Speakout 12/15

The City of Sikeston has wasted a lot of manpower putting up all those Christmas decorations downtown. How pitiful. It looks like some civic organization or something might get on the bandwagon and get Sikeston some new Christmas decorations. Benton's decorations are better than ours.

I am reading about the Jesuits and their magnificent accomplishments in the field of education. Here's a thought that stands out. "At the core of tradition and the ordering of memory and the conventions of interpretation, there were passion and a streak of anarchism, a perception of liberation and simplicity." Isn't this what all education systems should aim at providing for their students? We're pretty far afield of that now, aren't we? I think it's time to revive the movie "The Mission."

Robbery. Be careful and watch out for anyone who comes into your home to clean for you for the government. If you're not careful, you will be robbed like I was of everything I had. Just be careful and watch who you have in your house because they will rob you of everything you have.

Contact the organization who sent the worker to your home and file a complaint.

The proposed tax increase of $1.8 million averages about $106 per person or $242 per household. According to the Bureau of Census for the 2000 Census, Sikeston had 16,992 residents and 7,428 households. An elderly or disabled person receiving a Social Security check of $800 per month will receive a 2.1 percent increase in their January 2004 Social Security check. The Medicare Part B premium increases from $58.70 to $66.60. The net increase amounts to $10.13 per month or $121.56 per year. Our elderly and disabled residents cannot afford this proposed tax increase.

This is to whomever has any influence over the Big Lots store in Sikeston. It would be wonderful if the store (since it's closing) to move to the Charleston Plaza, where Wal-Mart was. Charleston is in desperate need of this type of business! I know we have the Dollar General Store and we appreciate it, but there are lots of things they don't carry. Therefore, we are forced to drive 15 miles or more just to pick up some of our basic needs. Please consider this request if it is at all possible.

I am a member of this community and I am sick of hearing all these people calling into SpeakOut, calling themselves Christians and saying how they are right and everybody else is wrong. This country was founded on the freedoms that they are trying to take away. We have the freedom of religion, the freedom of beliefs. We were not founded for being a Christian nation. We came over here to escape certain rules that churches tried to put on people. And now they are doing it here. Some of the founding fathers weren't even "Christian." They didn't believe in God. Little known facts. Read your history books. I am sick of it. You should not try to take away people's freedoms because of your insecurities.

It's your paper and you can print what you want, but I certainly did not say the word Shiites in my column about Cheney's daughter as a human shield. I know you can't print (or won't print) what I did say in place of Shiites. So let people guess, but at least straighten out the record. And it certainly had nothing to do with the native people in Iraq.

Sorry, caller. As we explained in previous calls, we do not transcribe SpeakOut calls that contain foul language. However, in this call, there must have been a slip of the tongue because the word came through the tape as "Shiite."