SPEAKOUT

TO THE PERSON who was complaining that the gifted program in the high schools and junior high was discriminatory, most programs discriminate in that not everyone gets to participate, be it band, choir, football, or whatever. I'm sorry that you didn't qualify for the gifted program, too. But wouldn't it be discrimination to those students who are capable or willing to learn in advance at an accelerated pace to force them to go only as fast as less-willing or able persons like you go?

I JUST WANTED to reply to the diabetic in today's paper, the article about not being able to find a job. I've been in the Cape Girardeau area since April and I have been looking for a job. I don't have any health problems except that I'm close to 50, and I haven't had any success in finding a job either. So I don't think it's because she's a diabetic. Thank you.

IN REGARD TO the Tulsa ballet performance, as an area patron of the arts, I feel that the matter of the children's auditions was not handled in a fair and equal way. I would like to state that area dance students were not allowed to participate in the audition held in the Academy of Dancearts over the weekend, after a recent article stated that area children in Southeast Missouri would be able to audition. The studio I support had over 120 students disappointed by the fact that it was a closed audition. I believe Tulsa ballet should be aware of this matter and should have taken steps to include all area studios since they want you to buy a $50 ticket. The whole matter should have been re-evaluated and professionally handled since it is community sponsored. The community should be aware that equal opportunity for the children was not given, nor was the opportunity for other studios and families to support and patronize the upcoming event. Thank you.

I HAVE A lot of toys that are in excellent condition that my children have outgrown. I was wondering if you could tell me of an organization that would be interested in taking these toys. I want them to be given away though, not resold. Thank you.

If anyone knows of a place that takes used toys and does not sell them, feel free to call Speak Out.

I WAS WONDERING if anyone else in town knew how much it cost to bring that stupid quilt with the AIDS names all over it to SEMO University. Well, it cost $10,000, paid for by the students. We are wondering why the fees are going up at the university; it's because of stupid investments like this. Thank you.

TO THE PERSON who has been on welfare for three generations: You're the reason we need welfare reform. You grow up on welfare and don't have to get a job. You don't need to get out there to sweat for money. Instead, we have to get out and sweat for your money. Don't get the wrong idea. There are needy people who deserve welfare the elderly, the handicapped, et cetera but not the lazy bums who are perfectly able to work. Get out and find a job just like the rest of us good people who are working for a living to pay taxes. I wish and pray there were more politicians like David Duke who had the guts to address the issues. I hope he runs for president and opens people's eyes. Thank you, from a David Duke supporter.

OUR PRESIDENT still insists that we are not in recession. Well, Mr. President, I'm a 20-year-old college student trying to pay his way through college. I'm working at minimum wage. I invite you to come stay a week with me because last week I was living on peanut butter and crackers because I didn't qualify for social aid, food stamps and stuff. I really invite you to spend a week with me and see what it's like down here. I don't think you really care. Something else that intrigues me is why I haven't heard anyone in Congress or the United States speak about graduated income tax. It seems to me, if you want to help middle-class Americans through this, the best all-around way to do it is to take 20 percent of everything every individual makes. Then come back and take 20 percent on any organization you have to buy stock in, like a corporation or franchise. That to me seems like the most logical way to help the middle-class man. If you want to get re-elected, sir, that is probably your best course of action. Are you guys afraid to pay your fair share? As the Democratic representative in Congress stated in the arguments for the tax hikes about a year ago, it's not a crime to be rich, but it's not a crime to be poor and working either.

A SUGGESTION ON using the surplus funds in the motel and cafe funds. How about the city council exercising some fiscal responsibility and invest these funds in government bonds to insure income for the future in the event of a downturn in the economy? This would protect the city against a decrease in sales tax and a sharp fall in their income. I think this is a good suggestion for the city council and city management. Thank you.

WELL, WELL, WELL. I see Bush gave Russia $1 billion credit for food. Our federal government gives less and less to our states for educating our children. I am sick and tired of our tax money or credit or whatever going to foreign countries. Keep my tax money in the United States. Thank you.

