Speakout 1/5

I would like to thank The First National Bank for the beautiful Christmas cross they put up each year. It's beautiful and in the spirit of Christmas.

Now that the Christmas tournaments are over, who do you like as the best time in southeast Missouri? Some may think it's Poplar Bluff, but I'm not so convinced. Mills High School handed them a spanking this weekend, the same team that trailed Charleston with less than 2 minutes in the game. Mills went on to win the game by 4, but Charleston gave the number one team in Arkansas everything they could handle. After winning in Bloomfield some might say it's Dexter. But after Charleston went down to Dexter and pulled out a victory with all of the bad calls, they don't get my vote. Sikeston shouldn't even be mentioned. Bell City is OK but they couldn't get it done in the tournament. Charleston gets my vote. They are now 10-2 and no team in the state of Missouri has beaten them. Their two losses are by a combined total of 6 points. They went through the Christmas tournament as if they were playing junior varsity teams. They had Notre Dame down by 30 in the championship game before they took out the starters. Scott City, the number 7 seed in the tournament, is ranked number 4 in the state in 3A. They started at 5-0, but who did they beat? They beat Oran by 8, OK. Charleston beat Oran by 30, and if Charleston didn't call off the dogs, it would have been worse. If Scott City played Charleston's first six games, how many game would they have won? They might have beaten Doniphan but that's it. Charleston, the number 1 seed in the tournament wasn't even ranked in the 3A poll. Not only is Charleston the best team in southeast Missouri, they may be the best team in 3A state. When will Charleston get the respect that it deserves? I'm not worried about it, they will make people respect them. Over the next two months, they will beat everyone on their schedule. Most of them won't even be close. Charleston plays all of the best schools in the area and is in the toughest conference. I guess we will find out on Feb. 21 when Poplar Bluff comes to Charleston for the game of the year. Please write back let me know how you feel.

According to Charter Cable Company, starting in February senior citizens are going to lose their 10 percent discount. What next? They're going to give you a dollar off your basic. My, my, my. It would sure be nice to have some competition. Take notes, senior citizens. That's what's going to happen.

In your 40-years-ago news for Dec. 30, 1962, you have on there that Pat and Clyde Crawford of Sikeston are parents of a baby girl, born Dec. 22. It was 20 years ago, not 40 years ago. She is only 20 years old this year.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We apologize for the oversight. We inadvertently moved the announcement to the wrong year on the Looking Back column for that day.

It's a bad idea for the welfare office to pay relatives to take care of their relations. Some of those people may go somewhere else before they go home, and the other people are stuck with the kids and don't get paid for the hours before and after the parents get off work.

If the military draft is reinstated, with the draftees get to take their teddy bears to camp? Ha, ha, ha.