EMERSON WILL SPEAK AT LINCOLN DAY DINNER

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, elected last fall to succeed her late husband, Bill Emerson, in Congress; U.S. Rep. Jim Talent, dean of the Missouri Republican House delegation; and U.S. Sen. Christopher S. "Kit" Bond will be in Cape Girardeau this weekend.

Emerson, one of three first-term Republicans from Missouri, will be the keynote speaker at the annual Lincoln Day Dinner, to be held Saturday at the A.C. Brase Arena Building.

More than 600 people, including national, state and local officials, are expected to attend the annual dinner, sponsored by the Cape Girardeau County Republican Women's Club's and Cape County Republican Central Committee. The dinner starts at 6:30 p.m.

Other speakers during the dinner will include Bond and Talent. Missouri state legislators Sen. Peter Kinder and Reps. Mary Kasten and David Schwab also will be in attendance. Missouri State Auditor Margaret Kelly has been invited.

Emerson is expected to provide an update on congressional happenings.

She has been named to the House Committee on Agriculture and the Small Business Committee. She is also a member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructures.

Nancy Jedan, a member of the Republican Women's Club, is chairman of the Saturday event.

Bond will be in Missouri Friday. He will visit a number of hospitals to discuss his plan for birth defects research and prevention.

He will unveil his legislative package at hospital visits to Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City and University Hospital at Columbia Friday; Pemiscot Memorial Hospital at Hayti and Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau Saturday, and at St. Louis Children's Mercy Hospital Sunday.

Bond will tour the neo-natal units of each hospital.

Talent chairs the House Small Business Committee and has vowed to become a strong advocate for small business against burdensome federal regulations.

Talent won a rematch last November against the Democrat he ousted in 1992, making him senior among Missouri's four GOP House members.