SPEAKOUT

JUST WANT TO compliment the people who sponsored the bus tour of lights in Cape. It was very good and the bus driver was a very good and conscientious driver. I hope they have it next year.

IF YOU WANT to see some pretty lights, come to McClure, turn east off Route 3 at the McClure Grade School, and continue one mile. Thank you.

I WOULD LIKE to say thank you to whoever thought up the idea of the Christmas light contest. I think it has made Cape Girardeau decorate more and I appreciate it. Tell them thank you.

IN REGARD TO the GLSA display in the park and the person who said it wasn't placed there to offend anyone. Well, how can you look at it in any other way? The other lights are there in the true spirit and the true meaning of Christmas, which is to celebrate the birth of our Lord. GLSA has nothing to do with Christianity. It should not be with the rest of the displays. Thank you.

TO THE PERSON who stole my son's bike: May both tires blow out and throw you in front of a fast-moving locomotive. And to the person who chose to cut the top out of a tree that sat in my living room at Christmas, which I've watered and watched grow over the years: While this tree is in your living room on Christmas morning and you're sitting around opening your presents and celebrating this most religious of holidays by your stolen tree, may it dry up and catch fire and burn down. Then, who knows? Maybe the person who stole my son's bike, if the train didn't get him, might be visiting that day. Merry Christmas to both of you.

DON'T BE COMPLAINING about the economy if you're driving foreign-made cars and buying all foreign products.

I WANT TO compliment you on your In The Spirit magazine. I think it's a very good idea and might encourage people to be more religious. I wish you would continue that.

YOU JESUS FREAKS make me sick by always pounding your Bible and being judgmental. Now it's the Christmas lights in the county park. If there is one thing I learned in my catechism class, it was that God loves everyone, and that means the GLSA, too. If you will read the Old Testament you will find sodomy abounds, not among gays but also heterosexuals. There are also scholarly speculations that Paul of the New Testament may have been homosexual. It may be that in the next life that one's sexual propensity will be one of the least things to matter. My job has taken me to many places with different cultures. I have never seen as much ignorance in one place as there is here. Every day I ask God to hear my prayer for a transfer so I can get myself and my family out of this Jimmy Swaggart, hypocritical town. Thank you.

THERE HAS BEEN a lot of controversy about the gay and lesbian group at SEMO and their Christmas display at county park. What would SEMO and the community leaders do if it was a group of prostitutes? Would the university allow such a group to be funded? Would the city allow such a group to have a display in our park? Homosexuality is just as wrong as prostitution and it is just as illegal. Thank you.

I'M CALLING IN reference to the person who said that with the Kennedy Smith trial they sent a woman to do a man's job. Well, I think that is a very sexist remark and I'm surprised you printed it. But I mainly called to say that who is better than a woman to prosecute a rape case. Thank you.

I JUST WANTED to say I think Delta school is a great school and we as residents of the district are going to have to support our school or lose it. I support our school and would like to see my children graduate from Delta High School. Thank you.

COULD YOU TELL me why there isn't going to be a page in the paper for grandchildren's and children's Christmas pictures? Thank you.

We have never offered such a feature at Christmastime.

I MUST SAY there are some nice but strange people in this town. I have just been called by a man who called himself Santa Claus The Second, and he dialed me randomly and wanted to wish me a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and he said God bless. He never told his real name but he sure was a nice fellow. I wish my daughter would marry someone like him.

HOSPITALS AND DOCTORS give tests that Medicare will not pay for. You will not know about it until you get a notice from Medicare. Patients should be told in advance that Medicare will not pay for these tests. Then you have a choice. Many tests by hospitals and doctors are not necessary. Thank you.

I THINK THESE 24,000 GM auto workers that are losing their jobs next year have the perfect Christmas present. Maybe if GM is able to take them back they won't be quite so greedy when laid off. Whenever they're laid off, they still receive 95 percent of their pay because of the union. I think they all should be fired on the spot. Now maybe there's a chance the price of a new car will come down some. These $15,000 to $20,000 cars are ridiculous. Now maybe us lower middle-class will be able to afford a new car. I raise my glass and checkbook to GM.

