SPEAKOUT

I WAS VERY happy with the first victory of the Cape Central football team; also, the way the seniors were praised for their leadership on the field and display of school spirit. Since school spirit seems to be so closely related to school athletic teams and events, we should be getting some helpful suggestions from the new athletic director on the subject. Promoting Tiger mugs and having your picture in the paper has its place, but providing some input on the importance of school spirit and citizenship to the student body is an important issue not to be overlooked.

I THINK IT'S funny that a city council member gets front page coverage on being harassed and followed when I've been harassed and followed for the past three years and the police department doesn't do anything about it. I've got police reports on file and they don't give me half the coverage as they give that.

SURELY MARY WULFERS doesn't believe that the people of Cape Girardeau are so stupid as to believe what she is saying. She should resign from the council.

THIS IS TO Mary Wulfers. President Harry S. Truman said it well, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." Serving in public office, one must be able to control their emotions. Jackie Kennedy did this remarkably well and she still does. You know, it just proves again, men are more capable than women. Thank you.

POOR MRS. WULFERS. I think she's got a problem. Thank you.

BOY, OH BOY. If Danforth had worked as hard for the state of Missouri for jobs that he's worked for Thomas, we would really be in good shape. Thank you.

SEN. DANFORTH, THE people of Missouri voted and elected you as senator of Missouri to work for us, not to be a campaigner for Thomas. Please do the job that you are elected to do. Thank you.

I WOULD LIKE to see Mayor Gene Rhodes sign a proclamation for hummingbird week. Thank you.

I THINK ON this solid-waste issue that another trash hauling company should be contracted to haul half the week and the city should haul the other half. That way the solid waste wouldn't sit around all week. Thank you.

I SHOPPED AT (a grocery store). I got my groceries and I pushed the cart up to the checkout counter. They rang them all up and I wrote my check, and then the checkout people bagged my groceries and supposedly put them in my cart. I pushed them to my car and loaded them. I got home and I just happened to want to fix something that I had bought and it wasn't in my groceries. I called the store and told them I was missing a bag of groceries. Finally they said, well, they're here. I was wondering, isn't it a little bit odd that a bag of groceries, if you're a person there putting groceries in there, that you would leave out a bag of groceries? If you did, before I got out of the store, you would notice that by checking other people there knowing that wasn't theirs.

I WOULD LIKE to say thank you for putting the programming in for the Christian TV station, channel 45.

I'D LIKE TO address to the man who overpaid his child support. How do you overpay child support? No one can say exactly to the penny what your children will cost this year. I guess a mother should deny they have any unexpected medical expenses that they might need to ensure she doesn't overpay on their expenses. My ex-husband is $8,000 behind on child support, and his half of their medical expenses is up to $6,000 now with no attempt being made to pay any of it. He says he's out of work but the funny thing is the kids still get hungry, they still need warm clothes and a warm home, and they still have medical bills whether he works or not. Somehow during this six months he has been out of work, he's kept eating but he's made no effort at all to see that his children get fed.

COME ON, MORE than 26 weeks on unemployment. The people most in favor of this act are those who don't job hunt until their 24th week of benefits. You cannot tell me a person cannot find a good job in this town in six-months time. Perhaps they're just too lazy or too picky. Thank you.

CONGRATULATIONS AND THANKS to Southwestern Bell for including zip codes in their new telephone directories.

THE WILDLIFE HABITAT Enhancement Council at 1010 Wayne Avenue, Suite 210, Silver Spring, Md. 20910, puts out a leaflet entitled "Attracting Hummingbirds" that may of interest to some of the readers of this column.

IN VIEWING MONDAY night's city council meeting, it appears to me the certain member on the board must have a guilty conscience that's just eating away at them. Thank you.

