SPEAKOUT

WELL WE SEE what happened on Proposition B. Maybe all these people who think they're so educated didn't read the polls right because it was sound defeat, which is very good to me. Maybe we need to get a bunch of these educators and put them out with a pick and shovel or something so they can learn a little bit of common sense. This is what we need in our education system and our politicians, too.

HOORAY FOR KENTUCKY. I think I'll move to the state of Kentucky. I think Missouri needs to look at Kentucky and use them for an example.

SCHOOLS' METHOD OF teaching aren't working. The reason Proposition B was defeated is because people aren't getting results from their schools now. Kids aren't taught how to balance checkbooks, fill out tax returns, write a good job resume, what jobs are flooded in the job market, which ones to pursue, how to get good hospital insurance, save money, how to deal with banks and interest, how to deal with anything they'll be facing after graduation, and half of them can't read. They aren't getting the basic skills. Teachers don't make sure every student gets the basics. Back when teachers used to care, if you didn't get it, they made sure you did get it through repetition and memorization. And, if you still didn't get it, you stayed after school with the teacher helping you with your subject until you did get it; not a detention where you sit and do nothing. Don't expect money without results. It's just like the bank: you don't have any collateral, or in this case, results, and you get no loan. Thank you.

IT WAS REALLY unique to see five living presidents assembled at Reagan's opening of the library with his name and memorabilia. The thing that was shocking about it was that of the ex-presidents, only one is an honest man: Jimmy Carter. Thank you.

HEY, LEADERS, LET'S get on with education reform. Hey, politicians, you've got your job you're being paid to do, responsibilities to meet and considerable resources to accomplish them; the failure of Proposition B not withstanding. Let's pay good attention to our duties. Even without Proposition B we can take some management actions and make the existing committee on higher education into a coordinating board for higher education, or at least give them those responsibilities. I'm surprised that coordinating jobs apparently wasn't being done already. Could someone explain to me why it takes a Proposition B to provide an existing governmental agency with authority to eliminate duplicating, inefficient or unnecessary academic programs in the state, to control programs in the state, to prepare plans for the state's higher education system, to recommend a statutory commission for each institution, to submit plans, to set state goals and priorities, and so on? It seems to me that we can get a lot of mission enhancement right now through some hard work by people already on the payroll. Let's quit crying about Proposition B and get on with the job. It's a big one and it needs to be done.

WELL, HOORAY, HOORAY. The Scott City aldermen finally went to a meeting without taking their rubber stamps with them. Keep up the good work, guys.

IF THE CITY insists on keeping one garbage pickup per week, then I think they should cut the price of this garbage pickup. If they cannot do this, then let a private outfit take this over. They could do it cheaper than the city is doing it to begin with. We are paying for two pickups per week and we are getting one. I am getting sick and tired of garbage sitting in our home for seven straight days. This once-a-week pickup for recyclables is ridiculous. I would like to see a breakdown of the sections of city and the amount of recyclables that they are picking up. I think the people would be surprised if the this was put in the paper. I want my two garbage pickup days back. I recycle once a month. Thank you.

WELL, IT LOOKS like all the old folks turned out to vote down Proposition B. I guess they like 911 because they're so old. Excuse me. Thank you.

IT WILL NEVER happen, but wouldn't it be great if these politicians would vote their conscience instead of worrying about getting re-elected? Thank you.

ON THIS Proposition B, our representatives and the powers to be all the way to Jefferson City did everything they could to put a snow job on the voters, but they didn't fall for a bit of it, did they? Why not cut a little fat out of these schools? They don't have to cut any classes down, just cut the fat out. Thank you.

I WAS RAISED IN THE Christian faith so I believe that regardless of how a dead body is disposed of, when resurrection day comes, God can put together bones that may be scattered from east to west because, perhaps, of some brutal butcher, or he can put the ashes back together of some poor soul that may have been burned to nothing in a house fire. Consider those that are lost at sea and those who've been lost in space, the bodies of whom have never been found. My questions are, and my thinking is this: No. 1, why pay $3,000 to $5,000 for a beautiful coffin to be buried six feet under that nobody will ever see again? No. 2, why take up ground space to plant dead bodies when that space could be used to plant potatoes or build a home? No. 3, why pay for a service in a funeral home when a memorial service can be held in your own home for free, if you're cremated? I'd rather have the ashes of my loved ones in a jar on my mantle than buried in a cold, dark, grave. If I move, my loved one can go with me. The cost of cremation is almost nothing, and I will still have my loved one with me afterwards. If I go first, my husband and my children can talk to me all they want, and I won't be able to interrupt and talk back. I don't believe in anybody making money off of my death or anybody else's. I personally don't intend to leave the expense of my burial to my children.

