FIRST FRIDAY SPEAKER'S REMARKS PROMPT REACTION

Few speakers at a Cape Girardeau First Friday Coffee have generated as much comment as John "Woody" Cozad's address Aug. 5.

His speech, which dealt with affirmative action, has generated dozens of phone calls to the chamber office and prompted chamber President John Mehner to send two memos to coffee attendees.

Cozad said affirmative action is nothing more than discrimination.

"I'm not arguing with his content," Mehner said. But he said the chamber office has been flooded with complaints.

Mehner said criticism has ranged from specific differences of opinion with the speaker to questions about Mehner's vision of the mission of a chamber of commerce. He also heard comments in favor of the presentation.

Mehner sent the first memo Aug. 10 and then a follow-up memo Aug. 12. Mehner said the memos were designed to explain that he hadn't been fully aware of the topic and content of Cozad's presentation. Had he known, Mehner said, he would have promoted the event differently.

After the first memo, Mehner received a new barrage of questions about the purpose of the memo and the original presentation. The second memo was an attempt to clarify.

Mehner said in booking Cozad he had been assured the presentation wouldn't be divisive or alienate any chamber members. However, Mehner said, several people were uncomfortable with the speech.

"I think this caught some people off guard," Mehner said. First Friday Coffee presentations typically are informational and rarely controversial.