IGNORANCE CAN RUIN you. I did not know until recently, and I am 62 years old, that the Missouri Dental Board is not a state agency. It defends dentists. I was misled by the name of the outfit; you know, the word Missouri preceded the words dental board. I thought it was a state agency but it is not. As a matter of fact, because I didn't have $5,000, or I didn't want to spend $5,000 for an expert witness, I was referred to the Missouri Dental Board by an attorney here in Missouri. Just because something sounds official, it ain't necessarily so. Even some Missouri attorneys are as stupid as I am, apparently. The Missouri Dental Board has absolutely nothing to do with the state. It is owned by people in the dental profession. Why, I don't know, unless it is just to fool us. Thank you.

You are wrong. The Missouri Dental Board is a state agency comprised of five dentists, one public member and one dental hygiene member appointed for five-year terms. Members are nominated by the director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development and appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. A primary function of the board is examination for competency of candidates who wish to become licensed as dentists, dental specialists or dental hygienists. The board also responds to consumer complaints, conducts investigations and brings formal complaints against licensees who violate dental law or rules and regulations of the board. The board also brings actions against persons practicing dentistry without a license.

I WOULD LIKE to address an issue about the poor quality of workmanship on Route 72 west of Jackson. It has been open a very few weeks and already they have had to place several patches on the shoulder and even had to come back and grind bumps off the west end of the highway. Also, they've had to lay blacktop on the east end and it still is very rough. Is this the quality of roads that we can look forward to in the future? I surely hope not. What has happened to the highway department with their design and engineering? Are our tax dollars going to be spent for this quality of work?

WE RESIDENTS of Jackson would like to know how the Missouri Highway Department can ask for a tax increase when they build such a sorry, rough-riding road on Route 72 west of Jackson. It rides worse than the old road did and they're already patching it. Hope the patch is better than the concert pavement. Thank you.

I AM A professional truck driver and I would like to know why this new stretch of highway right west of Jackson is so rough. It throws you through the windshield. The highway department needs to do something about this. Thank you.

Bob Wilson, Missouri Highway and Transportation Department resident engineer at Jackson, said the concrete paving of the quarter-mile-long approaches on either side of the bridge, which recently was completed, "is not as good a job as we would have liked." Wilson explained that the contractor obtained permission from the department's Jefferson City office to use what is called a bridge finishing machine on the approaches. The specifications did not permit use of the machine, but department headquarters allowed its use because it was considered a small, paving job, he said. As a result of the machine's use, the surface was rough with protruding bumps, he said. The department then required the contractor to grind down the bumps, which it did, he said. The surface was then tested by the department and was considered acceptable, said Wilson. He said the project has been accepted and no further work is planned, but the department will "take a hard look" at use of the machine on future small, paving contracts.

I AGREE WITH the person who said that Ryan White was treated terrible when he had AIDS and everybody thinks Magic Johnson is a hero. Well, it's time for America to except the fact that AIDS is not a gay, white male disease, and it's going to take a whole generation of teenagers if we don't teach our kids about sex.

I AM VERY happy to read in this Southeast Missourian that the federal judge is planning to call a federal grand jury in the near future. I hope it gets some federal indictments against some of the crooks in the city of Cape Girardeau.

I WANT TO congratulate the Missourian for taking Doonesbury comic strip out of the paper. That's the best idea you've had in years. Thank you.

BRING BACK DOONESBURY. We want Doonesbury. Just because it finished last in your poll of cartoons is no reason to drop it. Some cartoon had to finish last. Doonesbury serves an important purpose and is an important cartoon that a lot of people in this area like to read. I was just wondering how long it would take the Southeast Missourian and the reason for dropping Doonesbury. Well, now you've shown your true colors. Bring back Doonesbury.

WHERE IS DOONESBURY? I miss it desperately. Please don't tell me that you are going to censor my political cartoons.

I DON'T ALWAYS agree with the Doonesbury cartoon but I'd like to make up my own mind. Please continue to print it. Show people in Southeast Missouri that they do have some intelligence to make their own decisions. I just recently had to subscribe to the Post-Dispatch. Thank you.