I WANTED TO call in and voice my opposition to Proposition B for several reasons. I'm for education; however, the fine print in Proposition B has not been published. I think if more people read the fine print they might be against Proposition B because it is not strictly an education bill. No. 2, I think that we have spent more than enough money on education and there needs to be a redistribution of the money in education away from administrative costs and towards true education. For these reasons, I'm also voting against Proposition B because I don't think that a tax increase will improve the quality of education in itself. Thank you.

WE RECYCLED FOR years. We always took our newspapers over on Good Hope to VIP. Now we've been taking our recyclables over on Broadview. This every-week collection for recyclables is ridiculous. We would waste so much money buying so many garbage bags. Once every month or two months would be often enough to pick up recyclables. We need our trash picked up more often instead. Thank you.

THIS IS TO the lady who is wondering why her jeans only last three washings before unraveling. It's because they are stone washed, ice washed, and bleached before you buy them. That process has ruined them. We should be smarter and not buy that kind; then they would stop making them. It's only a fad, so get smart and don't buy those kind. Thank you.

I WOULD JUST like to say everybody's saying the Cardinals did very bad. I think they did good to get second place. I just wanted to tell everybody that who said they were doing bad. Thank you.

JUST WANT TO say congratulations to the ninth-grade football team at Central High. They're doing a great job this year. They're a nice bunch of boys and the coaches are good, too.

IF THERE ARE no ordinances regulating garage sales in the city, there should be. When there is a garage sale every week at the same location, it ceases to be a garage sale and is nothing more than a tax-free business. Thank you.

IT WOULD HAVE been very simple if Elizabeth Taylor really did not want the press to know what was going on at her wedding. She could have had it inside.

I UNDERSTAND THAT it's Mental Health Week in Cape Girardeau. According to the commercial, it said that you should try to help anyone that you know with mental health problems, be it friends, family or someone at work. I know someone with mental health problems but I just don't know how to get the help they so honestly deserve. You see, that person is my boss. I was wondering, Dear Speak Out, if any of your readers could tell me, how can you tactfully suggest to someone that they have mental health problems and that they really, really, really need help?

WELL, GOOD GRIEF. I'm reading the Monday paper and I see a person in here that has a suggestion that every person with AIDS should be isolated with a big red sign on their home as a warning. Well, you know what? I agree with you but I don't think we should stop there. I think we should also put big red signs on homes as a warning for people with bigoted attitudes like you. Thank you.

I FOR ONE am not going to be duped into voting for the big tax increase. I'm no fool. Proposition B is just for the big colleges. Most of the money will go to the big administrators sitting on their duffs. Can't the colleges learn to save more? The waste is pitiful. I know, I've worked in schools for many years. I've seen it folks. Do you really think any of this money will go where it's really needed? For example, some of the area schools are crowding 30 to 35 kindergarten children into one classroom. How can a teacher of these children give justice? It's just not possible. Is the money going to pay for another teacher for these children? Definitely not. We were fooled by the lottery money supposedly going for education. Very little is reaching our children, where it's really needed. I can't believe all these organizations you read about are supporting the big tax increase. Do you really think, when they have that ballot in hand, they're going to vote yes? I hope not. Thank you.

DID YOU SEE Mr. Bush, our president, at the country music awards show last week? I would like to go if somebody would fly me there and pay my way. If he wasn't campaigning, what would you call it? Thank you.

THE DIFFERENCE IS quite negligible, you know, between a winner and a loser. Both may expend efforts so great, yet only one will realize the blissful state. Winners and losers may possess much talent and skill, these gladiators of our modern time. Only one will conquer his inner monster fear to shout with true conviction, "Victory will be mine." Though there are courts and links and fields a splendor, the genuine confrontation takes place not there, but exists within the visions, dreams and imagery of the competitor that accepts this dare. The difference is quite negligible, you know, until in darkness they befall their greatest fears. The loser, immobilized with obsessions of not losing, the winner envisions only the triumphant victor's cheers. Dare to believe in yourself, dare to believe in your teammates, dare to only imagine the positive, dare to be a winner. Restore the roar, Tigers. Follow us. Class of 1992.