SpeakOut 5/5

Call 471-6636

It is getting ridiculous how everything is closing. Pretty soon, Sikeston is going to be deserted. I thought Sikeston was supposed to be a good place to live. People are not going to want to move into a town where nothing is open anymore. Who is going to want to pay more money to build new buildings, when there are already buildings here standing empty.

I am calling about the death of Sherman Baker. There were four people in the house. I really want to know something. I haven't seen any police reports or anything, but I want to know how he was stabbed. Was it through the ribs, in between or did it damage a rib or something like that? This girl who did it is very small, doesn't even weigh 100 pounds. The victim weighed 170 or 180 pounds. And he let her stab him? Another thing, there were two other people in the house. Why didn't they break it up before it went that far? This so-called witness (who the police say was a neighbor), what happened to the other two in the house? The witness said she saw them wrestling where he was trying to get the knife from her. But the other two people who were in the house, why didn't they try to break it up too?

Law enforcement officials are the only ones qualified to learn the facts of this case. SpeakOut can't answer your questions.

This is to the young man who helped me Saturday morning at Fas Gas. My daughter fell and you were quick to come to help me. I do appreciate you so much. I wish I knew your name so I could thank you personally.

I am the single parent of two children and have no car and no phone. My 7-year-old first grader at Matthews Elementary School, an honor student who has never been in trouble, has been put in detention because she missed four days and a half-day because she was sick. These were unexcused absences because I have no phone and had no way to call the school. This had made her outlook on school totally different. I think this is unfair for her.

Last week I saw a row of trees that were just mutilated to make room for high line wires. Several years ago, a friend and I and our Cub Scouts planted a tree on the school yard in Matthews. It was probably the prettiest-shaped tree in Matthews. Today, within a few minutes, that beautiful tree was cut down and fed into a chipper. We should burying those wires and saving those trees. Progress? Well, sometimes it hurts.

I am calling about a police officer in New Madrid County. He jumped on my nephew and beat him up at the carnival in New Madrid. Something needs to be done about this police brutality. He needs to be fired and lose his badge.

We cannot name the officer in SpeakOut. You should call the New Madrid Police/Sheriff's Department at (573) 748-2167 and file a complaint.