SIX BANKS DONATE $6,000 TO I-66 PROJECT

CAPE GIRARDEAU - In an unanimous show of support, Cape Girardeau banks Wednesday joined in a public statement of endorsement for the I-66 project. Together, all six Cape banks gave a total of $6,000 to the project.

Executives representing the six financial institutions gathered to congratulate the I-66 committee on securing federal funding of a $1.25 million feasibility study and to pledge their support for the next major project phase: the quest for congressional approval of a $20 million to $30 million engineering study of the proposed transcontinental super highway.

Bob Hafford, plant financial manager at Procter and Gamble and a founding member of the I-66 Steering Committee, received the bankers' check on behalf of the committee. The six institutions involved are: the AmeriFirst, Boatmen's National, Capital, First Exchange, Mercantile and Southeast Missouri Banks of Cape Girardeau.

"As representatives of the business community, we encourage the community at large to support this endeavor," the banks' joint statement said. "We feel sure that it was the strong evidence of grassroots support all along the proposed I-66 route that was decisive in gaining congressional approval of this farsighted proposal.

"Such support indicates that the hundreds of communities who will be the primary beneficiaries of this highway of the future are willing to assist at every stage of its development."

Walt Wildman, RCGA executive director and associate director of I-66, expressed his gratitude to the bank officials for their prompt response to a recent I-66 presentation soliciting their collective support.

"We have the federal funding for the feasibility study, but the legislation requires matching funds from the 12 states along the route," said Wildman. "Our Cape Girardeau banks are pledging not only financial contributions but their active and vocal support as we continue the informational effort across the country."

Wildman added, "We won't get the funding for the major engineering study without a continuing, energetic lobbying effort in Washington. Again, the need is for strong evidence of grassroots support -- and grassroots financial contributions to meet the substantial expenses that a competitive lobbying effort requires."

Congressional authorization of the feasibility study was announced last November. Still pending is the announcement of a "lead state" to launch the study, and Missouri is among the states under consideration for this role.

I-66 supporters hope that the project will be included in the 1992 Reauthorization Act, because such early action by the Congress would greatly accelerate the overall timetable for the realization of the East Coast to California six-lane highway, Wildman said.