SPEAKOUT

THIS IS TO the teachers. Why are children going to parochial schools better educated when these teachers get about half the pay public school teachers get? The public is not stupid. If you think more money will make you a better teacher, this means you are not doing your job now. Thank you.

TO THE PEOPLE making the comments about the new Salvation Army building, butt out, they need that new building. I would think the people of Cape Girardeau would be behind the Salvation Army 100 percent in redeveloping that block on Good Hope Street.

I DO BELIEVE that the Salvation Army has decided on the wrong thing. I think they should either work over the building they have and use it or use the old St. Francis hospital. It's just terrible to think that all these good, substantial buildings are being razed for little short ones made this day and time which are not nearly so substantial and won't last so long. I think the Salvation Army could use some of the extra funds they have for the poor and for working over and using the building they have. I don't think they will find at this time that the people of Cape Girardeau are much into another drive for money for a building. Thank you.

PRESIDENT BUSH ANNOUNCED on national television that the United States has given Nicaragua $500 million in aid. I did not think that the president had the authority to do this on his own. Apparently Congress has to approve this. Is it any wonder that this country is in a recession? Is it any wonder that the taxpayers do not like to pay taxes for this simple reason? I cannot understand the politicians giving these countries all this money while they keep cutting social programs here in the states. When are the voters going to wise up and put someone in Washington, D.C. who will put the United States first instead of some foreign country? These foreign countries have leaned on the United States for so long they feel like they have it coming. We cannot support the world. Thank you very much.

I WANT TO say that it's a shame that the young coach at Scott City, Derik Urhahn, was fired by the school board. He had the second winning season in 14 years at Scott City with only one senior on the team, and the future looked bright.

THE LATEST ACTION by the school board can only be described as obscene: a $700 bonus plus an increase of 3 percent for teachers. No wonder the teachers said it would be acceptable. Our level of education standards have declined steadily even though a tremendous increase has been given to the teachers. They will not be satisfied until they receive 100 percent of all the taxes collected in the city of Cape Girardeau. Thank you.

FOR THE PERSON who thinks Gay and Lesbian Awareness Week at the university is a disgrace, well, I think it's a disgrace that people like you with bigoted attitudes are still like that. We should be able to open our arms and our hearts to the people. They are actually human just like you and me. Thank you.

THIS IS IN regard to the Speak Out on the 16th, the people saying the Salvation Army should not tear down the building. Before you speak you should know your facts. First, that building is not good enough to rebuild; it's falling down and it does not meet codes. Second, it would cost more than a new building would cost. So, before you start giving your high and mighty attitudes, please think. Thank you.

I THINK ESPN should show more National League baseball games. Thank you.

THE COLUMN THAT Peter Kinder ran in the paper about the Kennedys is just as bad as what Kitty Kelley said about the Reagans. So the Democrats don't need Kitty Kelley as long as we have Peter Kinder.

I WAS OUTSIDE of Jackson and I own a business in Cape. On April 15 I left my office around 8. I went in Highway 61 instead of Route K, although Route K is closer to my home, but I needed to take my tax forms by the Jackson Post Office. When I got there and went inside there was a note that was beside the out-of-town slot stating that any mail after 5:45 p.m. would not have a midnight post mark on it and that it should be taken to the Cape Post Office. I want to know why this is especially on April 15. It seems to me that a government office, especially a post office, of all things, should postmark their mail the day that it's mailed, not the day after. This meant that I had to drive back to Cape. If someone could tell me why no one was working on April 15 I would like to see an answer in the paper. Thank you.

Nancy Stover, officer in charge of the Jackson Post Office, said the post office never stays open later than 4:30 p.m. and a worker stays until 5:30 p.m. to cancel mail. She said regional postal headquarters limits the number of hours the Jackson Post Office can be open, and it cannot be open any later. The Cape Girardeau Post Office is a mail processing center, which can be open later, she said. Stover said, "The Cape Girardeau office was open until midnight and Cape Girardeau is only seven miles away."

NOW THAT THE minimum wage has increased it is high time that people who work for the rich for such a small salary should indeed be getting more decent wages. We pay the same price for our food and utilities as they do. We have pride too.

