FESTIVITIES WILL MARK ARRIVAL OF OLYMPIC FLAME IN CAPE GIRARDEAU

It will take a 19-car train and about 40 people to transport the Olympic flame through Cape Girardeau County when it arrives in 10 days.

The Olympic flame from Greece gets here on Memorial Day and will be greeted with a family picnic and presentation at the steps of the Common Pleas Courthouse. It should arrive via a specially-constructed train from Memphis at 1:42 p.m., according to Union Pacific Railroad schedules.

The railroad built a cauldron car to carry the flame on it 3,500-mile rail journey. The special design protects the flame from wind and rain. Another 18 cars are used as rolling offices for members of the Atlanta Committee on Games and the railroad.

Once it arrives in Cape Girardeau, the flame will stop for about 15 minutes downtown for a presentation titled, "Honoring Community Heroes: Past, Present and Future." Former Olympian Ginny Fuldner of Monnett will lead the ceremonies.

Cape Girardeau is one of about 160 stops along the Olympic torch route, said Nancy Jernigan, executive director of the Area Wide United Way.

Planning a torch reception and ceremony was one of the first projects for Jernigan, who started work in January when Dorothy Klein retired as United Way director.

"It was different to plan a community event when I had only lived in the community for a month," Jernigan said, explaining the work has been part of a team effort.

To help promote the torch festivities, United Way volunteers are "blitzing" areas of the city this weekend with flyers and posters announcing the events. "We're trying to hit the high-traffic areas," Jernigan said.

Part of the blitz is to find enough people to line the 12-mile route from downtown Cape Girardeau to Jackson and Fruitland.

"But we have not gotten so specific in terms of assigning people to be somewhere," Jernigan said. "We know there are areas where people will naturally go."

Family members of the 40 torch-runners are expected to line parts of the route, but civic groups and churches also are invited. About 30 "community heroes" from the Paducah, Ky., area will come to Cape Girardeau to see the torch. The heroes were chosen through an essay contest sponsored by WPSD-TV.

"We'd like to see people spread out rather than clustered in the middle of town," said Darlene Bonney, a volunteer who is coordinating the route lineup. "It doesn't matter where you go along the highway; we just want people to find a place to go."

Some business groups have chosen designated spots like the intersection of Lexington and Kingshighway or at Broadway and Kingshighway, she said. Others are planning parties for employees or neighbors during the day.

None of the runners know yet which portion of the route they will travel, so their families are still waiting to find a perfect location.

Each person will carry the torch for one kilometer or about six-tenths of a mile. "I'm ready to go," said Charlie Herbst, a Cape Girardeau police officer who was nominated a torchbearer.

When runners get to Jackson, the torch will be handed off to cyclists who will then carry it up Highway 61 to Fruitland and Perry County, Bonney said. The torch will probably travel slow enough for people to drive up the interstate and then back along the highway to see the cyclists, she said.

After leaving Southeast Missouri, the torch will travel north before reaching the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games, which begin July 19 in Atlanta.