Tickets for Oliver North speech go on sale Friday

Tickets for Col. Oliver North's upcoming speech at the Show Me Center will go on sale Friday, organizers said Tuesday morning.

Scheduled for 7 p.m. May 1, the speech will focus on balancing the professional demands of a career with family obligations, faith and civic responsibilities. A decorated Marine, North is a best-selling author, columnist and host of "War Stories" on Fox News Channel.

Ticket prices are $35 for reserved seats, $25 for general admission, $10 general admission for those 18 years of age and younger and free to Southeast Missouri State University students with a valid student ID.

A limited number of VIP tickets also will be available. Those seats include tickets in the front rows and a meet-and-greet with North an hour before the event.

Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday and will be available at the Show Me Center box office, all Ticketmaster outlets and the Ticketmaster website. VIP tickets may only be purchased at the Show Me Center box office.

Proceeds from the event will benefit the Stars and Stripes Museum/Library in Bloomfield, Mo., and the local detachment of the Marine Corps League in Cape Girardeau.

Dr. Philip Tippen, a museum board member, said the event could be the largest fundraiser ever for the museum since it opened in 1991.

"We hope by bringing in a well-known national speaker it will draw attention to our museum while raising some money for us in a time when museums throughout the country are struggling financially," said Tippen, who also is an internal medicine physician in Cape Girardeau.

In the 1980s North testified during congressional hearings on the Iran-Contra Affair, in which the United States sold weapons to Iran to fund the Contra guerrillas in Nicaragua. Convictions against North were later vacated.

Today, North serves on the National Rifle Association's board of directors. He also is the founder of Freedom Alliance, a foundation that provides college scholarships for children of military men and women who are killed in action.

bblackwell@semissourian.com

243-8600

Pertinent addresses:

1333 N. Sprigg St., Cape Girardeau, MO

17377 Stars and Stripes Way, Bloomfield, MO