RESTAURANTS' PROFITS WILL BENEFIT LIBRARY

People who eat out at some Cape Girardeau restaurants during National Library Week next month will help feed the coffer of the Cape Girardeau Public Library.

The special promotion is called "Get Fed Up for the Library." Participating restaurants will give 10 percent of their sales from a certain day of the week to the library.

National Library Week runs from Sunday through April 11. This year's theme is "Your Right to Know; Librarians Make It Happen."

The restaurants participating in the program are Captain D's Seafood Restaurant, Applebee's, El Chico, New Orleans, Shoney's, and Broussard's Cajun Cuisine. On Sunday the promotion will start off with Captain D's, 1015 N. Kingshighway, and continue, respectively, until April 10 at Broussard's.

All the restaurants are owned by Cape Girardeau businessman Dennis Stockard.

Comment was unavailable from Stockard. A spokeswoman at DeJoy's Inc. in Cape Girardeau, where Stockard is listed as president, said he was out of town on vacation.

Library Assistant Director Bettye Black said the idea for the promotion was basically Stockard's. She said Stockard and library officials had talked about doing something for National Library Week when Stockard held a promotion for the library after Applebee's opened last fall.

"In these times of tight budgets it's certainly something we need," Black said of the program. "It's something that people can do over time and it gives everybody an opportunity to contribute a little bit."

Property taxes are all that support the library, said Black. The library's cut of those taxes, she said, is 14 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. That's the way it's been since 1985, Black said, when the tax was rolled back from 20 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

The library isn't about to close because of finances, Black said. But the library's Sunday hours, begun last October on an experimental basis, might be in jeopardy, she said. The Sunday hours, from noon to 4 p.m., will end April 26 and following a review may or may not be started again in October.

"If we get $100,000 out of this promotion, we certainly will (continue those hours)," she said. As for the amount of money the library expects from the promotion, Black declined to publicly say.

Black said she believes people will be receptive to the promotion and that library personnel are looking forward to it.

"The public library has a lot of supporters in this town; we've got a lot of library users. I think if any promotion is going to succeed, this one will. People like to eat."

"We'd like to see all those people who came in for tax forms go out and eat," Black said. The library makes available both federal and Missouri tax forms.

Along with the restaurant promotion, the library during the weeklong observance will also offer "The Great American Read-Aloud" and "Librarian for an Hour" programs.

The first program features adults reading to children from preschoolers to fourth-graders. KFVS TV-12 Anchorwoman Mary-Ann Maloney will participate. The program will be held at the library, 711 N. Clark, at 7 p.m. April 8.

In the second program, people from the community will work at the library for an hour or less on April 7, Black said.

"This is the second time we've done this program. The first time we did it it was successful. People liked it a lot," she said.

Workers will include library board members and other community leaders, Black said, such as Cape Girardeau Assistant City Manager Al Stoverink. Those taking part will work in all of the library's departments, she said.

Riverside Regional Library in Jackson will offer "Storytime" for children 3 to 6 years of age at 10 a.m. on April 7, said Director Elizabeth Link. Link said a staff librarian will read to the children for about 45 minutes.

The library, at 204 S. Union, will also give away special bookmarks during the week, she said. Other Riverside Regional Library locations, Link said, will either offer an open house, Storytime, or decorations to promote the week. Riverside Regional libraries are located in Cape Girardeau, Perry and Scott counties.

Link said the Missouri theme for National Library Week is "Solve What's Puzzling You."

Jackson Public Library Director Sally Pierce said the library has no special program for the week. However, she said the library, located in City Hall at 225 S. High, will feature displays and give away bookmarks. The library is also encouraging people to show their support for libraries by calling a 1-800 number.

The number, 1-800-530-8888, can be called by people to show national lawmakers that they use libraries and want them fully supported, said Pierce.