SPEAKOUT

Although Rep. Mary Kasten expressed reservations about funding of the center in the March 6 story, she later voted on the House floor to keep funding for the center in a state appropriations bill. The other Cape County representative, David Schwab, voted against keeping funding for the center in the bill.

SOME SAY MONEY is the root of all evil. I just lost a dear friend of many years, and I say that alcohol and drugs is the root of all evil. Thank you.

THIS IS IN reference to an article in your Speak Out column on March 4. Somebody said Saddam Hussein should be killed and they wished they had the money to go get him. I just want to know if they realize that in a free and democratic society, murder is illegal.

PETER, YOU MAY make me a fan yet. I found your column referring to gays and lesbians pretty much on the mark. I used to say as long as gays don't bother me, they can do what they want, and now my wife has to check the men's restrooms at the public parks because the kids can't go in because gays are in there. That was last summer, and we don't go to the park anymore. My point is, gays and lesbians make the rest of us feel like something's wrong with us if we don't accept their lifestyle. They are identified as a class of people, as if they were a religious or ethnic group. There's a bill going through the Missouri Legislature right now, that unchallenged, would change Missouri's laws against homosexual acts. They're changing our laws and they're trying to change our religious beliefs, but all they're doing is make me change my mind about homosexuality. People will undoubtedly say that I'm closed-minded, but at least I'm no longer confused.

I SEE ON the news that the mayor of New York, he usually rides ahead of the St. Patrick's Day parade, has opted to march in front of the lesbians and gays. Only a Democratic politician would do something like that.

I'M A SENIOR citizen well up into my 70s. I don't want any more taxes and most of my senior friends feel the same way. I know it isn't much, but, if this were to pass, this won't be the only tax next year. Next time there'd be something else. Soon there won't be anything left to a dollar. It will all be taxes. Please vote no. Thank you.

WE SAY THE younger generation is not family oriented. It seems the old folks and our government take the responsibility away from our children and grandchildren. For instance, our churches have buses to pick up people to take them to church. The county buses take you to the doctor and the store. Well, I just bet Susie or Johnny has a car and would love to take grandma or aunt Jane to the store or the movie. It seems we are being taxed to death. Do you not think of the young people? How are they going to survive and be able to live? If the old people would have worked and saved, you could possibly draw some interest on your money, and with a little pension and Social Security, they could live very well. You have helped to create laziness and poor management because you infer the government will take care of you. Now just think about this. Thank you.

SEEMS LIKE EVERY time I pick up a paper or turn on the TV, someone is referring to Vietnam in some negative way. I'm not a veteran. I was lucky enough not to have a husband, son or daughter who had to participate in that ungodly horror, but I can imagine how those that did must feel when they constantly hear or read things like, has America finally kicked our Vietnam syndrome, or, now that we have achieved victory, can we live down our loss in Vietnam? And on and on. From what I know of the situation, the two were as far apart as day and night. In Vietnam they were not allowed to go all-out full-force and achieve a victory, but they were allowed to go there, not of their choosing, and allowed to die, be crippled, lose friends, fight with all kinds of restrictions, and be held prisoner in hell-hole conditions. You see, they were only doing what they were told like the people of Desert Storm; but they were allowed to go for the all-out win. So can't we just drop it about Vietnam and be glad that they went and stood up for us and our country as military people have done in the past wars? I feel they have been very kind to us about it all because it has to have hurt them more than anybody can imagine. So let's bury it once and for all and pray that they can forgive us for not opening our arms and our hearts to them. It's not too late to start to heal this wound. Let's welcome them home now.

I DON'T KNOW what to think of some people. My husband had a severe asthma attack on a parking lot Saturday night. He was alone. He tried to pick up a few things and a man wanted to help him, but the woman accused him of being drunk. Well, I want to let that lady know, two hours later my husband was in an emergency room. He is now hospitalized with asthma and bronchial pneumonia. I hope and pray for her because I really believe she needs it. Now I understand why an 18-year-old is so disillusioned with this world. I'm over 18, and I am too. Thank you.

THIS IS IN answer to 18, who grew up too fast: Many people have never tried living for drugs, sex and alcohol, and we care about you. This is the world God created, and because he gave us all a free will, men have made their own rules. If you haven't tried the love of Jesus and his rules, why don't you? What can you lose?

