SPEAKOUT

Upsetting episode

I WAS just sitting here reading the Sunday paper again and I'm still upset about this girl who turned in a drug carrier at the Jackson School and how she's been humiliated and suffered all kinds of repercussions. Here they're taught to do the right thing, which she did, and evidently the only way they would know that she turned them in is the principal gave her name. I think the principal out there is more at fault than anybody else. And I think all the people who teased her or beat her up should be expelled from school for the rest of the school year. I've got a granddaughter at Schultz School here, and if she saw somebody with dope at school, she would turn them in fast. I sure hate see her have any kind of repercussions like that.

Tit for tat

I DON'T think church schools could accept taxpayer money for their students unless they're willing to give up their tax exemptions on their earnings.

Out of proportion

I THINK the incident at Jackson Middle School is being totally blown out of proportion. The day this happened, my daughter who's in the seventh grade there came home and told me what happened. It was a harmless prank done as a dare. It wasn't even marijuana. If Lindsay had stopped to find out the whole story instead of jumping to conclusions she would have seen this. What kid is going to run to someone and tell them he's got a bag of dope and want to show it to everybody? He's not unless it's one of his close friends and no adults are going to hear about it. Kids aren't as dumb as adults think they. These four girls who are chasing Lindsay around are the same four girls who harassed my daughter back when school first started. My daughter is nearly the school's smallest and skinniest kid. She stood up to them one day when she had enough. She didn't hit them. Now they leave her alone. I agree that Lindsay's parents did the right thing with the mall incident, but to take this child out of school? That's teaching her if things don't go your way or people you don't like harass you, run and hide. Surely Lindsay has kids at school to help her during the day, and I know Dr. Beard wouldn't let anything happen. Yes, drug abuse should be reported, but in this day and age you need to know for sure it's drugs before you do report it. Thank God this happened in Jackson instead of St. Louis. What would the repercussions have been for this poor child had it been there?

Private support

CONCERNING THE tax money also that's going for private and Catholic schools. Some of the tax money should go for those schools, not just the public schools. Please remember those parents also pay taxes the same as the public school parents do.

No harassing

THIS IS in regard to the article about Lindsay Siebert. I cannot believe that they suspended this boy without first finding out if he had marijuana or not, but once the boy was suspended he should not have been allowed to harass the girl in school.

What about safety?

WHAT KIND of repercussions do you think this girl is going to have since her name as well as picture appear on the front page? The only thing missing was her address and phone number. Do safety and journalism ever go together?

School funding

I WOULD like to voice my opinion concerning education and Mr. Carnahan's increase in taxes to support education. My personal view, since we seem to have such a high illiteracy rate, is why don't we just start cutting funding for public education until the schools get into line and start educating our children better. I don't see much sense in throwing good money after bad.

CELEBRATE THE coming of spring by getting some exercise and working for a worthy cause. The Super City walk for Multiple Sclerosis will be held April 14 at the Jackson City Park. Registration is 11-11:30 a.m. The walk starts at noon. Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, often disabling disease that short-circuits the central nervous system. An estimated 250,000 Americans have multiple sclerosis for which there are no known cause or cure. This is Mary Kathryn and Chad Meyer, local walk coordinators, inviting you to join us at the Jackson Park on April 14.

They just didn't

I READ Jamie Hall's postmortem of the game between Scott City and Notre Dame. I don't live in Scott City but I get a little disgusted at the would-have, could-have, should-have. The thing is Notre Dame didn't.

No kids?

I CAN'T believe Mark Bliss actually wrote a column without Becca and sister. Congratulations, I enjoyed it.

Fresh fruit for Pat

I HAVE just finished eating some wonderful fresh fruit. When I purchased this, I asked the produce manager of the local market what section of the country this came from. He laughed and said right now there is no growing season for fresh fruit to market in the United States. This came from Argentina. I wonder if Mr. Buchanan has eaten any fresh fruit from Argentina?

Teach respect

DISCIPLINE. I'M from the old school where kids were taught the hard way. Nowadays if you spank your child for doing something wrong to correct them, it's child abuse. If parents were guilty for everything kids do, a lot of us would be sitting in jail. Let us discipline our kids, then kids would respect things a lot more. A citizen from Cape.

Stiff penalty

I JUST read in the newspaper where they caught two more who vandalized the cemetery tombstones. I don't think that they should just slap their hands and give them a little jail sentence. They should everyone work and pay back the full amount of money that it takes to repair those tombstones, and their pictures should all be put in the paper with a headline: "We were the ones who tore up the tombstones."

Quayle bashing

IN RESPONSE to Mr. Potato Head coming to town. I don't know if he was here to push his book or to boost conservatism or the Republican Party by giving them free advertisement. Well, they can use all the help, because I think they're in trouble. Also, he's a very brave man. He has to pick on a woman. I notice Bill Clinton never did bash Marilyn Quayle.