Keep Mike

MIKE ROYKO has been around the block many times and tells it like he sees it with a sense of humor and a bit of satire, which makes some of today's happenings much easier to accept and digest. My vote goes to Mike Royko.

Find street solution

BRUCHER STREET is a gravel street in Cape Girardeau. Each time it rains the gravel is replaced and/or graded by the city crew, even if that means working in the same area four times a week. This is a patch job, not a solution to the problem. That's how our street money is being spent. Wouldn't it be smarter and cheaper in the long run to find a solution to the problem (like put in a culvert). Let's use our manpower and materials (sometimes we could use left over materials from other jobs) to make some lasting repairs. We have intelligent people working for our city. Let's start using that brain power. Our taxes are paying for them.

Test pill on convicts

SCIENTISTS think they are very close to finding a fat pill that will enable us to lose weight without having to diet. I think this would be a perfect time to speed things up: Why don't they test this stuff on convicts, people who are in jail for life sentences or who are scheduled for death row anyway? I don't think this is that dangerous. They may be able to get it on the market in the next year or so if they would do that.

REPLY: Prison inmates have been used as medical test subjects for a long time on a volunteer basis.

Parking at the university

I'M FED up with the parking situation on the Southeast Missouri State University campus. I keep trying to get in the preferred commuter lot, but I end up getting stuck at the Show Me Center. I cannot stand walking to my classes that far every day. We pay good money, and our tuition keeps rising, and they are saying that's because the enrollment is down. Maybe if the school would do something about the parking the students would enjoy going to classes more.

Thanks for fireworks

I WOULD like to thank Target for the beautiful fireworks display Saturday night. It's the best I have ever seen in Cape. I think all of the citizens of Cape appreciate it very much.

Keep the column...

PLEASE DO not even consider discontinuing Royko's column on your editorial page. If you were to discard every article or column that upsets a reader, you would have a newspaper that's blank. If you don't like it, don't read it.

...Drop the column

MIKE ROYKO was even on the front page of The Wall Street Journal. Sounds like we're not the only ones who think he's lasted longer than he should have. I think you ought to get rid of him.