CAPE PLANS TO PITCH NATIVE SON LIMBAUGH

Cape Girardeau's Convention and Visitors Bureau plans to cash in on the fame of native son Rush Limbaugh III.

Beginning early next year, excursion buses will travel by some of the locations of Limbaugh's youth. Tourists will pass by Southeast Missouri Hospital where Limbaugh was born, his boyhood house at 412 Sunset, the local barbershop on Broadway near Houck Stadium where he shined shoes, and radio station KGMO, where the conservative broadcaster and author got his start.

Plans also call for putting up two billboards advertising Cape as Limbaugh's hometown. Both would be erected along Interstate 55, one at the north end and the other at the south end of the city.

The CVB will use $18,400 in state and local tourism dollars to cash in on Limbaugh's fame. Half of the money will come from local motel and restaurant tax money, and the other half from a new state tourism fund.

Cape Girardeau and dozens of other cities are tapping into the $1 million fund to advertise what makes each unique.

Money comes from sales taxes at places that benefit from tourism, such as hotels, restaurants and gift shops.

Two billboards would cost an estimated $12,000 a year, said Bob Hoppmann, chairman of the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) Advisory Board.

The remaining money would be used for brochures, radio spots, print media advertising and mailings to promote Cape Girardeau.

"We are utilizing Rush's fame to get people to come to Cape Girardeau," CVB Director Mary Miller said.

She added that the tours will promote the city and not Limbaugh himself. The city tour will include sites other than those associated with Limbaugh.

The Limbaugh family is a little amazed by the tourism effort. "It's awfully nice, but I don't know who'd care," said Millie Limbaugh, the talk show host's mother and a Cape Girardeau resident.

Missouri Supreme Court Judge Stephen Limbaugh Jr., a cousin of the celebrity, was surprised by the tourism promotion.

"Good grief," he said with a laugh. "I'm surprised and amazed by his notoriety. I think everyone in the family would say the same thing."

David Limbaugh, the broadcaster's younger brother and his lawyer, said he authorized the promotion but isn't pushing it.

"I don't think it is appropriate for a family to be promoting itself," he said.

Hoppmann said, "The board has often talked about the untapped value of promoting Rush Limbaugh in town."

He said the CVB receives numerous requests for Limbaugh merchandise. The bureau has a whole packet of information and souvenir on the colorful commentator, including stickers and paper fans.

"We're giving into the market demand," Hoppmann said. "Why would we not want to come up with something that is being asked for? The guy is not a Hitler or somebody horrendous."

Cape Girardeau doesn't have a Six Flags amusement park to draw visitors. Capitalizing on its Limbaugh ties, however, should help, Hoppmann said.

But he noted that funding of the promotion amounts to only a tiny fraction of the bureau's $320,000 budget.

The Associated Press provided some information for this story.