Speakout 10/26

Sunday, October 26, 2003

I am calling in response to the call about the Christmas Campaign. Apparently this person is not one who deals with the Campaign and has no idea about what goes on. I have been involved in the Campaign the past three years and I feel the people who complain need to see what happens and see the selection process. We do not give to the same people every year. It is a very, very delicate situation. We want to see smiles on faces and food in the hungry bellies of some of the children around here. They should get involved in it and they would see what kind of campaign we do put off for the city and what a good benefit it is. If they have any doubt about it, they should get involved themselves. Then they would know.

I am so sick of Section 8 housing. We give these people a house to live in, give them food stamps to eat on and pay them to have babies. What else do they need? I am so sick of paying out for them to sit on the street and cause trouble. It's time to get them off the streets.

Mike Marshall, you are doing a great job as mayor of Sikeston. I've lived around here for a long time. You mentioned the airport. That has been a sore spot with me since World War II. After the war, Sikeston just went on dribbling along, didn't appoint a committee to work on that airport or make plans to enlarge it or get a control tower. All that stuff should be taken care of. You need to come up with a long-range plan and get another runway (at least 5,000 feet; you need two of them at that airport). You need some concrete leaves to branch out to the runways. The grass needs to be maintained so people don't have to wade in grass knee-high on the Fourth of July. The airport has a lot to be taken care of and I hope you will tackle that. Make that a top priority. Quit letting them crowd in there every time somebody comes in with a new idea for recreation and make the airport more crowded. That's no good and needs to be stopped. Let them build recreation stuff somewhere else from now on. Let the airport get expanded and have a good airport in 10 years or less.

Agree with view

Mike, I just read your editorial about the "F-word" and I totally agree. We need to do something and I would appreciate it if you would put an address to the FCC or somewhere to write. Everybody needs to get involved and send out letters. I don't want my 2-year-old and 7-year-old hearing that on TV. It's bad enough when it's heard on other places, let alone when they're watching a program.

You can contact the Federal Communications Commission in a variety of ways: Write to the FCC at: Federal Communications Commission, 445 12th Street SW, Washington, DC 20554; call toll-free for information at (888) 225-5322, Voice: (888) 835-5322; for the hearing-impaired, call (202) 418-2555; fax: (202) 418-0710; or e-mail general information, inquiries and complaints: fccinfo@fcc.gov

I am a regular customer at a little coffee shop in East Prairie. I go in there every Saturday and Sunday morning and see two young kids working as hard as they can. They have a thing called "Employee of the Week" or "Employee of the Month," but you never see these kids on there and they bust their butts. But no, they let the kids who work a few weeks or a month be honored and you never see these two kids on there. These two work hard and need to be recognized. I don't think it's fair and they should do something. They work so hard and don't get recognized for diddly-squat. I'm not a mother or father of these kids. I'm a customer.

Call the restaurant and speak with the manager or owner. Most businesses value their customers' opinions and advice.