`COSBY SHOW' ACTRESS VISITS HERE MAY 12; PULLIAM WILL KEYNOTE GRRADUATION FOR SMOKE-FREE CLASS OF 2000

Actress Keshia Knight Pulliam will keynote the Smoke-Free Class of 2000 graduation on Tuesday, May 12 in Cape Girardeau. About 1,000 fifth graders from throughout the county have been invited to attend.

Pulliam, who starred as Rudy Huxtable on NBC's award winning "Cosby Show" for eight years, serves as honorary president for the national Smoke-Free Class of 2000.

"We're very pleased to have the national spokesperson come to Cape Girardeau," said Lauchette Low with Vision 2000.

As national spokesperson, Pulliam has visited six states and talked to more than 15,000 kids about the importance of staying smoke-free. Following her Cape Girardeau visit, Pulliam will head to St. Louis for that city's Smoke-Free graduation.

St. Louis County Police Officer Tony Coleman will return to Cape Girardeau's this year's "graduation" ceremonies. He will lead the production of a rock 'n' roll musical comedy, which he wrote. The nine-member cast will be joined by Pulliam for the Cape Girardeau show. The musical includes 10 original songs.

The play features Dr. Smokenstein, an evil character who lures children into smoking by using top musical entertainers to advertise his cigarettes on TV. Throughout the play, the audience learns that most of the entertainers do not smoke themselves, but are only promoting cigarettes for money. They also learn more about this year's graduation theme "Smoking Doesn't Pay" through the antics of a young girl and her friend, Captain Smoke-Free.

The Smoke-Free Class of 2000 is sponsored locally by the Coalition on Smoking and Health, American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, St. Francis Medical Center and Vision 2000.

It is a 12-year education and awareness project that focuses on children who entered the first grade in 1988 and who will graduate in the year 2000.

Low explains that the primary goals of the program are to provide tobacco-use awareness materials designed especially for the class of 2000, increase students' awareness of their ability to choose a healthy lifestyle, and encourage the adoption of tobacco use prevention programs in the context of comprehensive school health education.

According to a 1989 Surgeon General's report, "most smokers start smoking as teen-agers and then become addicted." Today, almost 90 percent of smokers say they would like to quit, according to the national Smoke-Free Class of 2000 project.

Low says it's the goal of this program to help young people never start smoking through tobacco-use prevention activities in the elementary classrooms.

Pulliam has been in show business almost all of her life. For her work on the Cosby show, she received a 1986 Emmy Award nomination as best supporting actress. She received the 1987 People's Choice Award as Best Young Actress, and has earned several image awards from the NAACP. Other credits include a starring role in the remake of "Pollyanna" for the "Magical World of Disney," and NBC's "Connecticut Yankee in King Authur's Court," "The Little Match Girl," and "Back to School Next Saturday." She has also appeared on Sesame Street, and the feature film "The Last Dragon."

A native of Newark, N.J., Pulliam is an eighth grader at a private school.