SPEAKOUT

I WANT TO say a personal thank-you to the police officers of Cape Girardeau. I work at a local convenience store, and when the power failed the other night, the officers on patrol stopped and checked on us to be sure everyone was safe. This is not the first time that officers have stopped to let us know that they care and are keeping an eye on us. We have a fine police force and I think they deserve to hear praise from us and not always complaints. Thanks and keep up the good work.

I WAS GRIEVED to read the message about a church refusing admission or kicking out sinners. There seems to be a lot of pain in the caller's words. Perhaps the caller felt he or she had been badly mistreated; or, perhaps the call was in response to a general spiritual pain. In any case scripture tells us that the Lord adds to his church daily such as should be saved. This would not forbid a congregation from asking if a potential member agreed with the beliefs of the church, but it would forbid a church from voting on a person's sins. There is only one sin for which anyone can be excommunicated, and that is refusal to repent. Any sin, no matter how grievous, must be forgiven when there is repentance. Thank you.

I WANT TO thank Speak Out for registering my complaints about the drinking at the Show Me Center as well as the gentleman who was chewing tobacco. I would like to say this to the board of directors of the Show Me Center. You say that there's no restrictions on adults chewing tobacco. I suggest that you revise this guideline. This is very repulsive and disgusting. When you chew you have to spit somewhere. Is it going to be on the floor, is it going to be in a cup, where is it going to be? I think you really have not thought this through. I really urge you to reconsider this and make a restriction on that. This is the 20th century. Thank you.

WOULD YOU PLEASE indicate in Speak Out whether or not Leonard Slatkin is scheduled to conduct a symphony this weekend? Thank you very much.

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra's "America's Musical Spirit" tour will perform Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the A.C. Brase Arena Building. Although Slatkin is the symphony orchestra's conductor, the conductor for the evening will be David Loebel, said a spokesperson for the city Parks and Recreation Department.

THANKS TO K-103 FM we saw yet another great concert at the Show Me Center with Ricky Van Shelton and Patty Loveless and Mark Collie. I hope to see Clint Black or Allen Jackson next time. Thank you all.

THIS COUNTRY HAS forgiven some of the most hideous criminals in history: Jim and Tammy, Jimmy Swaggart, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Oral Roberts. Why not Ted Kennedy? He's the only innocent one. Shoot, we even forgave Gary Hart.

MY, MY, JOHN Cook's things do show in his Sunday letter to the editor. Too bad we didn't have John's considerable talents and insight of the Vietnam War when we needed it. We could have avoided it. Too bad John wasn't available with his power of hindsight when we needed foresight. His party also bears tremendous responsibility for Vietnam with LBJ and his ilk, as he calls the opposition. Hang in there, Peter.

I BELIEVE PETER Arnett is helping Saddam Hussein to try and win the war too. So, I say let's pull the plug on CNN until Ted Turner pulls the plug on Baghdad Peter Arnett. Thank you.

I'M CALLING TO compliment you on your Feb. 7 editorial criticizing SEMO University for competing with local businesses. On page 4 of the same issue you reported that the university was buying apartment buildings and would soon be competing with local apartment-house owners. I believe that you should have mentioned that in your editorial. A large number of apartments listed for rent in your paper fairly demonstrates that there is no shortage of housing. This talk of competition means a loss of tax revenue, which presumably places a greater burden on local taxpayers. It also demonstrates that the universities need less money and support from Missouri taxpayers. Thank you.

I'M ADDRESSING MY remarks to those of you who still, after numerous explanations, refuse to understand why we're in the Persian Gulf. You keep saying you don't know why we're in this, it's just so Bush can get ahead, and so on. The reason we are in the Persian Gulf is to stop another Hitler. It's as simple as that. You people who are opposed under those circumstances are the same ones who would have preferred to turn their heads in the 1930s and '40s and said: This isn't happening to Jews; it's just a figment of someone's imagination. It's just our president's desire to make a name for himself to get into war. It's not our business what goes on in Germany and Poland and those people over there. If you want to bury your head in the sand, go right ahead. Those who refuse to learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them.

I JUST WANT to say I think it's great how everybody is wearing their red ribbons and the red, white and blue ribbons, but I think it is especially great when people advertise it on their signs in front of their places of business, especially the place down by Rhodes 101 Stop on Highway 61. I just think it's great how they speak their mind. I just think that is so wonderful.

HAS ANYONE NOTICED that most of the yellow ribbons and United States flags that we see around town are on the houses of poor to average people? What does that tell you?

WITH REGARD TO Don Pritchard's editorial on funding for higher education, I am in complete agreement that such funding is indeed throwing good money behind bad as the rat hole enlarges each time a request for money is granted. The results of such funding fall further and further behind. I am for freezing all school funding increases until responsible action is forthcoming. As someone noted recently in Speak Out, cutting the extra curricular activities to a minimum would be an excellent starting point with regard to expenses. I sometimes wonder who or what is in top priority in our schools: sports, or reading, writing, and arithmetic. Also, in Thursday's Speak Out the message to parents is extremely on course. Schools will never be able to overcome today's academically lazy, disinterested or just-plain-ignorant parents. Thank you, Speak Out.

