COOK TO BE SWORN IN AMONG FRIENDS

Missouri's inauguration ceremonies on Jan. 13 will have a Cape Girardeau County flavor.

Cape Girardean Bekki Cook will be sworn in as secretary of state shortly before noon on the steps of the state Capitol.

Cape Girardeau County Circuit Judge John Grimm will swear her in, and the Cape Girardeau Central High School Marching Tigers will march in the inaugural parade.

This will be the second inaugural parade for the high school band. The band marched at the 1993 state inauguration, at the invitation of State Auditor Margaret Kelly.

The 1997 inaugural parade begins at 10 a.m. Jan. 13 in Jefferson City and will be followed by the swearing-in ceremony. The inauguration will conclude that evening with a ball in the Capitol Rotunda.

Cook chose Grimm, a Cape Girardeau Democrat, to swear her in and invited the Marching Tigers to participate in the parade.

In November, Cook became the first Cape Girardeau countian to be elected to statewide office in 100 years.

The last was James Monroe Seibert, who served as state treasurer from 1885-1889 and as state auditor from 1889 to 1901.

Seibert was last elected to office in 1896.

Gov. Mel Carnahan appointed Cook as Missouri's 36th secretary of state two years ago. She replaced Judith Moriarty, who was impeached by the Missouri House and ousted by the Missouri Supreme Court.

Cook was sworn in on Dec. 16, 1994, by Missouri Supreme Court Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr., a Cape Girardeau County native.

She will be sworn in next month for her first full term. The Cape Girardeau Democrat will be sworn in along with four other Democrats who won re-election last month. They are Gov. Mel Carnahan, Lt. Gov. Roger Wilson, State Treasurer Bob Holden and Attorney General Jay Nixon.

Each officeholder chooses the judge he or she wants for the swearing-in ceremony.

The ceremony gets under way at 11:30 a.m. Jan. 13, with the swearing in of the treasurer, followed by the attorney general, secretary of state and lieutenant governor.

Following tradition, the governor will be sworn in last, around noon, according to Cook's communications director, Jim Grebing.

Cook has sent out about 1,000 invitations to the inauguration. Other officeholders have sent out a similar amount.

Grebing said he expects a sizable crowd of Cook's friends and relatives from Cape Girardeau County will be on hand for the inauguration.

Cape Girardeau lawyer Don Dickerson will attend the inauguration. This will be his fourth. He attended two inaugurations for then-Gov. Warren Hearnes of Charleston in the 1960s and the inauguration of Carnahan in 1993.

Dickerson is a good friend of the governor. He is on the governor's honorary inaugural committee, whose members include Carnahan's key supporters and fund raisers.

Dickerson said the swearing in of Cook will make the inauguration a special one for Cape Girardeau County residents who make the trip to Jefferson City.

Inaugurations are a time to celebrate, he said. "It is pomp and circumstance. There are a lot of fun things."

Dickerson said the Capitol steps are a nice setting for the swearing-in ceremony even though it is typically cold on inauguration day.

The governor will give a speech on the Capitol steps. "He won't speak long," said Grebing. No one wants to stand too long out in the cold.

The swearing-in ceremony will be far different for Cook this time than two years ago when only about 100 people were on hand to see her sworn in.

"This will be a much grander event," Grebing said.