STODDARD GOP URGED TO ACTION

DEXTER, Mo. With just three weeks left in the first election campaign of the new millennium, Stoddard County Republicans received their marching orders at a weekend rally.

The Stoddard County Republican Central Committee sponsored a fish fry for party faithful at the Dexter High School cafeteria on Friday for more than 130 people.

Guest of honor for the event was U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson of Cape Girardeau. Emerson was home for a weekend of campaigning following an intensive week in Washington.

Emerson used the occasion to remind Republicans of their roots as a political party and to encourage the group to work in their neighborhoods to elect the local GOP ticket.

"I think the things that are important to us here in Southeast Missouri good, common sense values, love of family, love of faith and all those things that bind us together in this country are under threat now," she said.

Emerson discussed how partial-birth abortion and school prayer would be decided if a Republican president, Congress and state legislatures were elected.

"I'll tell you something," she said, "I've always said a prayer at a football game and I don't think there is a thing wrong with it. We start every single day that we are in session in Congress with a prayer."

Emerson thinks there are distinct differences between the two major political parties on issues like education.

"We believe that our teachers, our school board members, principals and our parents are a lot closer to our children and know what works for them and for our communities," she said. "You know here whether you need new computers, more teachers, more classrooms. Washington or Jefferson City shouldn't always dictate that."

Also at the fish fry were state Rep. Bill Foster, who is challenging Democrat state Sen. Jerry Howard for the 25th Senatorial District seat, and Dexter attorney Rob Mayer, who is in a hot contest with state Rep. Marilyn Williams for the 159th District House seat.

Also attending were Stoddard County candidates Bill Stroup, for sheriff; Kevin Pobst, for county treasurer-collector; Sonny Newsom, candidate for the county commission; and Carl Nueber, an independent candidate for county public administrator.

Representatives from the Jim Talent gubernatorial campaign and U.S. Sen. John Ashcroft's re-election campaign were also on hand.

Emerson likened the races of Foster and Mayer to her late husband's campaign in 1980. In the election of 1980, Bill Emerson, a virtual unknown outside of his native Jefferson County, challenged U.S. Rep. Bill Burleson in the old Missouri 10th District. Burleson had served in the U.S. House for 12 years. Emerson waged a hard, uphill battle in traditionally Democratic Southeast Missouri to unseat the incumbent. Emerson went on to hold the congressional seat until his death in 1996.

"They have worked hard, just like Bill Emerson did, and when nobody said we could win, he actually took down an incumbent," she said.