales might be held. But you are right: operating a business without licensing and in places not zoned for business operations is illegal.

WHO ARE THE board members of the legal service and can anyone attend meetings? Also, I need a telephone number for the legal service.

Southeast Missouri Legal Services at Charleston has 20 board members and the board meetings are open to anyone who wants to attend, said its director, Warren Hearnes. He said notification of board meetings are mailed to area newspapers. Hearnes said if you write or call the services and request the names of board members a list will be mailed to you. The address is P.O. Box 349, Charleston, Mo. 63834. The telephone number is 683-3783.

I WOULD LIKE to renew Union Electric's franchise but I sure don't want the city messing with my water.

EMINENT DOMAIN: a term applied in law to the sovereign right of a state to appropriate private property for public uses. The federal Constitution prohibits the exercise of this power without just compensation. To acquire the land for Smoky Mountain National Park, three towns and 18,000 people were moved. In Kentucky, 8,600 people were moved to build Barkley and Kentucky lakes. Thousands of jobs were created. Come on, Gov. Ashcroft, let's build this lake in Bollinger and Cape counties for the good of all of Missouri's citizens and in particular for the good people of Bollinger County. They need the jobs.

It's not up to the governor to build the lake. For it to be built as originally proposed, voters in Cape Girardeau and Bollinger counties must approve it.

I AM EXTREMELY upset that our federal government, our United States marshal, would even dream of prosecuting an incompetent human being, a pathetic person, for being a victim of society and a victim of the people who are trying to sell their products in this country. I am simply appalled and disgusted that they would allow this to happen when this country is full of knowing, deliberate criminals that they apparently don't take the time to prosecute and find. Instead they prey upon innocent children. I have seen it and I know about it personally from a case that exists right there in Cape Girardeau. To me it is deplorable, it is disgusting, and I personally am fed up with that sort of thing when there are so many criminals. Thank you.

You insinuate that the federal government prosecutes children. It doesn't.

I WISH THE state would give more money to the Cape Girardeau County Transit Service. A lot of our senior citizens depend on that transit service. It would be very nice if the state would make sure we have that service.

I HEARD THAT Greyhound is still looking for a suitable bus stop in Cape. I think it is really absurd that people in Cape Girardeau, which is a larger city than both Sikeston and Perryville, have to travel to one of those towns to catch a Greyhound bus. We should be offering more and better services than those towns since we are larger, not fewer services. Those zoning laws were passed by humans, not by God. I think the City Council should convene at the earliest possible opportunity and set about revoking or waiving the law that prevents the station from being at the Texaco site on Kingshighway. This is an excellent location. It doesn't require the bus to come into town; it enjoys four-lane streets coming in and going out of Cape. If you don't like the last location, I think one should be found or built in the area immediately. I wish you lawmakers would stop making Cape look like a third-rate city. By the way, while you're at it, please add the learning channel and KPLR to TCI cable so we can keep up with what's happening in our largest metropolitan area and be able to watch the wonderful programs that are presented on the learning channel. Have a nice day.

WOULDN'T IT BE great if President Bush spent as much time and energy on domestic policy as he does on foreign policy? I doubt if that will ever happen. Thank you.

I AGREE WITH whoever has been saying that the census needs to be redone. There is no way that there are only 2,771 blacks in this town. That number is way too low. I think somebody had better be doing some recounting or add some numbers back. There's something wrong. There's more than that in this town. Thank you.

THIS IS TO every subscriber to the Southeast Missourian. If you did not read Patrick Buchanan's editorial on page 12A in the Aug. 4 Southeast Missourian, please retrieve this newspaper and read this. I only hope that every person and voter in the United States could read this editorial. This is more to the truth than anyone has ever spoken. Thank you very much.

I HAVE LEARNED that faculty members at Southeast Missouri State University are only going to be receiving 11 paychecks this fiscal year instead of 12. I was just wondering, can that be legal? If so, what are they doing with the extra money?

It's legal and the university has no extra money as a result, said a university spokesman. The spokesman said, based in part on a preference of most faculty members for a change in the pay system, plans were made to implement a new salary distribution plan during the 1991-92 academic year, and faculty members were notified of it in February. It is true that faculty members who are paid monthly will receive only 11 checks during 1991, he said. They got no check during July, but that check was given to them last December, he said. So they have not lost a months's salary in either of their contract years, he said. They will be paid at the end of August, the first month of the new contract year, and will receive one check each of the 12 months through and including July 1992, he said. He said the salary covered by the check that will be paid in July 1992 will be accrued during the current fiscal year and will be reflected in the financial report for fiscal year 1992, the year when the funds were obligated. Thus, the change will have no bearing on the university balancing its budget for fiscal year 1992, he said.

THIS IS FOR Peter Kinder. He had an article in the paper a couple of days ago about the liberals turning loose the people in institutions and making them homeless. It seems to me this started under former President Ronald Reagan when he was the governor in California. He claimed there weren't sufficient funds to take care of them. He started the whole deal. Is that calling him a liberal? Maybe he's flip-flopped from how he was when he was a Democrat and flipped over to the Republican side. Peter Kinder had better get things straight. It looks like, if the Democrats are doing all right, what are the Republicans doing, anything? Thank you.

PETER KINDER'S article on the editorial page of Sunday's paper did not go back far enough. The trouble began when the Supreme Court declared Roosevelt's Recovery Act unconstitutional, which indicated that the government could not pay these people to work but they could give them welfare. I believe it's time that we recognized that the government has an obligation to see that every able-bodied person has a job, not a handout. In other words, as they said in our early days, if you don't work you don't eat.

I'D LIKE TO MAKE a comment about the editorial written in your newspaper recently about the elevators at the university not being built in compliance with the Office of Civil Rights. You know, there's no ands, ifs, or whats about this whole issue. By next summer, when the Americans with Disabilities Act is enforced, the university will have to have elevators for the handicapped according to federal law. There's no backing off in this issue, and, if I understand the Americans with Disabilities Act, those people who feel they are being discriminated against can file suit on this particular issue. So you're out of bounds on this issue. It's very clear that the ADA will be in effect in another year and the university will have to have elevators for the handicapped. That's federal law. Thank you.