SpeakOut 11/8

Call 471-6636

I'd like to call about this deal about Peter Myers and this lady representative we have. You know what it was down there in New Madrid, they was gonna put this big pump there to pump the water out of the lowlands. Now these people have got this all confused. They was gonna try to drain some little town down there in the bottoms. Well, it would help them, but let me tell you how many more things would help them. I was on a drainage board for a long time, and I know. It starts in draining all the way from up in Commerce all the way down into Sikeston. And on up, out there in the hills at Ellsinore, it comes from up there down to Big Ditch on the other side of Morehouse. It's draining this whole country, that big pump would have. That Judge, who didn't know what he was doing, stopped them from building. It would have drained thousands and thousands of acres, like the city of Sikeston when it floods and the place just north of Miner that floods. All that flood zone would have been taken care of if that one judge had of kept his nose out of it and let Miss Emerson and Peter Myers and the rest of the people that were working on it get it done. I know, because I was on the ditch board for quite a few years, and I got disgusted with the way they was doing things and quit. Every time you started to do something to help a lot of people, there was some yo-yo against it.

There is one good thing about the election process so far. Since the abortion flip floppers are leading in the Republican race, the former pro-life movement is mercifully silent. My guess is they're holed up in their kitchens eating lots of crow.

Ellen Brandom claims that the legislature was able to provide an incredible infusion of dollars to Missouri's colleges "without the need for a tax increase." Wait just a minute, Ellen. Oh, yes, you did increase taxes - or more accurately you stole this money from the families and students who are struggling to attend college. This money grab is one of the biggest rip-offs in the history of Missouri. About two decades ago, Missouri set up a not-for-

profit corporation for the sole purpose of providing low cost loans to families and children for college costs. This money came from students and their families. It does not belong to the state of Missouri. It was set up as a separate entity. If any profits did develop, they should have been put toward lowering the interest rates or easing the burden of debt for the students and their families. Along came a bunch of politicians who happened to notice this nice bunch of money that was raised by overcharging college kids. Mrs. Brandom and her colleagues had no authority to do what they did. These politicians began passing out pork and claimed it was "found money," and they are currently being sued in court for this behavior.

The wonderful doctors, nurses and receptionists at SEMO Health Network are the greatest.