SPEAKOUT

Hospital directions

IF THEY put up signs showing where the university is and places like that, I would very much appreciate it if they would put them up for people coming off the interstate showing where the hospitals are. I live in Illinois, but I was raised in Cape. I had a person stop me at a stop sign who was very frantic and excited and wanting me to tell them how to get to Southeast hospital. When you are way across town it is hard to do. They took off in the right direction. I have looked around, and I think that is more important than anything in Cape.

Inhuman burials

I COULD not believe what I saw in the newspaper and on the television about the mass burial in Chicago of these recent heat victims. We are supposed to be the richest nation in the world, and to treat our citizens like animals and bury them in such a matter as they did in Chicago is a disgrace to all mankind. We have money for any foreign country, communist or otherwise, when they ask for it. But we can't put our citizens away properly, and I think it is a shame. This has really bothered me, this mass burial of someone's loved ones thrown into an open trench and covered with a bulldozer.

Electricity woes

I WAS wondering what was wrong with the electricity in Scott City. Why do we have so many times when the lights blink just enough to turn off the clocks on the television, VCR and microwave? They all have to be reset. What does this do to your air conditioning and other appliances when this happens? It happens quite often. I was just wondering if someone knew why or how come.

REPLY: One possible answer is that the wiring in your house is inadequate. When the air-conditioning compressor turns on (or a major appliance), it may momentarily affect the flow of electricity throughout the rest of the house. For more detailed information, call Union Electric Co. at 651-5600.

Comment on salaries

I HAVE a comment on the letter to the editor, "Why publish salaries?." I think Anne Shelton needs to drag herself into the real world. As pointed out by the Missourian, it is our tax dollars that are paying these professors, and we have the right to know what their salaries are. Secondly, at any time I want to I can find out what the president of Union Electric is making by getting a copy of the company's annual report or the annual report of any other firm or incorporated group that is on the stock market. Thirdly, I think it is kind of a naive approach that these professors spend any time at all like grading papers and doing other mundane tasks. They have a number of students who are going through the college to do that type of thing. I speak with some degree of expertise as much as I have a son who is an assistant professor at Arizona State University and another who works in a community college. I know just how much time they spend on preparing exams, grading exams and scheduling times to meet with individual student.

Land transfers

WE WOULD like to see the land transfers for Cape Girardeau County in the newspaper as opposed to Scott County. You consistently put in the land transfers for Scott County. You can continue putting in the Scott county land transfers, but we would like to know also about the Cape Girardeau County land transfers.

REPLY: The land transfers for both counties are regularly published in the Southeast Missourian. Thanks for your interest in this public information.

Start school later

IT SEEMS to me not too long ago a decision was made not to start school until the day after Labor Day. It must cost a fortune to run the air conditioning in the rooms that do have air. I wonder why we couldn't wait and go a little longer into in June. Possibly it wouldn't be so hot. I know it must be unbearable for the teachers as well as the students to concentrate.

REPLY: Several years ago the Missouri Legislature decided public schools should start after Labor Day. One of the reasons was to help the tourism industry. However, the Legislature also gave local schools districts some options for deciding when to start classes. One of those options was that school in agricultural areas could start earlier to allow for seasonal farm activity. Basically, school districts have chosen to start when they want. Most districts base their school calendars on the needs and desires of parents and students as well as those of teachers and administrators. As fickle as the weather is in Missouri, it would be nearly impossible to come up with a schedule that avoided all the heat, either in late summer or late spring.

Why not scholarships?

IN REGARD Kala Stroup donating $30,000 for a fountain: Why in the world did she not donate $30,000 for the university scholarship fund? The last thing SEMO needs is a fountain.

Turn it down, please

PLEASE, SEMO District Fair board, try to encourage the singing performers this year to not have their sound up so loud that it hurts our ear drums.

Lumped together

REGARDING the comment that SEMO students are overrated: I am offended by the phrase that we need to grow up and behave and that we are immature. A lot of students drink and go to parties and are immature, but many do not. I do not drink. I am a Christian. I respect the community. I work with children and try to make a difference for them. You have no right to label a school for the students whom you may dislike. It puts a name on other students and myself who do not deserve it. I respect your opinion, but I think you expressed it in a childish and immature way.

School scheduling

SO THEY let school out half a day. It happens every year. Too hot for the kids. Give me a break. The state pays for a full day. Teachers get paid for a full day. Are they really concerned about the kids? The kids are let out of school and are left home alone either watching soap operas or playing outside. As a taxpayer, why not start school earlier and make it a half a day for the month of August. Or better yet, air condition the schools. I will vote for that.

More protection

I AM amazed at the lack of protective acts in Missouri. Through watching television and reading the Southeast Missourian, it was horrifying to me to learn that Missouri had no law protecting women or men from being photographed or video taped in the nude. In the Aug. 26 issue of the Missourian, there was an account of a Buffalo, Mo., tanning salon owner who videotaped women and men in the nude. He could not be prosecuted because there was no law prohibiting such practice in Missouri. Thanks to Morley Swingle, a law was drafted and passed by the Missouri Legislature to prohibit such practice. This law became effective Aug. 28. How can we expect law enforcement officers to protect the public against such invasion of privacy? A thorough study of Missouri laws that are archaic and outdated should be made. All Missouri citizens should be protected. Our nation was founded on Christian principles.

Salary response

I THINK the Missourian was write to respond to Anne Shelton who complained about the printing of the salaries for Southeast Missouri professors. She complained about those being listed in the newspaper and about a right to privacy. The Missourian responded, I feel correctly, that taxpayers do have a right to know where their taxpayer dollars are going. However, I think you need to go another step further. There are other people who are living on involuntary taxes, and you are not listing their names. I think you should be. In particular, there are a number of positions and others in the community who are being paid very large numbers from Medicare, Medicaid and worker's comp. All taxes. Why not list the portions of those money going to local physicians and others in the community?