THERE IS A vast difference in providing a ball diamond for each child to play on once or twice a week for three months out of the year than caring for the nutrition and other health needs of the frail elderly on a daily basis 12 months per year. The Christmas program of giving a bathrobe or house shoes to needy seniors is commendable and appreciated. But it, too, falls far short of providing for their life-sustaining needs throughout the year.

I HAVE A solution to the argument over the proposed tax issue to provide services to senior citizens: Make the elderly exempt from paying school taxes since they probably have no children in the public schools and take the proposed 5-cent tax off the April 2 ballot.

FOR MORE THAN 50 years I have paid taxes to send other people's children to school, as I have no children. For a few years I also made a monthly contribution to help build Notre Dame High School. Now it is time for those I helped educate to do something for me. If they can vote, they can go to the polls on April 2 and mark their ballots for the tax to provide services to senior citizens. This tax is for a worthy cause.

I'M A REALTOR and I'd like to comment to the people looking for a home. All realtors have all houses in Cape available to them to show and sell. We are paid only by commission and have to pay our own expenses, so we work with those people who we feel will be loyal to us. So find a realtor who shows you different companies' listings and they'll find your home. Thanks.

I'VE LIVED IN Cape 63 years and I've paid my share of the tax bill. I haven't used a ball diamond, soccer field, or swimming pool. I hope you younger citizens have enjoyed using what the seniors have paid for. Thank you.

I RECENTLY SAW someone wearing a shirt supporting our troops that said "Prayers not protest." I think that says a lot. Our prayers are the best support we can give. Than you.

I DON'T UNDERSTAND why Richard Gephardt is in Saudi Arabia when he was one of the first to vote to withhold funds to fight that war. Why is he making a turnaround now? They needed him four months ago for his vote; but, no, he was ready to stop the payment to fight that war. Thank you.

YOU ARE SO right, what goes around comes around, and you will be a senior citizen. There is a strong possibility that you will be disabled at some point in your life. You will need these services, and, if you don't vote for this tax, the services may not be there. Then it will really be pay-back time. Your children will not be able to care for you and be at their jobs at the same time. Thank you for listening.

I'D LIKE TO thank Kidd's Gas and Convenience Store at Broadway and West End Boulevard for locating a lost ring. I really appreciate all the work the staff and manager did in locating that ring, and I would just like to say thank you to all of them there.

I AGREE WITH helping Kuwait; however, as our U.S. senator, Danforth, mentioned, this action was narrowly passed by Congress for military action. Certainly Saddam Hussein is at large, not being brought to justice for his atrocious crimes; or, are we simply allowing him to become able to fight another day? I think he should be punished for his crimes like any other war criminal. Currently, he is engaged in a civil war and, as I understand it, it is rather difficult to know how extensive it really is. I, for one, certainly have mixed emotions.

IN PETER KINDER'S column on March 17, he has sunk very low to make the war a Republican-versus-Democrat issue. Americans died in Iraq and Kuwait. I wonder what the parents of these soldiers would tell him by saying it's a Republican-versus-Democrat issue and not a freedom-and democracy issue to stop a madman like Saddam Hussein. If some people opposed it maybe it was because one American life is too high a price to pay. I agree with Bush's decision to expel Iraq from Kuwait, but as a freedom-and-democracy issue.

Oh really? And precisely how did I make the war "a Democrat-versus-Republican issue"? The column you refer to made reference to two nationally prominent Democratic politicians, Illinois Sen. Paul Simon and former San Francisco mayor Dianne Feinstein. I condemned one, and praised the other, both for their stands on President Bush's authorization to use force, and on their evaluations of his conduct of that authority, which the Congress voted so begrudgingly. As I've noted before, that congressional authority was given (52-47 in the Senate, where a shift of just three votes would have tipped the whole thing the other way) only after President Bush faced down the united Democratic leadership of both houses, and overwhelming majorities of that party's rank and file, including 46 of 56 Senate Democrats. Unless you believe that we are somehow prohibited from analyzing that vote, how is it making it into "a Democrat-versus-Republican issue" to conduct this analysis? Wasn't it the majority leadership in both houses that made it a partisan issue, when they rejected the president's appeal for bipartisan support before the vote? PDK