Speakout 7-23

Lesser of two evils

While I do believe we should always pray before we vote for a new president to make sure the Lord leads us to the right one, people thought that ex-President Bill Clinton was the anti-Christ. Other than the scandal he had with that intern, he turned out to be one of the best presidents we've ever had. The Lord is gonna come back soon regardless who's in there. But we don't need a Muslim running our country either. And there's McCain's age - Im scared he might croak after he gets voted in. My man dropped out, Mike Huckabee. I'm not crazy about either McCain or Obama, but they say you should vote of the lesser of two evils. So take it from there.

Talk on travel

This is in reply to the Traveling on letter in SpeakOut on July 11. First of all before you start complaining about the picture at the Complex, did you read it? It is a Sikeston Area Youth Baseball All-Star Team, not a travel team, that represented your league and your city, your state and the Midwest region in four different states in the past three years. The sign was erected in recognition of their achievements. It was put for the younger age players to have goals to shoot for. What they accomplished has never been done in this area over a three year period. So to answer your question, no, it was not paid for by the league. As a matter of fact, a lot of things in our league are paid for out of pocket by our coaches and league officials. Have you ever showed up on a league work night before opening day to see what goes on? Apparently not! We all bring equipment from home and put in a ton of hours of volunteer time and all you can do is complain. All I can say is put your time in or shut up until you know what is really going on.

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This is in response to Traveling on. I liked the dog tags this year. I liked having something different. As far as the picture on the wall, that may be a traveling team but it was also an all-star team. And about the pitching machine, I own the pitching machine. I let the league borrow it. I also have a travel team and my travel team members take it use it for their own personal use also.

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This is in response to the Sikeston Little League. First of all, I do agree the dog tags were pretty sorry. The league, for years, has not given the children what they deserve which is a trophy. As far as the traveling team, they should not be allowed to take league equipment out of town. They do try to make money for their expenses. What most of you don't know that teams in the past, such as the original Diamond Dawgs that formed six years ago and the Southeast Renegades, put on several tournaments in Sikeston. Teams from Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee and Missouri came here and spent thousands of dollars over the years in motels, gas and restaurants. As far as the picture of the traveling team goes at the Complex, you honestly don't know what you're talking about. That picture is of the Sikeston boys that at the age of 9 came in second at state in the Junior World Division. At the ages of 11 and 12, not only did they win State all three years, they also won Midwest Plains Regionals in Minnesota and Colorado three years in a row, going to the 10-year-old and 12-year-old World Series. Last year in Maryland they were given new uniforms saying Midwest Plains because not only did they represent Sikeston and Missouri, they represented Colorado, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, the Dakotas and Kansas. These are a truly talented group of boys who have worked very hard over the years and the town of Sikeston should be proud of them!

George will be missed

Recently columnist Brent Bozell made a commentary on the loss of George Carlin. First, he confused satire of religious hypocrisy with hatred. Later in this analysis he said he betrayed the promise of the hippy counter culture. I think what Carlin did was expose the hypocrisy of those Conservatives who cry in public of the threat of abortion. Missouri Republicans of the last four years have slashed as much public aid for poor people that they can. George Carlin will be missed.