TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE FOR PRAYER BREAKFAST

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Tickets can still be obtained for the Fourth Annual Mayor's Prayer Breakfast Friday at the Show Me Center.

The featured speaker will be former U.S. Sen. Bill Armstrong of Colorado, who served 12 years in the Senate and six years in the U.S. House of Representatives. Armstrong left national politics in January after announcing last year that he would not seek another Senate term.

Breakfast Chairman Dr. Bill Terry said Monday that 800 people are expected to attend the breakfast. The response for tickets has been overwhelming, Terry said, but a few tickets are still available if people order them right away.

Tickets are available by calling Terry at 334-4635, or Don Rasche at 335-3757 during the day or 335-6962 during the evening. Each ticket costs $8.75.

The breakfast will be held from 7:30 to 8:45 a.m. Because of the large crowd, Terry suggested that people show up by 7 a.m. so they can have a leisurely breakfast and visit with friends before the program.

Armstrong's announcement last year that he would not seek another Senate term stunned both national and Colorado political observers, says a letter on the prayer breakfast from Cape Girardeau Mayor Francis "Gene" Rhodes. The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the letter says, called Armstrong's decision "an enormous loss for Colorado and all Americans."

Said Terry: "Bill Armstrong is being pushed for president in 1992 by quite a number of people around the country. He's got a real handle on what's going on in Washington (D.C.). In fact, he still lives (in the area)."

Armstrong has established a reputation as a principled, serious-minded, issue-oriented legislator who is willing to wage full-scale battles for causes he believes are important to the nation, Rhodes' letter says.

The Washingtonian magazine gave Armstrong "the gutsiest member of the Senate" award for his "willingness to fight federal spending abuses," it says. And Armstrong has been a regular winner of the National Tax Payers Union's "Taxpayer's Friend" and "Guardian of Small Business" awards.

He has an active interest in business and is president of television station KPVI in Idaho. Armstrong is also former president of the Colorado Springs Sun newspaper and Denver-based radio station KEZW. Rhodes' letter said Armstrong's combination of political and professional business experience makes him a much sought-after speaker.

Formerly serving as speakers at the prayer breakfast were Adolph Coors IV (1988), past soccer star Kyle Rote Jr. (1989), and Los Angeles, Calif. Police Chief Bob Vernon (1990).

The breakfast is sponsored by the Christian Business Men's Committee of Cape Girardeau.