Speakout 3/29

Friday, March 29, 2002

Call 471-6636

I'm trying to watch MTV and Charter Communications commercials keep cutting in and messing up what I'm trying to see. Could you all please quit?

This is to the jackass who has got to blame somebody. Do you not realize everyone is jealous of the United States? As far as jobs in the United States, NAFTA has cost us many jobs, as in the Depression. Do you not realize that your grandfather fought and died for a 40-hour work week so they could be at home to be with their families, watering the garden, working on their own homes to save money so they could put their children through school to have a better life? To hell with the rest of the world. We are a democracy. We should take care of our own instead of wasting money on everyone else. Buy American goods and your Mom and Pop stores will help your own neighborhood. Buy conglomerates, and you will help foreign companies. If you want to work 70 hours a week, go to Mexico and see how much you get by the end of the week. Water will run uphill if you're smart enough to pump it. If you live a very, very relaxed lifestyle, you don't have two children, trying to put them through college for a wage my grandfather fought for to get me a minimum wage.

I could call up and make a nasty comment about the priests and the situation going on with the Catholic Church. Or I could do the Christian thing and tell them I'm very sorry for the situation they're in and pray for them. I think that's what I'll do. I'll pray for them. I'm hurt by what's going on and I'm not a Catholic either.

In response to the sadly misinformed citizen who thinks that a 1400 to 700 white to black ratio in stops by the Sikeston DPS is biased against whites, I would like to kindly point out the difference between numbers and rates. Yes, while numerically there may be more white people pulled over, the important issue statistically is the RATE of black people pulled over compared to their population. Obviously, knowing the demographic of Sikeston would tell you that 1400 white people is a smaller proportion of the whole white population than 700 black people out of the black population. Thus, if there is any racism to be found, it is not against whites. Thank you.

I would like to congratulate Dereke Tipler of the New Madrid County Central Eagles for being an All-Standard Democrat Dream Team member and also for being a McDonald's All-Star nominee. I would also like to congratulate Rebecca Below of the Delta Bobcats and Maria Eftink of the Oran Eagles for making the All-Standard Democrat Dream Team. I would like to know if these three plan to go on and play college basketball after they graduate from high school.

Eftink will play for Fontbonne College in St. Louis next year. Below is just a junior, and Tipler is still undecided.

This is to the person who wrote about Kmart and the elderly running roughshod, hogging aisles, bumping into people and don't say "sorry." I don't think their parents raised them right. I get run over there by young parents who let their kids push carts and run wild and never correct them. The get out toys and block aisles and then don't put them back. I hope the person who wrote the article lives to be a senior citizen and finds out about life. P.S.: Most senior citizens can't run. God bless them anyway.

In response to "Park somewhere else" in the March 18 newspaper, the management of the service station wants to inform everyone that the owners of this service station are not the ones who complained about the parking situation.