SPEAKOUT

O.J. probably has ADD

I DON'T know why everyone is getting down on O.J. Simpson. After all he's probably got this Attention Deficit Disorder. That's the same disease that these people are getting checks on for their kids.

Balancing the budget

I HAVE a question. Why doesn't Congress borrow from its own pension fund or all the federal employees' pension fund instead of trying to borrow from the Social Security fund to help balance the budget. Thank you.

Help an ex-criminal

THERE IS a person in this community who has been here for a good while. He is a good person and I would say a Christian. He now needs a job, but whenever he fills out a form he's denied because he tells the truth and says he's been in prison. This person has been to three counties at least, from Perryville to Oran. He's a person who is an ex-criminal, and he needs your help. Forgive him as Jesus did, please. Will one of you employers out there read this and please help this man? He is older, but he is still very active and smart, particularly in fabrication areas. But he can and will learn anything. Need a job and will stay. Thank you.

Bad news, good news

I'M A concerned citizen of Cape Girardeau. I have been watching KFVS-12 News and I'm wondering whether it's becoming America's most wanted or Cops or something of that sort because all their lead stories involve crime and violent crime, and I just hope that's not what the people of the Southeast Missouri area want as far as newscasts go. I mean there is a certain amount of crime that can be reported, but when you're first five or six lead stories are crime reports, I think it's better served that we see those reports in the newspaper and more positive news from the Heartland. I'm appalled at KFVS-12, and I'll continue watching other stations until they change their format. Thank you.

Fireman wants local coverage

I'M A volunteer fireman in Cape Girardeau County. I noticed your newspaper has got a story in here about a house fire, about a story coming out of Richmond, Virginia. Why can't you write stories about the Cape Girardeau County firefighters?

Not a freeloader

I'M CALLING regarding the comment in last week's paper, 'get the freeloaders.' I suspect that comment was directed at myself, and I wanted to clarify this. I was getting medication for my 80-plus-year-old grandmother, who has a severe heart condition and an arthritic hip, which makes it very difficult for her to get in and out for her medication. She asked me to please pick up her monthly supply. Therefore the comment about the able-bodied young female getting a sack full for $2 or $3 was incorrect. I was not getting medication for myself, but for my elderly grandmother who, yes, is on Medicare. She worked very long for very hard wages earned through the years at a local shoe factory, and I believe she deserves every penny of savings she earns with her Medicare. She worked hard for it and I will, hopefully, get it when it's my turn.

No counseling center at Jackson

AS AN adult individual, I believe if the community counseling center is allowed to come to the Jackson School District, that it would do a lot of damage to the Jackson Schools, and the Jackson Schools should try to please keep the community counseling center out of the school.

No more fly-through

I AGREE with your prior callers concerning the changes we've been seeing in Heartland News. We have great reporters and they do terrific jobs but the fly-through portion of the weather report is terrible. The cloud cover blurs and obscures. It's nearly impossible to define state outlines, and because I suffer from motion sickness, it makes me nauseated. Please get rid of the fly-through portion of the weather, and give us a report we can follow.

THAT KFVS new weather format, that fly-through business is so silly.

THIS IS to KFVS weather men. I think it'd be nice if we could tell in your fly-through weather the rain from the snow. They both look the same.

No to tuition increase

HERE WE go again. Here I'm reading in Friday's Southeast Missourian that Southeast Missouri State University wants to raise the tuition again. It says, "Budget panel to seek increase in tuition for Southeast students." Why don't we do like the Republicans are trying to do and start cutting some of their budget instead of raising the taxes to us? Last year and the year before, Southeast Missouri's enrollment has been down, but yet they want to raise the tuition. Why don't we cut some of their budget and leave the tuition the way it is?

Modern music and bee swarms

I USED to always enjoy the music awards. But not anymore. It's not music. When I was a kid at home growing up, my grandpa lived with us, and he raised honey bees. They would swarm about twice a year. And us kids would have to get whistles and bells and beat on tin pans so the bees would not leave. Today that sounds like some of the music that you hear. There's no words and no tune.

Cape's own Mardi Gras

I'M BACK from New Orleans' Mardi Gras. Now, it's time for Cape Girardeau to quit this whining around in Speak Out about stuff that I don't give a hoot in hell about and start a campaign to make Riverfest to last a whole week.