THERE ARE A LOT of things that people call in to your paper when you say to speak out, but you don't put them in. If Proposition B passes I intend to go around and get a lot of people to sign a paper that they'll call your paper and cancel you out. Thank you.

The preceding statement was received prior to Tuesday's defeat of Proposition B. For days prior to the election, Speak Out was filled with calls on Proposition B, and most were in opposition to it. While not all comments could be used, we practiced no favoritism. Further, in spite of this newspaper's editorial position supporting Proposition B, we have printed numerous other opinion pieces, letters to the editor, Be Our Guest submissions and so forth, both for and against it. This is in addition to the 10-part series of news articles we carried, together with many other stories. A regular reader of this newspaper should have been well acquainted with the arguments on all sides of the issue. That's our responsibility, and we take it seriously.

I'M CALLING ABOUT the church not wanting Mollie's to have a liquor license to do business there. I'd just like to say I thought there was such thing as separation of church and state. It doesn't seem like it's that way in Cape Girardeau because a church seemingly is trying to run everything in this town. Thanks.

AFTER HEARING MAYOR Rhodes at the council meeting, I'm convinced he's not qualified to be mayor after voting to refuse a liquor license to the Casbah. I thought he was out of line to state his reasons. He said he was against alley business. Have you ever heard of Printer's Alley and many others like them?

I'D LIKE TO know if anyone in Cape Girardeau is going to do anything about the drug situation. I know that the police have ideas who these people are. I wish that they would do something about it.

I WOULD JUST like to congratulate the student government at Southeast Missouri State for passing a proposal to use $10,000 for a night care center on campus in the spring semester. They needed over $17,000 to get this pilot program off the ground, and student government, in its wisdom, decided that night care on campus for their students who need it was an important enough issue to put $10,000 of their money into it. I'd just like to thank them. Thank you.

AS ONE OF the KFVS listeners, I would like to congratulate Brereton Jones over in Kentucky for winning the governor's race against Larry Hopkins. Mr. Hopkins brought in the big guns from Washington, D.C., president and vice president, to no avail. Jones had a wonderful partner that helped an awful lot and that was his wife. She made some wonderful speeches in his behalf on why he should be elected governor. While Hopkins was trying to go the low road, Jones and his wife were traveling the high road. I was interested in it. You may wonder why, being from Missouri, but I listened to a lot of their campaign. Mainly it caught my attention because Hopkins brought his talking mule in on his campaign, trying to slander Jones.

I WAS AT a meeting recently where the topic of general discussion was Cape's overabundance of garbage. Many are keeping their's in their refrigerator and some are freezing it in their freezers. Putting it outside draws rats and other critters. Why can't dumpsters be put in the city parks where people can deposit their garbage? Then we won't have it stinking around our homes.

CONCERNING CHILD ABUSE, there are many forms of abuse. Any parent who withholds love and instead neglects and ignores their child is guilty of mental abuse. Any parent who mistreats, hits, whips or beats their child is guilty of physical abuse. Any parent who continuously criticizes, screams at, or curses their child is guilty of verbal abuse. Any parent who does not love and show that child love 100 percent of the time is guilty of abuse. If you are a parent and abusing your child, stop it. Get help: talk with a clergy or a trusted friend or get counseling, but first tell your child you're sorry and you love him or her. Children are to be loved and deserve to be loved and raised in a loving, stable home and environment. If you are a child being abused in any way, don't hide it in shame. Tell someone you trust: a trusted friend, a teacher or a school counselor. Thank you.

I TOO BELIEVE that Jimmy Swaggart should be banned from the television airways and the pulpit. Any man who can not practice what he preaches should not be heard, much less preaching the word of God. Jimmy obviously has an addiction to deviate sex and pornography. He should call on that Savior he talks so much about and repent. Perhaps he too shall be saved.

THE PERSON WHO contributed the article "Once Upon A Time" in Speak Out for November '91 gets a standing ovation from me.