Our generous federal legislators

To the editor:

What a glorious sight to see on the front page of my newspaper pictures of three so-called conservative Republican federal legislators "happy to give " Cape Girardeau County $5 million that our local leaders have no idea how to spend. I'm so happy Sen. Kit Bond, Sen. Jim Talent and U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson could reach into their own back pockets and "give" to us.

By having these legislators give their own money, they won't have to confiscate earnings from college students flipping hamburgers, small businessmen working seven days a week, factory workers sweating in the summer heat and store clerks working weekends and holidays.

I'd like to make two suggestions on how to spend the money. One suggestion is to have the IRS list all the 2004 federal taxpayers in Cape Girardeau County and rebate the $5 million dollars proportionately to us directly. Another idea is to send the money back to Washington and pay down the federal deficit. Maybe they could "help" us even more by cutting all the other pork-barrel spending going on across the country.

LARRY BILL, Jackson