FOR SEVERAL WEEKS now in all kinds of weather I've watched two teachers bring a long line of students out at the end of the day to catch the bus over at Hawthorne. Both teachers are smiling and one always hugs and talks to each kid before he's sent on his way. I'd vote for a tax increase if all teachers cared that much.

THEY SAID MISSOURI would greatly benefit from the floating casinos. That's the same song we got about the schools benefiting if the lottery bill was passed. There are a number of schools that don't even have air conditioning in all the rooms; Alma Schrader school, for one. Something's rotten in the gambling department.

ATTENTION, JET SKIERS: Cape Girardeau is a historic city. Citizens frequent the riverfront area to appreciate this history and the peace this precious place has to offer. This is disturbed by the constant buzzing of your machines, by the vision of modern pleasure craft passing back and forth, and by the awful exhaust fumes. It is hardly a site our pioneers could envision. Most of the visitors who appear to be watching you are actually trying to relax after a hard day's work and wish to enjoy the area's historic attributes in peace. People accuse you of trying to impress them with your nonessential material possessions. Your road vehicles pose a hazard as they are driven down the river's edge; an eye sore to visitors who wish to spend time away from traffic and commotion. A growing group of citizens urge you to jet ski any place else and ask the city to enforce entry to the area by authorized vehicles only, and more clearly define the word and ability to become authorized. Thank you.

THAT LAW THAT was recently passed about minors smoking is about the most stupid thing I have ever heard. Thank you.

THE STORY ON Nancy Reagan I'm sure is true. The relations she and Reagan had with their own children told me enough. You know they barred Patty from telling her story about them on the talk show; and Michael, one time he defends him and the next time he blasts them. I heard him say one time he didn't know who his mother was. He thought for a long time she might be the maid.

I JUST WANTED to say I hate Speak Out. They never put anything in the newspaper I say.

If we haven't printed your comments there are reasons. Call us at 335-6611 and we'll be happy to discuss it with you.

MY WIFE AND I went to the Vision 2000 fund-raising bingo. We were told before we went that there would be an area set aside and reserved for non-smokers. There were about four tables with signs on the wall above them saying no-smoking area. We sat at one of these tables. My wife played two packages and I played one package of bingo cards at $30 each, $90 total. We no more sat down when a woman sat down and pulled out her own ashtray and placed it next to my wife. My wife told the woman very nicely that this is a non-smoking table and non-smoking area. The woman told my wife that she drove 100 miles to come to this bingo and she paid her $60 and she'll sit anyplace she pleases. At that time it was early afternoon and there were seats all over the place where she could have sat with smokers. My wife and I also complained to one of the workers and they just shrugged their shoulders.

I'M WATCHING "60 Minutes" about the sons and daughters of Nazi exterminators. They said it was Holocaust Remembrance Week. Isn't it funny that Americans tend to point at Germans when we've murdered Indians, way more than Hitler ever murdered? We should make this holocaust both American and Nazi Holocaust Day. Thank you.

I JUST FINISHED reading about the Pulitzer Prize winners. It seems to me that the so-called journalists that could start the most controversy are the ones deemed masters of their trade and are winners of Pulitzer Prizes. I think the public needs to know about the man this prize is named after. Joe Pulitzer started the St. Louis Post, which later merged with the St. Louis Dispatch and became the present day Post-Dispatch. And these papers need to be in Massachusetts, not in Missouri. Joe Pulitzer became famous for expounding yellow journalism. Joe Pulitzer thought he was smarter than our elected officials, and used his power over public opinion to sway the country to his way of thinking. The only reason these awards were named after Pulitzer is because he left the money to make them possible.

I SEE WHERE they are not very successful in putting out those fires over in Kuwait. I wrote a letter to the Kuwait ambassador to the U.S. about a month ago. It seems to me the best way to put out those oil-well fires would be to go underground, away from the heat and flames, and tap into the well underground and drain off part of the oil. This would save about one-half of the oil. This would release the pressure from the well head above. Then they could come with their quick-fix way of using water mixed with chemicals to snuff out the oil-well fire. It is our world they are polluting the same as theirs, and I wish they would hurry up and get them out.