Thanks for the show

I'D LIKE to send a big thank you to Southeast Missouri Hospital for having the Women's Show this year. Everything I've heard about it has been good. Everybody loved it, and we're looking forward to it next year. Thank you so much.

Traditional churches

I HAVE been a church member and attended church all my life, but I'm very discouraged about my church. Are there any churches in the Cape or Jackson areas which respect our sacred traditions, churches that don't try to entertain, don't applaud and don't try to latch on to every fad that comes along? Are there any churches which still worship God and try to please him rather than use the hour for self-promotion?

Proposed funding

FOR ANYONE who thinks that they might be voting for Proposition A, you might want to know that the revenue from this new tax will be spent for medical, mental and other health-care assistance to low-income adults and children who may otherwise be uninsured or initiatives to improve the health of women and minorities and to fund costs for health-care programs. It also specifies that money can be used to include but not be limited to health research in human development. Under this broad definition, abortion, human cloning and fetal tissue and organ research could all be eligible for taxpayer funding under this proposition and tax revenue.

Enforce the penalty

IT APPEARS to me that Burns & McDonnell and Huffman Inc. knew in advance of the $1,000-a-day penalty regarding completion of the new Cape Girardeau water plant. It was put in the contract for the on-time completion of the water plant. There was no earth-shaking event to stop the work from being done on time, just the squabbling with the contractors. The $1,000-a-day fine should be accessed. What is the sense of putting a penalty clause in a contract if it is not enforced?

Poor publicity

FEWER THAN 30 people turned out for the candidates forum. I am not surprised. I did not know of the event until I read the article in the online edition of the Southeast Missourian, and I am the news director of the Perryville radio station. I asked the Southeast Missouri State University public relations person about it and was told she also learned of it in the Southeast Missourian after it had taken place. How was this event publicized? Why didn't the Southeast Missouri State University public relations department not even know about it when the university was a co-sponsor? Why wasn't the Perryville radio station notified? After all, the 157th District includes Perry County. I am not saying that more people would have shown up had it been better publicized, but I believe the organizers really dropped the ball on this one.

Pick what you believe

IN RESPONSE to the reader who stated that God forbids homosexuality: God also forbids killing, and we are going to war, which I have no problem with. Jesus also said to feed the poor, but I don't see too many folks in Cape Girardeau feeding folks in south Cape -- or anywhere else for that matter. You pick and choose what you want to believe.

Loud music violators

I HAVE noticed that the law enforcement in Cape Girardeau has really cracked down on people walking in the street when a sidewalk is provided. Good job. It is dangerous, not to mention a nuisance, when someone does this. When are they going to crack down on another annoying and potentially dangerous habit: driving with loud music. If we can hear it and be awakened by it in our basements, I bet the police can hear it when they are driving by. This happens at all hours of the night in many neighborhoods.

Do as we do

HERE WE go again. If the Baptists do not do it and do not want it, then the rest of us should not do it or want it. I never cease to be amazed.

Headline mistake?

I THINK you guys made one of your rare mistakes in an editorial headline recently. Surely you meant to type "yes" instead of "no" when instructing voters how to vote on Amendment 2, an amendment which would ratify already God-given dignity and stature to firefighters and other workers who selflessly toil in the public interest.

Lengthy comparison

TO THE person who made comments about the math teachers at Central High School. There are nine other math teachers at Central High School. In order to have made a legitimate comparison, your child would have spent 10 years in high school.

Campaigns the most

THIS FALLS into the realm of the unbelievable, but the Oct. 19 issue of The Economist documents irrefutably that President Bush spends more time fund raising and campaigning for GOP candidates than any previous president, including President Clinton.