SPEAK OUT

No friendly calls

I'M SURE this can go for many students in many school districts. Our phone rang all school year. Now it is silent. It rang almost nightly for help in one subject or another, and my teen-ager was always "a pal" and "a life saver" and pulled you through those tough classes. It was OK to invite my teen over to study, but not to just hang out. Where are the calls to go to the movies or the year-end school parties? Why was the first number you called for help all school year the last you call for a friend?

Blame the shipper

I THINK the managing editor, Heidi Hall, has a beef with eBay and the person she bought her package from. When she received the package in damaged condition, she should have refused it and contacted eBay. It is the responsibility of the seller to insure his product. EBay handles this sort of problem. As for her experience with the postman, I have received nothing but courteous, professional service from those people as well as my carrier. Maybe it was a misunderstanding.

Now he's a problem

I THINK it's funny to watch politicians turning on one another. I thought they only betrayed their voters. It was comical to hear Rush Limbaugh talking about all of the party-jumping senator's improprieties after he left the Republican Party. Now his shortcomings are an issue. What does this say to the public? We will accept and cover your shortcomings unless you choose to drop out of the party on your convictions.

Mail cheap, dependable

I HOPE the managing editor isn't an advocate of postal reform. Under a private company such as UPS, I seriously doubt a rural postal customer in Gibson or Chaffee would be able to place even a 50-cent stamp on a first-class letter and have it delivered to Albany, N.Y., in three days. Also, if she'd taken the time to research a little, she'd see the cost of insurance on her $4 poster at UPS, which she would pay for whether she asked for it or not.

Holier than thou

BY A large margin the percentage of out-of-wedlock births has grown faster in the Bible Belt than anywhere else in the United States. The Southeast Missourian alluded to this phenomenon in a recent editorial. I am disturbed by this trend. Perhaps one positive thing that may come from it will be fewer moralistic pronouncements emanating from some of the holier-than-thou residents of the region.

Bingo and smoking

THIS IS for the investors who are building the new bingo hall. It is ludicrous to spend all that money for a glass wall to keep the smokers on one side. Instead, put an overhang and let them smoke outside during their break. There are a lot of places that are smoke-free, so make this bingo hall smoke-free, and you will get more players to come out.

Traffic goes too fast

ABOUT MOUNT Auburn Road: People are driving through there at 50 to 60 mph. I go through there two to three times a day, and I have yet to see a police officer watching the traffic. The stop sign they put in the middle of it is to slow the traffic down because I guess they don't have time to mess with it. I think it should go back to the way it was. It wasn't near as fast as it is now. Now, everybody goes around you if you try to drive the speed limit.

Smooth traffic flow

I FINALLY made it. It's amazing that during four days of trying to get through Cape Girardeau I had to stop at every stop light on Kingshighway. Why don't they do something about the traffic flow? You would think that with the high gasoline prices and the effort to conserve energy, they would have enough common sense to make smooth traffic flow in Cape Girardeau

Need for screaming

THE APPARENTLY Caucasian Speak Out caller complaining about minority groups screaming discrimination needs to keep in mind that it won't be long until white folks will be in the minority and may be in a position where they will have more of a need to scream it themselves.