EVERYBODY'S COMPLAINING about lights in the park. I would like to call attention to the display where Santa Claus is kneeling before the manger. This is an absolutely stupid display because Santa Claus is a mythical figure modeled after St. Nicholas and could not have lived in the time that Jesus was born. So why don't we put the wise men in front of the manger, which happened after the birth of Christ anyway, and get it all correct? Again, the display is stupid and probably sacrilegious as well. Thank you.

THIS IS TO the person praising Reagan: Surely you jest. Due to Reagan we are in the trouble we are today. Everything bad can be laid at his door. His so-called buildup in '80s is why we are in this mess. As far as peace is concerned, what kind of peace have we got? We're more scared of Russia now than we were in the '80s, with all the nuclear weapons and all those different hands. For somebody that laughed us out of Grenada, Panama and Libya, it would be hard to say it was worth it. So tell it like it is and put the fault where it really lies.

IN SCOTT CITY, where's the dog catcher? Send him up here in old Illmo to pick up these dogs running loose day and night. I wish he would make his rounds and do something about these dogs running loose.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE Kelly Hawk A team for beating Cape Girardeau Central 67-64 and to their B team for also beating Cape Girardeau Central 53-50. It shows that hard work and lots of practice pays off. Good luck in the future, Kelly Hawks.

IN REGARD TO Brad Harris' column the other day about the Cardinals, I think they have a lot more brains than he does. Paying a big price for baseball players does not guarantee a winner. Free agents are paid for past achievements, not future accomplishments. The young, promising players have more hunger for success than a guy who's already signed a multi-million dollar contract. Bobby Bonilla, for example, said after his big contract was signed, I can just go out and have fun now. I bet Brad Harris anything he wants to bet that a lot of guys have a better year than Bonilla will for a lot less money. Incidentally, the Cardinals finished second last year; not bad for a team that doesn't know what they're doing. Right, Brad?

I READ IN the paper about Cape and Bollinger counties griping about the cost of inmate medical bills. Who do you think pays for the hundreds of people's medical bills in Cape and Bollinger counties who don't have any money or insurance? They don't have any money from one month to the next to live on, much less to pay for medical bills. I say charge the bill to the prisoner. If he doesn't pay, make him work it out. There is plenty of work for someone like that. If you can't find any work, I can.

I WOULD LIKE to make a comment to the gentleman that was in Tuesday night who said he wasn't a homosexual and people ought to leave them alone. Well, that is what has just happened. When AIDS came out, it was a homosexual disease. Now that people have left them alone, it is spreading to the general population, where now it's not just a homosexual disease but it's everyone's disease. But it mainly started with the homosexuals. Thank you.

THE JUDGING OF the Christmas decorations was a joke in Jackson. There's a house off of East 61 that is beautiful and it doesn't have a sign in front of it announcing it a winner. Merry Christmas, Speak Out.

I WANT TO thank Southeast Missouri University for having the Nutcracker at the Show Me Center. It was a good performance. The only thing I did not appreciate was the fact that the stage made a tremendous amount of noise and squeaked when the dancers jumped up in the air. Other than this, it was a good performance. Thank you.

I JUST WANTED to let you know, if you want to see some beautiful Christmas lights on homes, you need to go to Scott City. Make a right there at the exit past the school to that subdivision and look especially at the home on the second drive, second house from the corner. It's beautiful. Thank you.

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL Christmas display is in south Cape, the 1000 block of S. Sprigg. You should drive by.

I WOULD LIKE to thank the Girl Scouts of McClure for coming to the Cape Girardeau Nursing home on Dec. 14 and entertaining the residents. They really did appreciate it.

I'M MAD AS an old wet hen. If your name's Kennedy or you're related to them, you can get by with murder, rape or anything. You've got the money to pay for the best lawyer in the land. No one has a chance against you. Just think how they got their money in the first place.

