SPEAKOUT

I JUST WANT to say that I do enjoy watching the jet skis down at the riverfront, but I don't like the traffic at the riverfront created by these. I think that the cars should let the jet skis off up at Honkers or something. There are too many children down there. The sign says no vehicles admitted and it should be enforced. Let the jet skiers run on the riverfront, but make the vehicles stay on the street where they belong. Thank you.

EXACTLY WHEN WAS the Battle of Cape Girardeau? I read in Wednesday's Southeast Missourian in K.J.H. Cochran's column that it was on April 26, 1963. I assume this was a misprint and that it was actually 1863. Then, further in the column, I read that the Civil War ended less than a year later, April 9, 1865. So now I am totally confused. Can you straighten this out?

The Battle of Cape Girardeau was April 26, 1863. The Civil War ended two years later, in 1865.

I'D LIKE FOR someone if they can to inform me as to why Secretary of State James Baker is over in the Middle East meddling in these people's affairs. The United States gets in more trouble than any country I know of.

I AM CALLING to voice my support of the Chaffee school board in the decision not to rehire Kent Mungles as basketball coach. Only a few are upset and keep calling Speak Out. An improvement in the Chaffee basketball program can only come about by a change in coaching.

I AGREE WITH the caller who said that Pat Buchanan had a good article on taxes. It was a good article and it made a lot of sense, but I doubt seriously if even 10 percent of the people in the county or anywhere else in the country bother to read it. That's the biggest problem with this country now: nobody pays any attention to what's going on. Thank you.

I'D LIKE TO congratulate Marcus Timmons on being named Mr. Show-Me Basketball. Congratulations, Marcus.

PRESIDENT BUSH STATED on national television last week that the United States would be giving Nigeria $500 million in foreign aid. I would like to ask these politicians how far this $500 million would go in this country to help the people who don't have jobs, who don't have homes, who don't have anything to eat, who do not and cannot afford to have medical care in this country. I feel that this money would go a long way on such programs as that, but it appears to me and a lot of other taxpayers that our government is more interested in foreign countries than in the United States of America. Secretary of State James Baker is over in the Middle East meddling in these people's affairs. This is none of our business; these people should be left alone to fight their own battles. It is not the United States' place to be policemen of the world and it is high time that these elected officials realize that our country has trouble here at home. It is time that we stop giving the American taxpayers' money away. Thank you very much.

TO THE PEOPLE who are opposed to the Salvation Army's new building plans, did you ever stop to consider why Boatmen's built the new building and donated the old one to a non-profit organization or why St. Francis hospital built a new facility and sold the old building on Good Hope? It is because nothing lasts forever; not cloth, not cars, not even buildings. At some point the expense in maintaining an old building is greater than the total cost of a new building. Also, program expansions are possible in the new, additional facilities. As a contributor to the Salvation Army, I know the Salvation Army planned first to remodel and renovate the old Boatmen's Bank, but the engineers' survey proved it to be too costly a project. Over the years the Salvation Army has had an old store-front building, an old theater building, and now an old bank building. It is about time for the Salvation Army to have a new, adequate facility from which to serve the community. A new building will not take money away from the poor but will improve the services the army will be able to offer, not only in the neighborhood but in all of Cape County and Southern Illinois. I think we should get behind the Salvation Army at this point and give them our support. They are a worthwhile organization. Thank you.

Capt. Elmer Trapp of the Salvation Army said plans initially were to renovate the building and build a chapel alongside of it. However, engineers who surveyed the building estimated the cost of renovation would be in excess of $200,000, he said.