I'D JUST LIKE to say I'm an ex-soldier, retired, but I sure respect those men and women over in the Persian Gulf. The hardest thing about war is when you get back and hear the people protesting and all of that. I was lucky; when I got back I was down at Portageville and had a lot of friends and people I respected. Also, a little town in Tennessee I went through respected the GI. I just want them to know that I'll be putting the flag out when the weather is good. If anybody doesn't like it, if they want to come by and say something about it, they're welcome. One thing I don't like is somebody letting the country and troops down. Thank you.

I SEE ON the news where Jim Baker, secretary of state, has come up with the brilliant idea that we should rebuild Iraq after the war. While we're spending our money to rebuild Iraq, Iraq will be spending their money to re-arm. I think we should re-arm ourselves and take care of our own problems. We're so generous with everybody in the world and we're the furthest in debt of anybody in the world. These Republicans that head our government ought to get smart one of these days. Thank you.

I HAVE ONE question for all those who have been advocating sending the criminals, "peacenicks," drug and alcohol abusers, and long-haired men on TV over to Saudi Arabia to fight. Would you want some of them fighting alongside your father, husband or son?

WELL, WE'VE ALL heard President Bush say read my lips. I say we've read his lips, and everything he said he wouldn't do he has done. Now he is trying to blame Congress and the Senate. No, I'm not a Democrat; I'm a Republican and I'm very ashamed of my party. I wouldn't vote another Republican in if my life depended on it. The Republican Party is nothing but a bunch of liars, thieves and cheats.

I WOULD LIKE to make a comment about the procedure for announcing the starting lineups at the SEMO basketball games. I think that the person who started the practice of announcing one player from one team and one player from the other, and so forth, needs their head examined. This is so stupid. The crowd and band can't get into it with any continuity, consequently the crowd is less into the enthusiasm of the announcements and the enthusiasm of the game. I hope this practice will be terminated.

I WAS SO happy when I read in the paper that the annexing of 345 acres in land failed. You try to tell me that this is a free country. It was voted down once, but they won't quit. Farmers don't have a chance. We're going to have to start doing something.

THESE PEOPLE WHO are worming their way out of going to the Middle East by calling themselves conscientious objectors are no more than cowards and takers of our money under false pretenses. Why did they wait until war broke out before they decided to become so conscientious? They weren't conscientious while they were taking our money in peace time. Every one of those cowards knew very well that they were being paid to train for battle whenever they were called upon. Anybody who has a convenient change of beliefs after he has spent somebody else's money is no better than a thief if he doesn't repay that money or fulfill his contract. I have as much respect for a late-in-the-game so-called conscientious objector as I have for a rat or a roach. Thank you.

I AM APPALLED BY the gall of the senior-citizens group to impose a property tax on residents of Cape Girardeau. This is the same group that caused the city parks issue to go down in flames twice with the battle cry: No New Taxes! I dispute their claim that transportation is an issue. They don't have any trouble getting to the nutrition center for a subsidized lunch or to the polls to vote against my ball field.

CAPE GIRARDEAU POLICE Department was not on the ball at 1:15 a.m. Feb. 9 when a tremendous fight flared up in the lot just north of the Buckner-Ragsdale building. The fight involved five men and an additional 10 men and women who tried to break it up. One victim was severely injured when knocked into the path of a moving car, one of three cars that were damaged. Citizens cannot be protected by a police car that passes every 15 minutes at bar closing time. Full-time support is needed from 12:30 a.m. until 2 a.m. on busy nights. I do not drink or go to bars, but enjoy standing outside watching people, including the police. I have timed durations of up to 45 minutes at bar closing time without seeing a single officer. As a safety director for a large area manufacturer, I have learned the most effective guard against injury is looking for and acting against dangerous situations before they occur. The Cape Girardeau Police Department failed to observe obvious signs of trouble, which included conglomerations of drunker-than-usual people outside and beer cans littered in numbers. By being on top of the situation, the CGPD will stop drunk drivers before they drive off and threaten the lives of responsible citizens. The city should be pleased to know a citizen is watching out for vandals, assailants, and police effectiveness. The next time I will call the police before the trouble starts.

An officer who responded to a report of the fight arrived within a minute of it being reported to police, said police Sgt. Carl Kinnison. He said no one officers questioned at the scene wanted to file a complaint nor did anyone want the police involved. Kinnison said no one said anything about a person being hit by a car or cars being damaged. One person required treatment at a hospital for an eye injury, he said. Kinnison said officers try to watch the downtown area. "When we have time, we do patrol the area, but weekends are our busiest nights," he said. "We were very busy (at the time of the reported fight), and we had to pull calls from another call to go the fight," he said.