SPEAKOUT

I CANNOT BELIEVE someone would publicly admit to smoking a joint. Sure, one joint may not make your child retarded but the chance of a human life to be ruined by your doing something illegal is just amazing. I'm only 15 years old and realize the ignorance and stupidity of your smoking during pregnancy. Your children being intelligent is obviously not inherited from your side of the family. Thank you.

I LIVE IN Ashland Hills and they're still cutting down trees to build new lots to put houses on. I think they should turn the trees into paper instead of just burn them. They're wasting the trees and polluting the air. Thank you.

TO THE PERSON who thinks we are so much better off with George Bush than we would have been with Michael Dukakis had he been elected, I would like to ask, in what way could we be worse off? I think things are about as bad as they can get and they're getting worse. Of course, if you are rich and have your money in the Swiss banks you don't have much to worry about. But I worry like the dickens about mine in our own banks and how long I'll have it. If you're a big company with all your assets overseas, you're okay, but the businessmen here at home are in trouble. If you've got a job, you are worried about having your salary cut or even having a job at all. We're on the verge of a disastrous war that will ruin us. Forget about your five- or six-week war. The repercussions from this war will be felt forever. The filth on television scares me to death. So, tell me, I'd really like to hear in what way we are better off. This is not just disparaging to George Bush; I would just like to have their opinion in what way we're better off. Thank you.

I'D LIKE TO say this to the lady who bought season tickets for the basketball games at the Show Me Center and couldn't get a decent parking space. Apparently she wasn't here when the building went up or she would know that we were sold down the river on that. We were never told that it might be put in that location, I guess because they knew that that bond issue would never pass that way. We've been left with several million dollars in debt the taxpayers will pay because we needed a glorified gym. It has never been a community building and it never will be.

HOW DARE ANY members of the reserves or National Guard now try to say they are conscientious objectors after accepting money from the American taxpayer to go to war if necessary. If any of those members try to sneak and slither out of this crisis, they should be made to repay every cent they were paid by us for as long as they were in the reserves or National Guard. That includes anybody in the military. Thank you.

I JUST WANTED to say I was in Southeast Hospital recently and the people there were so nice to me I just thought they should get a little bit of recognition, especially the girls in admitting They were very nice to me the night that my family and I were in the emergency room when my 78-year-old grandmother was taken in with a heart attack. I just want to say thank you to Southeast Hospital and especially to the young girls in admitting. Thank you, Speak Out.

I NOTICED IN today's paper there was a big writeup about different diet places. I just wanted to mention that Overeaters Anonymous was not mentioned. There are no dues, just the desire to stop eating compulsively. You can find out more information by calling 264-4766. Thank you.

I DON'T UNDERSTAND why President Bush is sending all these boys overseas to get killed. What I want some of you to find out is if he has grandkids and kids. I bet none of them are over there in Saudi Arabia.

HOW CAN MISSOURI voters and taxpayers support another increase in fuel taxes when we have witnessed such wasteful spending of Proposition A funds such as on the Diversion Channel bridge project that proposes $13-million-plus to be spent on the Highway 25 bridge? In St. Louis County the grand screwup cost millions for the unfinished Highway 40 bypass at 270. And Muri wants to talk efficiency in his department. Who is he trying to fool? Thank you.

I HAVE WRITTEN a small poem for the boys over in Saudi Arabia and their families. I hope this makes them feel a little bit better. It's called War and Peace. There was so much sadness in our lives when our boys had to go and fight. Some will live and some will die, but in our hearts they will all survive. Is it right? Is it wrong? God's love for them will keep them strong. When there is peace he will bring them home, where all our boys do belong. If the war ends this day, God will send them on their way. Thank you.

I WAS JUST reading in the paper where some 75-year-old man said us senior citizens got discounts on groceries, doctor bills, medication and so forth. I'd like to know what country he's talking about because we sure don't get it in Missouri. He's been misled.

MR. ROSS SAYS that it's common practice to give boosters preferred parking at universities. I didn't know that the Show Me Center was a college or a university. I thought it was for the public and everybody pays taxes on it, even me. Thank you.