SPEAKOUT

Thanks for special gifts at Christmas

I'D LIKE to say a special thank you to Sue who works at the Beverly nursing home on Independence. I just want to say thanks for bringing the money by so I can get my subscription and get my newspaper, and also thanks for the clothes and the suit and the other stuff she brought by. We appreciate it. It made our Christmas much, much better.

County officials eager to spend savings

I AM incensed to learn that John Jordan, Gerald Jones and the county commission are trying to blow Cape County's nest egg on a Taj Mahal for a new jail. Gene Huckstep worked years and fought hard to save those funds. It seems our present county officials are overly anxious to spend the savings.

Jackson's police lowest paid in area

I READ in the paper a couple weeks ago about how Jackson's Mayor Sander is real proud of the growth in the city of Jackson and about how good a financial shape it's in. Then I read in the paper where the Jackson Police Department is the lowest paid police agency in the area. I just wonder if the mayor is proud of that fact. That's something we have to remember come election time.

Cape doctor does fine job on knees

I JUST read a comment in Speak Out about Cape needing good doctors and families going to doctors in St. Louis. I just want to say my husband had his second knee replacement by Dr. Raymond Ritter, and he couldn't be more pleased. I am from Perryville, and a lady had a knee done at the St. Louis Bone Clinic a year ago, and she's still suffering from it. Don't complain about your doctors. You just think it's better somewhere else until you go through a bad situation there too. Thank you, Dr. Ritter.

Dangerous driving imperils others

WELL, IT happened again. As I was driving west on Independence, a car turned off Kingshighway in the right lane. The traffic sign says "Right Lane Must Turn Right." Instead, this driver speeds up and cuts into the west-bound lane causing me and the cars behind me to brake quickly. I could have hit that speeding car. Instead, I blew my horn a lot. It made me feel better, but the guilty driver probably wondered why the horn was blowing. Please, Mr. Policeman, watch this traffic by Kmart and the bridge over the creek. These cut-in drivers do this a lot. Sometimes they just barely make it before the street narrows at the bridge.

Jackson refuse collectors get 4-day holiday

I JUST wanted to call and thank Mayor Sander for giving the recycling guys and the refuse collectors a four-day weekend at Christmas. It couldn't have been at a worse time for the rest of Jackson trying to get rid of all the Christmas trash. Thanks again, Mayor Sander. This won't easily be forgotten.

Time for president to fire FBI director

PRESIDENT CLINTON, you've showed good leadership and you're an A-1 president, but please, show some gumption this time and fire that FBI director. You're his commander-in-chief, and he's supposed to be on your side completely -- not as Bill Clinton, but as the president of the United States. As Harry Truman said, Gen. MacArthur did not have a problem with Harry Truman but with the president of the United States. You're his superior. You need someone to help run this country who is on your side and is with you to back you up.

Try asphalt to slow down campus traffic

I SEE that they've finally completed the new concrete Street in front of Academic Hall. Or is it really complete? With all the pedestrians in that area, it would be much safer if they would blacktop it like they did Lexington Street. I promise you people would slow down. I know that because I got above 35 miles per hour on Lexington the other day, and it jarred me so bad my gums bled.

An ode to rather bumpy streets

I WAS rudely awakened just before dawn

My wife was ready to deliver our son

She grabbed her coat and threw over her gown

We jumped in the car and headed for town

We bumped and swerved and rumbled along

I said, "Thank you, Lord, for making her strong."

She said, "Please hurry! My water's about to break!"

I said, "Just hang on, honey. It's Perryville Road for goodness sake!"

I was so excited that I turned the wrong way.

I made a right and went down Broadway.

When I passed McDonald's, she let out a scream.

She said, "This is the roughest street I've ever seen!"

After we made it through that ordeal

She said, "It could have been worse, it could have been Bloomfield."

Don't cut taxes when nation is in debt

THE EDITORIAL the other day in my case fell on deaf ears. Anybody who would come up with the idea of cutting taxes on a country that's $5 trillion in debt must be either joking or out of his mind. We are paying hundreds of billions of dollars a year in interest on the national debt for a mess that Ronald Reagan and George Bush really expanded.