OpinionMarch 20, 1997
I JUST can't understand your paper and this continued diatribe about a balanced budget amendment. For God's sake, haven't you people read Dr. Cain's book that there are times when the economy goes down and it's necessary to have a deficit, but when the times are good, you have to collect more money than you spend. ...

Doc Cain's economic medicine

I JUST can't understand your paper and this continued diatribe about a balanced budget amendment. For God's sake, haven't you people read Dr. Cain's book that there are times when the economy goes down and it's necessary to have a deficit, but when the times are good, you have to collect more money than you spend. It seems like you have this idea that Ronald Reagan did, that you can spend it when times are good and you just don't seem to understand what Dr. Cain was saying. Get with it, boys. You ought to read Dr. Cain. He's only been dead for 50 years, but he was right.

What about interstate property?

IT SEEMS David Schwab would like for the landowners in the Millersville lake area to have the first vote. I wonder if we would have had I-55 now if it had been left to the vote of the property owners along that route.

Paleface mascots?

REGARDING THE Southeast Missouri State University teams being Indians and Otahkians. My Indian blood says that's fine with me. If the mascots have to be something else, then I suggest there be two: one called Speedy and the other Tail-Gaiter. This would reflect the pale-faced drivers in Missouri.

School off for sports

THIS IS a question directed to the administration of Jackson High School. My question as a parent is why are students allowed to basically take a day off from school to go to a basketball game in Columbia? I have no gripe or concern or problem with the girls basketball team going to state. I'm very proud of them. But it's very difficult as a parent when your child comes home one day and says half the school isn't going to school today because everybody's in Columbia and they have sub teachers and all they do is show movies. In one case, I know a teacher canceled a test because half of the school is going to be out. When my children are involved in other sports, they are still required to be in class if a test is scheduled, whether they have a game or not. If they miss it, they make it up. There are boys who went to wrestling meet for state competition, and the school wasn't allowed to take off for that. I just don't understand what's more important, whether it's sports or education. I realize the people in the sports need to be at those events, and that's fine. They can make up the work if they want to be in sports. That's what the administration has said all along, so now why are they all of a sudden allowing this to happen? It's happened the last two years in a row for this particular thing.

Strange bedfellows

THE LAKE issue is very interesting. Now we have an anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-union, anti-liberal state senator receiving verbal abuse from conservative property rights advocates aligned with a group of liberal environmentalists. I have listened to Sen. Kinder and Rep. Schwab really dish it out to us more liberal and progressive thinkers. But when the tide turns, he can't take it. What do Sen. Kinder and Rep. Schwab expect? These people are emulating their leaders. As soon as this community and our local leaders, including Sen. Kinder, stop bashing Democrats, liberals, women, teachers, unions, educators and even property rights advocates and work together to build a consensus from common ground, the better off we will ever be. Who would think the Sierra Club and property rights advocates would work together to stop the lake? Now, let's see where these conservative groups, such as Farm Bureau, stand on this issue. That is very interesting.

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Repair buildings instead

TAXPAYERS, WAKE up. The school board is spending money foolishly. Why not repair/remodel our present school buildings? It would be much cheaper. It's strange that Washington and May Greene need replacing and not Franklin School. All are about the same age. Do the taxpayers in this town realize that Medical Arts Pharmacy and the city offices and others are all located in old abandoned school buildings? They seem to be serving quite well after remodeling. Think about past school bond issues and vote no on the bond issue as it's packaged now.

Mascot suggestions

THIS POLITICALLY correct hysteria at SEMO about picking a new mascot is getting hysterically absurd. A bunch of mush-minded liberal socialists are so concerned about offending an Injun or two. OK, in order to shorten this intellectual elitist debate and preserve some sort of self-esteem, I've come up with the perfect mascot for SEMO, since it's a local bastion of blind bio-socialists anyway. I suggest a squinty-eyed, stooped over liberal professor running up and down the sidelines whacking on a foam rubber effigy of a conservative non-traditional student. Or how about an environmentalist whacko professor hugging a spiked tree while fondling a endangered gopher? Those mascots would surely be entertaining.

A reason to like someone

I HAVE no idea who Martha Stewart is but if the dippy, yippy, old-fashioned '60s liberals of the Southeast Missourian hate her, I think we'd get along just fine. I'm going to look her up.

The tide has turned

I SEE the Senate Economic Development Committee passed the amendment to the lake bill. This is wonderful news and shows foresight on the part of our state leaders. It goes to show how much progress can be made when all the landowners work together for a common goal. Kudos to the steering committee. The tide has finally turned in favor of the lake. I can't wait to go fishing.

Reasons to vote yes

THIS IS in response to "An illusionary proposal" asking the people of Cape Girardeau to vote no on the school bond issue. I invite that reader to walk through the very old, very worn out school buildings around town and then go through other very basic job applications, one that may ask for your skills. The most basic of jobs requires the use of today's technology. Face the facts, computers are here. They have an active role in our child's education. They're needed to help our children be competitive in the job market, but our buildings weren't constructed to handle the electrical needs to run these computers. And believe it or not, eventually, you'll need those basic computer skills to order your groceries, because cashiers will be a thing of the past. I agree, the children need the basics and they need good teachers and they have that, but they desperately need and deserve more than that. As parents, we should want our children to have the opportunities that we never had. Let's enable them to do what they need to do and learn what they need to learn in this ever changing technological world in a safe environment. Vote yes on April 1.

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