Bush to speak at Poplar Bluff park on Labor Day afternoon

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- President Bush will speak at Ray Clinton Park in downtown Poplar Bluff Monday, though the exact time is still unknown.

Officials with the Bush-Cheney campaign said Friday that the event will open to the public at 1 p.m. and close at 4 p.m. Bush will speak sometime after that.

Free tickets are available through county Republican headquarters in Cape Girardeau, Poplar Bluff, Mo., Farmington, Mo., or Sikeston, Mo.

The Scott County Republican headquarters in Sikeston gave out 1,200 tickets within two hours Friday. Barbara Webb, chairwoman of the Scott County Republican Committee, was expecting more tickets to arrive Friday night.

"I hope to get at least as many as the first time, because we already have that many signed up for them," Webb said.

Lori Stout, a volunteer for the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign at the Cape Girardeau County Republican headquarters, said her office still has some tickets but more have been printed and will arrive soon.

"The demand has been very positive and overwhelming," Stout said. "We've had a full location."

The Cape Girardeau office will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and from noon to 8 p.m. Sunday for those interested in obtaining tickets.

Credit for Bush's visit to the town of 16,651 people goes mainly to two of its residents, Hardy Billington and David Hahn. The two men put up signs and a billboard in June in support of Bush and U.S. troops fighting overseas. The signs also invited the president to visit Poplar Bluff.

Billington and Hahn also went door-to-door collecting 10,000 signatures on a petition supporting the president. U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson relayed the story to Bush-Cheney campaign officials. Emerson learned on Thursday that Bush planned to stop in Poplar Bluff on Labor Day.

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128