SPEAKOUT

Monday, September 10, 2001

Call 471-6636

Would somebody please tell me why the University of Missouri doesn't want to win football games? I have lived in Missouri for 30 years and Missouri has never wanted to win the Big 8 or Big 12 Conference. They have never gone out and hired a real good football coach. They hire these second-rate people and expect them to win the conference for them, which they're not going to do. Somebody explain this to me, will you? Please?

If ever there was a time you needed a brilliant man in the White House, it's now, to try and avert an all-out 20-year depression. The stock market is at an all-time low. More people, mostly white collar, are unemployed. More businesses are closed. It's no time for an average joe to be at the helm.

I'm a truck driver in this area and was stopped by law enforcement officers at a weigh scale. Could you find out whether they are certified officers? I've heard that they are not officers, but the carry a gun. Is that legal?

According to the Missouri Highway Patrol, these employees are commissioned officers for commercial vehicle enforcement only and have received training and are permitted to carry a gun.

I went to a local grocery store this morning where they were selling Miracle Whip two for $3. When I got home I looked at it and the product expired on Jan. 23, 2000. I wonder how many elderly people who can't see well have bought this Miracle Whip that expired a year and a half ago? Something really ought to be done. They should look at the expiration date before it goes on sale.

Is the new prison in Charleston a maximum security prison and how many inmates is it supposed to hold? Are they going to have an open house?

The Southeast Missouri Correctional Center in Charleston is a maximum security facility with housing for 1,596 male inmates of which 1,500 will be maximum security prisoners and 96 will be minimum security inmates. The perimeter of the 40-acre maximum security campus will be enclosed by a triple security fence. The center fence will be a lethal electrified fence. A community open house for the public is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sept. 22 and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 23.