SPEAKOUT

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I was wondering. At the Winter Olympics, are they going to have the ever-popular gang from Afghanistan goat-ball, where they take a dead goat and bat it around with a pole while riding on a horse? I can't wait to see that.

I live in Dexter and when I go to the store to get a paper, they're always out by 5 p.m. How can I be sure to get a paper when I need one?

The news racks in Dexter are dealer racks. The dealer for the Standard Democrat is Mike Williams of Dexter. He determines how many papers to put in the racks, according to what he can sell. It is, however, less expensive to subscribe to the Standard Democrat for $8.40 per month. Thanks for your question.

I was following a truck for five or 10 miles and was sure the driver was drunk. I finally got around him. I looked around and there he was. He wasn't drunk. He had his laptop on his steering wheel playing with it and was all over the road big-time.

I'm calling in regards to the Jan. 14 paper on the sports debate. I'm calling about the person who called rambling about the Sikeston-Charleston game and was curious at the part where it says that Sikeston just needs to accept the fact that it has been obvious for years now that Sikeston athletics are in a shambles. Hello? I'd like to know where this person was last year, when the Sikeston Varsity baseball team went all the way to state and took second. Our boys who are coming up this year, went to the World Series twice, back to back, also in baseball. And I don't think I've read anything in the newspaper about Charleston or New Madrid going that far a distance. I believe our football team also beat New Madrid. I don't believe Charleston could come anywhere near touching Sikeston, even if they were also a 3-A because there's no way this could possibly happen. If the person would like to call back in with another comment, that would be fine, because I could also call back with another comment. It's not right that someone else is mad about something that could have happened to one of their kids, or maybe their team is not as good as ours. They need to remember how Sikeston stands.

This is Jan. 15, Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday to be celebrated Jan. 21. President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, proclaimed it a national holiday on Jan. 26, 1986. I know a lot of Democrats will try to tell you that a lot of Republicans are prejudiced and racist, but it was a Republican who proclaimed his birthday a national holiday. From that time on, we've celebrated it as a national holiday and I plan on putting my flag out. I'm not a Democrat and never have been nor will I be one. I believe Martin Luther King Jr. did a lot for our country and although I don't agree with a lot of his political ideology, I believe he did a great job for not only African-Americans, but also for all Americans as well. We realize we're not just hyphenated Americans, but we're all Americans, whether we're black, white, American Indian, African-American or poor or rich or whatever - we're all Americans, no matter what party we are or what religion we are. Thank God for somebody who stood up for what is right.

Democrats would have you believe the government surplus was a Clinton accomplishment and that we'll have deficit spending now that Bush is President. Truth is, we had deficit spending while the Democrats had control of the House of Representatives in 1955 and 1995. After Republicans gained control of the House, deficit spending decreased under the Republican Contract With America. This resulted in the government surplus. Now some Democrats don't want us working Americans to get a tax cut. Guess they want tax and spend welfare program economics.