OLYMPIC TORCH RUN WILL COME TO CAPE GIRARDEAU WEDNESDAY

Sixty Cape Girardeau runners Wednesday will help carry the Olympic torch closer to St. Louis and the Olympic Festival in July.

The runners will each carry the torch a portion of a 12-mile route through Cape Girardeau.

The torch route begins and ends at the Court House Park. The first runner is Tim Stoud. All the runners will run the final leg of the route along with the last runner, Carol Keeler.

From the courthouse park, the route goes out Independence to Mt. Auburn to Lexington to Perryville to Bertling to Sprigg to Normal to West End Blvd to Parkview through Capaha Park to Perry Ave. to Broadway to Main Street through the downtown parking lot and around the pavilion back to Main Street to Independence to Spanish back to the courthouse steps.

Linda Minner with the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce said chamber officials would like businesses and residents along the route to display an American flag on Wednesday.

A picnic for the runners and Olympic officials is planned at the end of the run.

Cape Girardeau is one of 60 cities in Missouri and Southern Illinois where the torch will be run, said Minner. It started in Kansas City on May 25 and is coming to Cape Girardeau from Sikeston. From Cape Girardeau, the torch will be taken to Carbondale by caravan for a run there. The flame was captured on Pikes Peak on May 21. It is transported between cities in a miner's lamp.

The route in Missouri and Southern Illinois cities is 2,000 miles long and will take 38 days to complete.

Minner said the St. Louis ABC television station is doing nightly torch updates and Cape Girardeau will be featured on that station.

The torch will arrive in St. Louis July 1 for opening ceremonies of the festival on the St. Louis riverfront.

Runners include: Vivian Selby, Cathi Schlosser, Rozan Bonsignore, Jay Wolz, John Selby, Dan Berry, Dr. C. John Ritter, Dr. Charles Pancoast, Gerald Nicholson, Steve Engels, Bob Steinberg, Bryan Uptain, Joe Fraley, David Kunz, Ben Lewis, Jack Mehner, Sen. Peter Kinder, Melvin Gateley, Kyle McDonald, John Grimm, Larry Shafer, Jeff Dix, Keith Russell, August Smirl, Judge William L. Syler, Lori Crites, Sarah Holt, Vernetta Ford, Katie Kunz, Loren Groves, Bryan Kelpe, Bernie Gaydos, Bill Zellmer, Alex Schneider, Rebecca Komorech, Paul David Stuart, Seth Johnson, Kyle Chasteen, Matthew Komorech, Chris Komorech, Tye DeCramer, Spring DeCramer, James Burke, Bret Whitaker, Elizabeth Johnson, Brady Nielson, Brandon Nielson, Phillip Crites, Lisa Daugherty, Mike Richey, Charles Richey, Betsy Richey, Jenny Schlosser, Samuel Fletcher, Carol Young, John Campbell, Joe Mayfield, and Dana Wright.