LETTERS: AVOID EATING RAW EGGS

To the editor:

I would like to respond to the front-page article Jan. 10 picturing children at a local day care center being served snow ice cream. The story featured a recipe using raw eggs. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration and the American Egg Board all stringently warn against serving raw eggs to anyone, and especially to those who are at highest risk for food-borne illness. This group includes young children, the elderly and anyone with a chronic disease condition.

Although many of us may have eaten raw eggs in homemade ice cream all of our lives, the situation has changed, and it is no longer safe. There is a more virulent type of bacteria, salmonella enteritidis, which can cause severe illness and even death to individuals who consumer raw eggs. A recent issue of the Center for Disease Control's publication, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (Aug. 30, 1996) reported on the increasing number of illnesses attributed to salmonella enteritidis found in fresh shell eggs. Cooking the eggs to 160 degrees inactivates the pathogenic bacteria.

Additional poor sanitation practices where illustrated in the picture on the front page. The children appear to be eating out of a common bowl, with each dipping his or her spoon into the bowl of ice cream. Each person will be sharing the other's personal collection of micro-organisms each time he or she sticks a spoon back in the ice cream bowl.

Day care centers, and families for that matter, have a responsibility to practice good sanitation and protect their children and staff from needless contamination and illness. Please share this information with your readers. Thank you for your consideration.

DR. GEORGANNE P. SYLER

Department of Human Environmental Studies, Dietetics, Food Service and Hospitality

Southeast Missouri State University

Cape Girardeau

To the editor:

Once again on Ebonics: It seems the arguments do not go away. They would not have arisen if those who write and speak on the topics had a grounding in language history. Such a study shows that since at least the days of Sanskrit, about 3000 B.C., we have taken pride in our language system. In the study of some ancient languages, students were summarily executed if they did not learn the grammar properly. The rage for order is not new, and it is understandable when we consider that the first, but not the only, aim of language is to communicate.

When the lady at the ticket booth in Edinburgh tells me that the bus leaves from Platform E and notes that I write "E," she excitedly corrects me and says, "No. E as in Epple." I would have wound up far in the Highlands had we not solved that. An Old Testament story tells of a tribe of soldiers who cannot pronounce "Th" even when their lives depend on it.

We often communicate more than we intend to. And old wives' tale has long argued that there are no class differences in the speech of the Icelanders and that the archbishop and the fisherman's wife speak exactly the same. In America we have paid a price for not having a king and, consequently, has not learned to speak the King's English. That's OK with me. But dictionaries and language guides record the speech patterns of an elite, educated people. The earliest American universities were established to train ministers and priests.

But language serves esthetic purposes as well as crass, pragmatic ones, and we should not be surprised that an argument for Ebonics, and what that argument implies, has arisen after we no longer speak in defense of lyric poetry or teach it. An American poet wrote:

My mother knows the loveliest tricks, of words and words and words,

her speech comes out as smooth and sleek as breasts of shining birds.

She shapes her speech all silver fine because she loves it so,

And her own eyes begin to shine to hear her stories grow ... .

We had not dreamed these things could be of laughter and of mirth,

Her speech is as a thousand eyes through which we see the earth.

PETER HILTY

Cape Girardeau

To the editor:

Beauty can be discovered in so many ways, described in just as many and suddenly applied. That is what I encountered just recently in hearing the beautiful poem, "The Touch of the Master's Hand" by Myra Brooks Welch.

It seems no one cared about the old, worn-out violin that was put up for auction, when suddenly a poor, old, ragged man was attracted to the violin. Picking it up, he played the most beautiful music any instrument could produce. There appeared an awe among those who heard him play. The crowd did not understand the change that was wrought by the touch of the Master's hand -- the Lord.

My immediate thought was turned to Liesl Schoenberger, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. John Schoenberger, who has been blessed with her Master's touch. Liesl picked up a violin as a very small child and became obsessed with the beautiful sound the instrument produced.

Liesl has become so enhanced with the beautiful sound of joy and sadness the violin could produce that today she has risen to great heights.

What a beautiful example is Liesl of the poem, "The Touch of the Master's Hand." People are in awe of her music too.

PAULA E. KEMPE

Cape Girardeau

To the editor:

As a citizen of this great city and a former member of the Cable TV Advisory Board, I understand the frustrations felt by the many persons calling in to Speak Out. In a survey conducted by the advisory board of cable service provided to similar size cities, Cape Girardeau's cable service had the fewest channel offerings of those surveyed. Some of these cities were even smaller than Cape Girardeau, which means size is not a factor in determining the number of or quality of channels to be offered.

One problem with another cable-TV company coming in is cost. There is a great deal of expense to run new underground cables throughout the city. Another problem is the city franchise fee all cities come to depend on for extra revenue. Just like bonds passed that have a sunset clause -- when has anyone seen a true sunset on a tax passed in any city? It doesn't happen. Cities become dependent on these taxes. Compare it to two people working to help make ends meet. It may have started out to be for a short time, but you become used to that extra income. It's quite an adjustment and a hardship to revert back to a one-wage family.

To sum it up, cable competition won't come in because of the enormous cost factor. The city fathers are reluctant to challenge TCI too strongly because of the fear of losing franchise revenue that's been encumbered for city operations. And citizens mere call Speak Out or do nothing to mobilize TCI toward change. The end result is the cable company does things its way. I have yet to receive a survey from TCI asking me what I would like to see on cable. Yet TCI cries, "Survey says" like on a game show. With fiber optics and satellite systems, among other new technological options coming on the scene, what would entice TCI to change the status quo? You could.

Calling Speak Out may make you feel better, like punching a pillow, but it doesn't change things. What happened to the Boston tea party mentality of the past? What happened to the movers and shakers, people who would self-sacrifice for a cause? I read complaints. I hear complaints. But I don't see anyone out there willing to give up cable in protest. Get neighborhood petitions together to send to them demanding changes and to demand TCI upgrades its system. Don't go to the local office. It's on the defensive and unable to do anything. Write, call and write more letters to the home office to demand better cable television for your money. Enclose letters with your cable bill. Cape Girardeau is paying about $5 to $10 more for fewer channels than other cities surveyed. Remember, the squeaky wheel gets the oil.

Remember, also, TCI knows people won't give up their cable. The people will complain for a while and then settle in. Don't expect the government to change things, as you can see. And I learned that government intervention means bureaucratic rhetoric, and these big guys know how to circumvent the system. Look at Ma Bell's breakup and oil-company deregulation for a historic lesson in futility.

As for me, I love animals, so Animal Planet is fine. There is nothing wrong with children learning to appreciate the life that share our world. The real problem is not taking one channel off to put on another. It's cheating the public of all the channels our city is entitled to receive for the money paid out. It's funny that other cities can have more for less than Cape Girardeau. Let's show TCI that Cape Girardeau is no longer willing to lay down and play dead. Why have 150 channels on our TV set when we are offered only 38 channels? Put the pressure on TCI to do what is right. To complain to the city or Speak Out is blowing in the wind. One person can't do it, but a whole city of people can.

MARYANN "MIKI" GUDERMUTH

Cape Girardeau