SPEAKOUT

The initials stand for Philanthropic Educational Organization.

I'M CALLING IN response to a statement in Speak Out in June 10's edition of the Missourian where a parent was concerned about the type of films that the new Encore channel shows in the morning. I would just like to say to that lady two things. First, there are people out there like myself who work evenings and we can't come in and watch that kind of program in late evening, so morning is the only time we can watch it. Second, there's nothing saying she has to have the channel in her house. If it offends her, or she doesn't want her kids seeing it, she can have the cable company just as easily remove it as she can HBO or Showtime. I really think she was out of line by calling this sex trash. There's nothing saying that she or anyone else in her family has to watch it or even have cable. Thank you.

COULD SOMEONE PLEASE tell me when the Jackson Homecomers and Scott City Summerfest are? Thank you.

Jackson Homecomers will be held Aug. 13-17. Scott City Summerfest will be held June 28-29.

THANKS TO THE city council members who have the good of the people in mind and voted to keep the trash pickup with the city. We don't need big, out-of-state business coming in to do a job that is being done satisfactorily by the city. Sure, the other garbage contractor says he can do it cheaper. Naturally, they will at first. If Mr. Richards feels certain areas of the city have some problems, perhaps he should go to these areas, put the trash and litter in bags and call the city. I'm sure they will pick them up and dispose of them. Come on, let's get off the trash issue. Spend this time and effort on something that will really benefit the citizens. Thank you.

HERE THEY'VE GOT everything planned for this circus parade and what do they do? They move it up to 1. Thanks a lot for telling us folks who wanted to take our kids out to it. We end up going out to an empty street. What are they going to do, get a wild hair and decide to move the Fourth of July to the 3rd? Thank you a whole lot.

As we explained in Tuesday's edition, the circus walk was moved from the announced time of 5 p.m. Monday to 1 p.m. Monday by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus to avoid the circus animals becoming overheated in rail cars.

THE RIVERFEST COMMITTEE took great delight in price-gouging the beer drinkers last weekend. Two dollars per cup, really.

I TOTALLY DISAGREE with the person in Tuesday's paper that said the fireworks at Riverfest were very bad. I thought the fireworks this year were very good and they had one of the best finales ever. Thank you.

CAPE RIVERFEST IS on the path to becoming the largest open-air arts and crafts show in the area, supported by a large following of junk food stands. Too bad.

AFTER ATTENDING OUR son's first baseball game, we were sitting there talking about the different tactics the coaches used during the game. On one team the coach and assistant coaches offered constructive advice and encouragement within the limits of good sportsmanship. The other team's coach and assistant coaches stood behind home plate and screamed instructions to the players. We realize that the players can't hear if you don't speak up, but these men screamed at the top of their lungs the whole game when their players were out in the field. The youth are just starting to develop their talent in baseball, and they do need coaching but not this kind of coaching. The players on the field cannot listen to haphazard instructions, and the boys at bat don't have a chance when these grown men are standing behind them screaming to the other team. Before our son started playing baseball, I heard other parents talk about the different attitudes of the parents on the team and how parents would get more upset than the players. These coaches are supposed to set good examples, and I don't see this as good sportsmanship. I hope these men know who they are and I hope that they grow up and let their team play ball. They are not setting a good example for these young players to follow in the future. Thank you, Speak Out.

I JUST WANT to tell you at the Southeast Missourian newspaper how much I enjoyed having the Riverfest booklet that you had in the newspaper that listed everything from the description of the riverboat that was to be at Riverfest to the children's activities. It especially helped to know what I could expect at Riverfest. It had all kinds of information along with the schedule. I just really appreciate that, and I hope you do that again next year. Thank you. I really enjoyed it.

Thank you for letting us know that you appreciated it.

WHILE READING MY favorite column today, Speak Out, I came across a comment where somebody had the unmitigated audacity to slam our Popeye expert because of a mere typo. Granted, Pluto with a P is Mickey's dog, but Bluto with a B is Popeye's rival and I'm sure we'll all meet Brutus when they air the new Julius Caesar next fall. So I guess we can just call our Tuesday Popeye expert Bozo with a B. Thank you.

