HARDEE'S NAMES 25 `HOMETOWN HEROES'

Hardee's Restaurants will recognize 25 men and women from throughout the region next month.

Ceremonies recognizing Hardee's Hometown Heroes from Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky will be held in Cape Girardeau, said program chairman Gentry Trotter, but the date for those ceremonies has not yet been set.

The people being honored in such categories as animal welfare, arts and humanities, community service and helping children were all nominated "by their public peers, and to us that has so much more validity, so much more purpose to have the people in the individual communities let their communities know they have these hometown heroes," Trotter said.

The Hometown Heroes program began seven or eight years ago, he said, and now is in place in 125 cities across the United States. This is the second year the program has been in place in this region.

"It got started out of the need to recognize people in communities across the country who are unsung heroes," Trotter said.

The program aims to recognize men and women who "do unique things every day," he said. "They do them because they want to help their neighbors. They don't do them for recognition."

Jhan White, shelter administrator of the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri in Cape Girardeau, is the sole honoree in the animal welfare category.

Hometown Heroes in the community service category are William Beasley if Paducah, Ky., chairman of volunteers for the American Red Cross; Kay Blanchard of Cape Girardeau, volunteer coordinator for the American Red Cross in Cape Girardeau; Mary Nell Chew of Carbondale, Ill., volunteer on behalf of the handicapped and disadvantaged youth; Melvin Gateley of Cape Girardeau, who has helped plant and maintain more than 50 rose beds and 39,000 daffodil bulbs in Cape Girardeau for Vision 2000; Capt. Robert Gauthier of Cape Girardeau for overseeing many assistance programs for the Salvation Army, including a neighborhood youth program now in the works; Bonnie Gerecke of Cape Girardeau, acting executive director of the Safe House for Women, a shelter from domestic violence for women and their children; Donna Hanschen of Cape Girardeau, campaign president of the Cape Girardeau Area United Way.

Others are Paul McKnight of Herrin, Ill., a student leader at the John A. Logan campus who is currently working to obtain health insurance coverage for students, informing new students and volunteering for a crisis hotline; Odessa Meeks of Carbondale, an active volunteer for Carbondale's African-American community who has over the last 30 years overseen numerous activities for disadvantaged and at-risk youth; John Mehner, president and CEO of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, who has served business and community interests through a community-based economic development plan, proactive minority relations and civic contributions; and the Rev. Miles White of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Cape Girardeau, who started Habitat for Humanity in Cape Girardeau five years ago, and is one of the founders of the Cape Girardeau County Rotary Club.

In the educational contribution category, Tatiana "Toddie" Adams of Benton, Ky., was the force behind the construction of a "peace pole" at a Benton elementary school for a Girl Scout troop, and led Girl Scouts to collect food for the needy, pick up trash and promote world peace through positive attitudes. Dr. Randall Shaw of Southeast Missouri State University's Department of Industrial Technology helped students save time and money by working out agreements with 12 regional community colleges to allow for transfers of credit-hours to the university.

Mike Murphy of BFI Waste Systems in Cape Girardeau is being recognized in the environmental awareness category for helping several local organizations with recycling efforts, including helping the Otahki Girl Scout Council set up bins resulting in the collection of more than 32 tons of recyclable materials.

Randy Crowell of Murphysboro, Ill., is being recognized in the handicapped support category for offering, based on his own challenges, pastoral, peer counseling and social services to the physically challenged.

In the health-care category, Dr. Carolyn Green of Paducah, is being recognized for her role in establishing the St. Nicholas Family Free Clinic and her work as a board member and volunteer pediatrician at the clinic.