I CAN'T BELIEVE that you don't print Doonesbury anymore, and I don't believe that it had anything to do with the fact that there is any kind of survey that put it dead last. It's just a matter of Peter Kinder not wanting to put it in there. Thank you, Speak Out.

ADMIT IT: YOU'RE not running Doonesbury because of Garry Trudeau's politics. Who are you to tell me what I can and cannot read?

THE CARTOONIST, TRUDEAU, has gone too far with his cartoon in the Doonesbury. I hope our Missourian doesn't run his cartoon any more. Nine out of 10 people can't understand him anyway. They're really awful.

I BELIEVE THAT saying you don't find Garry Trudeau funny any more is a rather harsh statement for a paper which is supposed to remain unbiased. I'm very disappointed that you decided to pull it, so I will consequently by the St. Louis paper since they still carry it. I also find it hard to believe that you continue to carry Cathy or Pavlov if Doonesbury isn't funny. Thank you.

WHY HASN'T THE Southeast Missourian been carrying the Doonesbury cartoon? Is it because that they're using the power of censorship to further the abuse of the Republican right wing ways? Let's have Doonesbury back in our paper again.

YOU HAVE CANCELED Doonesbury and I have canceled my subscription.

I THINK IT'S preposterous that you no longer print the Doonesbury comic strip just because Garry Trudeau bashes the Republican Party, especially Dan Quayle. Mr. Rust and Mr. Kinder didn't seem to mind when Trudeau was bashing Ted Kennedy and the Democrats earlier this year. Come on, guys, lighten up; it's a comic strip, for Christ's sakes. Sometimes you guys are so obvious, or should I say paranoid. Can you say, H-U-M-O-R? Thanks, Speak Out.

YOU SAY YOU took your survey on the cartoons earlier this year. How come you waited until now to drop Doonesbury? Would it have anything to do with the Dan Quayle strip that was controversial? You'd better believe it.

NOW THAT YOU have set yourself up as our censor when you dropped Doonesbury, tell us the truth about who made that decision? And what about this reader survey? I don't remember that and I don't remember seeing the results of it, and who in the world would ever confuse a political cartoon with the comics? I think you are way off base.

The forgoing represent most of the recent comments we have received on our decision to join other newspapers across the country in discontinuing the Doonesbury comic strip written by Garry Trudeau. As a matter of fact, we have been astonished that there were so few objections, far fewer than on other occasions when, in the normal course of business, we made decisions to delete a columnist, feature or comic.

As for the caller who doubts our reader survey, we refer you to an article we published in our "Life" section on June 2, 1991 detailing the results of the comics survey we had conducted the month before. We were amazed at the level of reader response; 1,300 readers returned the surveys, representing approximately 7.5 percent of our circulation (not counting larger Sunday circulation). Some excerpts from that article: "... [J]ust about every way the data was evaluated, Doonesbury was at the bottom of the list. 40 percent of respondents rated Doonesbury last; only 1.4 percent picked it as their favorite. ... Doonesbury prompted comments like `Absolutely awful and usually insulting,' `This one stinks,' `Ugh,' and `It was worth 25 cents to rate ... Doonesbury last.'"

For us, the recent Doonesbury attack upon Vice President Dan Quayle represented a new low even for Trudeau and it was the last straw in deciding to dump his cartoon. This would have been true no matter which public figure was the object of such an unfair, non-factual and completely non-credible smear. Of those who have commented on the extraordinarily irresponsible work of Garry Trudeau in this instance, few have said it better than a recent editorial we saw in the Paducah Sun. Former Cape Girardeau resident and Southeast Missourian editor Don Gordon is editor of the editorial page at that newspaper. The Sun put it this way: "... Now a widely published cartoonist is ready to smear the vice president of the United States. It is an outrage. Mr. Trudeau cannot hide behind the comic strip nature of his product; he names real people and purports to deal in real events. He is, in fact, practicing journalism, though a particularly shoddy and vicious brand of it. ..."