THIS IS CONCERNING the person who quoted the Bible in Monday's Speak Out. Who died and left you God? Who are you to be judge and jury of gays and lesbians? Who wrote the Bible? God? No, humans did. How do you know what God thinks of homosexuals? We are all God's children: heterosexuals, homosexuals, whites, blacks, handicaps, et cetera. Do you honestly think God would be as biased as you and not allow them passage to heaven because we're all different? Putting up a display at Cape County Park is not an attempt to recruit people to gayism but a celebration of the birth of Christ. Thank you.

YOU KNOW, IT'S really getting a little old to pick up the paper and be continuously told by the city council and now the public works director that the people of Cape Girardeau are ignorant. No, we're not ignorant. We do understand that there has to be a recycling program. What we question is the need for it once weekly. Thank you.

I HAVE FOLLOWED with interest all the comments in Speak Out in regards to the supposed increase in the cost of trash pickups. Wait until the new government regulations in regards to refrigerants go into effect in July. Prices will skyrocket, both labor and refrigerant, because of the recovering requirements and the equipment required. No one will be able to buy a refrigerant to charge your own auto air conditioners. Only federally licensed contractors will be able to buy or sell or install refrigerant. This law, as vague as it is now, will carry fines up to $25,000 and 15 years in prison. How did this come about? The long-awaited Clean Air Act. Thank you.

I THINK THAT the readers of Speak Out might recall an old saying, "It is all in the eye of the beholder." As for me, I behold a woman in Barbara Streisand who is very, very beautiful. Thank you.

IN THE SONG "Jesus Loves the Little Children" it says red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight; Jesus loves the little children of the world. It doesn't say he loves everyone but gays and lesbians; he loves everyone. In the Bible it also says that if you believe in him you will be forgiven for your sins. If Jesus can forgive and forget, don't you think we should? I mean, it's Christmas, so just lighten up and enjoy our beautiful park. Don't criticize the people who made it that way. Thank you.

MAYBE THE WOMAN in the William Kennedy Smith trial was telling the truth. I don't know, but I don't think people should believe testimony just because of the large outbreaks of emotion she was showing. A good friend of mine used to be a professional actor; he can cry on cue and look terrible. For all we know, she could be acting to gain popularity. Thank you.

I WOULD JUST like to say there is a house about one-quarter of a mile south of the Fruitland school on Route W with the best Christmas lights I have ever seen. They even have a real Christmas tree in their yard. Thank you.

WHERE IS THE humanitarian aid for the American people? I have a grammar school education and I know what to do to our economy to get it going. Mr. Bush says it needs a kick. That it does. I agree with him, it needs a kick. But to fix our economy and the United States, all we have to do is stop some of the imports. Look at the trade deficit: $10.5 billion. Stop giving America away. The politicians got their raise and they're on easy street; it's the average consumer that's hurting. It's not going to stop until these politicians limit the imports and limit the foreign aid. Thank you.

PRESIDENT REAGAN ONCE said so rightly that we are not getting our money's worth out of what we are spending for public schools. In Sunday's Speak Out, someone suggested that if athletics were reduced in schools there would be many dropouts; athletics was all that was keeping many in school. How saddening and depressing this situation has become. If all these kids are going to school for is to engage in sports, they have missed the boat. After graduation, so many of them cannot read or write. Nearly three-quarters of my taxes go for schools. I say get the athletics out and the three Rs back in.

I WOULD LIKE to know if all of these people who are so scared of the lesbian and gay display at the park are without sin and can go before God and say, God, I have never sinned and I am pure at heart and deed. Thank you.

I THINK THAT Christmas is the time for love, not the time for condemning people for their beliefs even though they don't coincide with ours, whether it's sexual preference or what they believe. Thank you.

WHAT IS ALL this hype over a certain group's Christmas display at Cape County Park? I only wish I was charging money for you to see it because your Cape Girardeau mentality has caused unnecessary publicity and curiosity that will make many more people than usual go and see it, thus making me millions. Thank you and wake up, Cape Girardeau.