QUAYLE TO VISIT SEMO PORT; FRIDAY'S APPEARANCE WILL INCLUDE A REPUBLICAN FUND-RAISER

Campaign staff, Secret Service agents, area law enforcement officers, and Republican Party leaders are spending today lining out final details for Friday's visit by Vice President Dan Quayle.

His itinerary was not worked out until late Wednesday afternoon, which has local officials and party leaders now working under the gun to finalize all the arrangements that go with a campaign visit by the vice president of the United States.

After addressing the Missouri Bar Association in Springfield, Mo., Friday, Quayle will fly to Cape Girardeau and arrive at the airport around 1:45 p.m. From there he will go to the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority near Scott City for a tour and remarks, and then will attend a "Victory 92" fund-raising reception at the Holiday Inn to raise money for the Missouri Republican Party.

At the port authority, aides said Quayle planned to focus his comments on foreign trade, agriculture, and the economy.

Allan Maki, executive director of the SEMO Port Authority, said he believes Quayle has chosen an ideal place to discuss those issues in Southeast Missouri because of the role the port plays in all those areas.

"I can only agree with the vice president's choice of the port as a place to make a speech," said Maki. "I can only agree with that because the port authority represents a bi-partisan regional effort to create jobs and to aid our economy."

Quayle's exact departure time was unclear Wednesday night, but campaign aides said he would be in the area no more than three hours.

Many details about Quayle's visit were still uncertain Wednesday night. His airport arrival will be open to the public and the vice president will spend some time greeting people; however, it is uncertain whether he will make any remarks.

At the port authority event, which will start around 2:30, Quayle is planning to speak. It was unclear who would be invited to the port to see Quayle, but there was some indication that the crowd would be limited.

Lloyd Smith, chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson, who is assisting with the visit, suggested that anyone interested in going to the port authority contact the Cape Girardeau County Republican headquarters today at 334-2554 for information.

After going to the port, Quayle will attend a private fund-raising reception before returning to the airport.

Quayle will be accompanied to Cape Girardeau by at least a dozen members of the national media who are traveling with him.

Maki is hoping that Quayle might use his visit to announce a long-awaited $1.2 million Economic Development Administration grant that would be used to match $800,000 in local funds for additional capital improvements at the port.

"We've had a federal grant pending for eight months," said Maki. "All regulating and permitting work has been done and it would be nice to have this to expedite our process, and in keeping with the very helpful partnership the port has had with the federal government."

Maki is optimistic about a possible announcement because today is the start of the new federal fiscal year, when the grants would be funded.

The grant application identifies 188 retained or created jobs at the port over the next five years and a capital investment of over $100 million. The grant would enable the port authority to develop new industrial sites, complete its railroad spur, and make other infrastructure improvements.

Of the $12.5 million in capital projects completed so far at the port authority, 58 percent of the money has come from the local level; 36 percent from the federal government; and 6 percent from the state. Most of the local money came from a four-year, quarter-cent sales tax approved by voters in Cape Girardeau and Scott counties in 1985.

"We are gratified that we have received local, regional and state recognition, and now national recognition for the job the people in the two counties have done," said Maki. "This demonstrates when people of good intent put their minds and dollars to work locally, that they can reap the benefits of those efforts."