WHY CAN'T THE city of Cape Girardeau work out some way that's fair to all of Cape Girardeau residents for trash pickup? We recycle everything possible and average one bag every two weeks. It is not fair that we have to pay the same amount as the people who will not bother to recycle and have several bags. I understand some cities sell residents their trash bags for certain amounts and, when they are full, they put them out for trash pickup. People would recycle then. Landfills would have less and the cost to all residents would be less. Trash pickup could probably be eliminated to only one pickup a week. Think of the benefits.

THERE'S A BIKE TRAIL called Lombardo trail and they closed it down because everybody was littering it. I think they should open it back up and put trash cans back there. Thank you.

I'VE NEVER SEEN a country so happy that we had all those men, women and children killed. We were not attacked but we had to show what we could do. That part is great but not in this way.

I WAS JUST calling to agree with the person who made the comment about the Encore channel in Monday's paper. Here it is 6 in the evening on Monday and I turn on the Encore channel to see what was on and there are bare-breasted women. These are definitely not movies that should be shown during this time, especially when kids are home for the summer. Thanks.

COULD YOU PLEASE tell us why the television has reruns two and three times over and over again? Are they that cheap that they can't put a different story on once in a while? People like to look at TV in the summer just as well as winter. Thank you.

I WOULD LIKE to know just what it is you have to do and where you have to go and who you have be to be able to get good seats at any of the performances that appear at the Show Me Center. When you ask about good seats, all they will say is those are not available. I don't believe all the good seats have been sold out that quickly. Thank you.

WE READ IN THE Missourian where Scott City is going to vote a half-cent sales tax to resurface the streets, and one of the alderman stated that possibly 20 streets in Scott City need to be resurfaced. We as property owners would like to have the names of those 20 streets. Thank you.

WILL THE PERSON seen taking a 2-year-old girl's bicycle on Fourth Street in Scott City please return it? Thank you.

THANKS SO MUCH to Ken Newton for his column on the band called Warrant that will be appearing in Cape soon. It's very difficult for parents to obtain lyrics to many of the rock songs. It is so vitally important that we know what our kids are listening to. Your column has given me a point of argument when I tell my teenager why he can't attend the concert. Thanks so much. I appreciate it. I even saved the column as a future reference.

I JUST CAME from Broadway and watching the animal walk and want to say I'm very disappointed. KGMO had said how wonderful and how great this program was going to be for all the kids and I took my child out of day care to see this program. Twenty elephants, 25 horses, a couple of camels and a few llamas were all that was there. I want to say it was much to do about nothing. If you're going to do something half way, why do it at all? So thanks a lot for allowing us to fill the streets, block all the signal lights and see nothing.

THE AMERICAN WORKER needs relief. I'm speaking of the jobs that are leaving this country, going to foreign lands. I noticed on national television just the other day where a well-named company was moving a plant to Mexico and the American people were losing their jobs. How long is our government going to allow these manufacturers to leave this country for this cheap labor without putting stiff tariffs on the stuff that they send back into this country? I made up my mind the other day when I saw this that I would not buy another item manufactured by this company because I lost my job as well to foreign imports. That is not very pleasant when you have worked all your life and lose everything you worked for and accomplished in a matter of a couple of weeks. It is a hard pill to swallow. I don't know what it's going to take for our politicians to start protecting the American worker because he is the one who pays the taxes that keep this country going. If a company moves to a foreign country for cheap labor, they should pay high tariffs to get their manufactured goods into this country, and it would not be feasible for them to do that. If they're going to move to a foreign country for the cheap labor, then their items should be cheap in price. But no, the price of the goods increases while they are getting cheaper labor. Come election time I'm voting my conscience, not the party. Any congressman or senator in my district that is for trading with these foreign countries without protectionism for the American worker, I will not vote for regardless of what his party is.

