SPEAKOUT

Call 471-6636

This is in response to the caller concerning "Nothing's free" about public school education that appeared in the Sept. 30 issue of the Standard Democrat. In summary, the caller states that their "kids" kept going to the same school for five years even though the caller moved out of that school district three years ago. It seems the caller is upset because they now have to pay out-of-district public school tuition to the school their kids now attend or send their kids to the school district in which they now reside. The commentary went on to ask, "Is school really about kids and education or the almighty dollar?" Well, boo-hoo-hoo! Property owners who reside within any school district pay tax dollars for their children to be educated within that district. If the caller currently lives outside of the district, has not paid out-of-district public school tuition, has not informed the public school administration of their change of address, then the taxpayers of the district where the caller sent their children free for two of the five years have every right to think that the complainant is not paying their fair share. Finally, you have publicly confessed in SpeakOut that you lived out of the district while sending your kids to another school. I hope the affected school administration, school board and superintendent know who you are because you now owe out-of-district public school tuition for two years on each one of your kids. Legally, the offended school district should assess you for that past due amount with applicable penalties and interest. Pay your own way like everyone else does. Fair-minded people do that.

Around 4 p.m. Oct. 4, a man was coming down College Avenue. Thank God he was. I was out mowing and when I turned around, he had stopped. Why? A little toddler in a baby walker was in the street. He got out and took the baby back in a driveway on Sikes Street. The man left and I gave him a thumbs-up as a thank you. He patted his heart - so I did, too. I'm glad he was on my street. We have a lot of speeders on College. Please slow down. Thank you again.

I still see in the Sept. 28 paper where this yellow-dog Republican is still pointing fingers at everybody and still trying to place blame. Man, why don't you go lay down and forget about this stuff? You can't keep this up. I don't know what you're thinking about, 40 years ago, letting them all in. Man, you don't know what you're talking about. Underdog Republicans. Shoot. Democrat? Man, you ought to go lay down. You don't know what politics is all about.

I feel the need to remind Americans that 6,000-plus Americans have been murdered by an act of war. While we are all back at McDonald's and Pizza Hut, we must not let apathy still us. We must be strong and vigilant. Lip service will not pay for the lives wasted at WTC. Nothing is accomplished without action.

I see old lying Jesse Jackson's at it again. He's wanting to head up peace to maybe go over there and settle everything. Many Americans got killed and he's willing to go over there and give them more, just like Bill Clinton. If Jesse Jackson goes over there, I hope to God those people capture him or something and never send him back. We'll be rid of one other enemy that way.

I heard on the news that Bob Dole and Bill Clinton are going to chair some kind of charity to raise millions of dollars for the children of the firefighters and policemen who were lost in the tragedy in New York. I don't know about Bob Dole. I think he'd be all right. But I can assure you that with Bill Clinton, anything he's mixed up in, an awful lot of that money stick to his hands and go in his pocket. Just remember, when he and Hillary left the White House, a lot of the furniture and stuff went with them. About the only thing they didn't take was Air Force One.

I talked to two of New Madrid's finest football fans and they said New Madrid has beaten Sikeston five times in the last five years. How many times has New Madrid beaten Sikeston in the last 20 years? Please tell me.

Sikeston leads the overall series 10-4. NMCC has won three of the last five.