TELETHON SET TO BENEFIT OLD LORIMIER CEMETERY

Telethons have become commonplace these days. But a March 22 telethon here will be anything but commonplace.

The Historic Preservation Commission and the Historical Association of Greater Cape Girardeau will host a telethon to raise money for the preservation of Old Lorimier Cemetery.

"This might be a first," Historic Preservation Commission member John Schneider said of the telethon. "It's an unusual kind of cause."

TCI Cablevision of Missouri Inc., which operates the local cable system, will sponsor the telethon. The telethon will be broadcast on channel 13, the local cable access channel, beginning at 6 p.m.

The telecast will originate from the cable TV office at 334 S. Christine in Cape Girardeau. Carol Keeler of radio station KZIM and John Twidwell of TCI will co-host the telethon.

Schneider said historic preservation officials will be on hand for the telethon. The broadcast will include information on the history of Old Lorimier Cemetery.

"We are going to try to do a little general history of Cape Girardeau because that is what the cemetery is," he said.

"It's just sort of a historical repository," added Schneider, noting that the city's founder, fur trader Louis Lorimier, is buried there, along with many of Cape Girardeau's early settlers and civic leaders.

The 186-year-old cemetery along North Fountain Street has been the target of repeated vandalism over the years; numerous headstones have been toppled and broken.

Through the efforts of the preservation commission and the city's Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, a committee has been set up to help preserve the historic cemetery.

Schneider said the goal of the telethon is to raise money for erection of a security fence to protect the cemetery from vandals.

A mail campaign has already raised about $9,000 for the project. "We need about $30,000," he said.

The fence at the front of the cemetery on Fountain Street would be ornamental, with chain-link fencing being used along the cemetery's perimeter.

"The security of the cemetery is the first phase of the total project of restoration and preservation of the cemetery," said Schneider. "There is so much work that needs to be done."

Damaged headstones need to be restored. "There are also a goodly number of unmarked graves in the cemetery," said Schneider, noting that they may number in the thousands.

Archaeologists may eventually be brought in to help locate unmarked graves, he said.

Schneider said that through the efforts of Terrell Weaver, the city's cemetery sexton, steps have already been taken to better preserve the cemetery. "The property has been resurveyed and a lot of that brush has been cleared."

But Schneider said the city alone cannot save the cemetery; public support is vital.

"City government is concerned with the many dynamic problems of the living and cannot provide the total financial support needed for the security of Old Lorimier Cemetery. The telethon is being presented to the people of Cape Girardeau, requesting assistance in the effort to secure and preserve this site."

Schneider said that it's important to educate the public about the value of the historic cemetery and preserving the community's heritage.

"It's such a beautiful, old place," he said.

"Old Lorimier Cemetery is a legacy for all the people of Cape Girardeau today and in the future," said Schneider. "It harbors our past, and needs community assistance to survive."

He said that perhaps the bronze plaque at the entrance to the cemetery says it best. "In this old city cemetery, gift of Don Louis Lorimier, lie pioneers, founders, builders and defenders of our country." The plaque refers to the cemetery, founded in 1806, as "Cape Girardeau's oldest shrine."