I WOULD LIKE to make a comment about an article I read in the paper. Should executions be publicized on TV, radio and newspaper? To me, yes, I would probably watch it. But here's the thing: people say the death penalty doesn't work. It does work because, if you ask inmates in there, there's certain inmates in there you don't mess with because they will kill you. This tells me that the death penalty does work. The only thing is, when someone is executed, there's not a big deal about it. So you're average criminal doesn't see it and they continue doing what they're doing. When they see them strap someone in the gas chamber and they drop the tablets in that water and they see the person die, it just might make the criminal or whoever's thinking about going out and committing a crime think different because criminals start out with small things and they work up to bigger things. If they see the consequences, maybe they'll think twice.

I'M CALLING IN because I disagree with the person who was commenting about the Desert Storm troops' parade. I think it's fine. I think it's a great thing because these men and women fought with their lives for us in war. The least we can do is salute them with something very special. I salute the troops and would like to say good luck to every one of them reading this. To whoever wrote that in the Speak Out column, you need to take a few lessons in finance because I think you have financial problems big time.

HERE IT IS 10 in the morning. I can't believe it. In the latest newscast on television they're saying the dirtiest words in the human language~: war updates on the Persian Gulf and violence and sexual crime against humanity. My, oh my, what is going on with this cable system? Something really needs to be done about this showing of true-life acts on television.

NOW I CAN enjoy a channel like the new Encore channel that has good entertainment. I was sick of watching garbage like "The Cosby Show" and soap operas. Now the bad news is the Cardinals are on TV against the Padres, but KBSI has seen fit not to broadcast it again. Thank you.

I JUST WANT to let you know that my family and I thoroughly enjoyed the fireworks display Saturday night as we do every year. Keep up the good work, Riverfest committee.

I THINK THAT TCI should be given a vote of thanks for having brought to this town the super audio FM service. I hope to hook it up to my house, to my stereo, my radios, and I think that the selections on there are superb. This is certainly a poorly advertised benefit that TCI has provided. They should be given much more recognition for having brought it to town.

YOU KNOW WHAT I really hate? I hate it when I'm watching one of my daytime shows and then, like in the gulf war situation, the people interrupted with their newscast. Why can't they wait an hour until 12 and give the news then? Like it's going to change so much if you tell it then.

I'D JUST LIKE to say that I think Cape Girardeau has really cleaned up lately since the environmental problems came along.

ON CBS NEWS this afternoon Dan Rather reported that the savings-and-loan scandal is going to cost the taxpayers $150 billion to bale out. That's 1992 only. Can you imagine that? This mess, as you well know, was started under the Reagan administration. I know you Republicans won't like to hear this, but I'll get it off of my chest anyway. It started under the Reagan administration and perpetuated under the Bush administration. Bush hasn't done a thing about it. His own son even added to the mess when he was an officer in the Silverado scandal out in Colorado. So just stop and think about that for a while. I think it will give you reason to stop and think. This country's never going to see daylight and never going to get out of debt, all because of a mess that started in the Reagan administration and continued right on through the Bush administration. Thank you.

I TRUST THAT this message will be read by some if not all of the newly-elected members of the Habitat for Humanity program here in Cape Girardeau. I wonder if they would like to go by their project over on Good Hope and take a good look, see what they think about it. This project's been going on for over three years and it's in worse shape today than it was when it started. It's really a shame and disgrace for the people to see. It's a terrible mess.

TEENAGE PREGNANCIES COULD be reduced or stopped if the fathers would be forced by law to be named and, regardless of how many years, he would be held responsible for the mother and child's support. If he fathers three or four, he'd have his life's work all cut out for him. There should be no welfare if the mother refuses to name the father. Let's stop this senseless waste of welfare money. Use it for the truly honest, needy people. Thank you.

I WAS WONDERING if anyone can tell me when Sam's will be opening in Marion, Ill.

The store will hold an open house and grand-opening June 24. The open house will be from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and a grand opening party will be held from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.