Volunteers to receive Circuit Breaker training

The Southeast Missouri Area on Aging, in conjunction with the Missouri Department of Revenue, will conduct training for volunteers who help fill out senior citizen tax credit forms for the Circuit Breaker program.

The program offers eligible individuals a rebate for property tax or rent paid. Eligibility includes having income less than $25,000, being 65 or older or 100 percent disabled, and being a resident of Missouri for the entire filing year.

Refunds offered by the program average about $250.

A training workshop for volunteers will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at First Christian Church, 2411 Abbey Road in Cape Girardeau. A second workshop will be held at 10 a.m. Jan. 19 at Twin Towers, 506 F Hazel Street, Poplar Bluff, Mo.

Additional information is available by calling Ruth Dockins at the Southeast Missouri Area on Aging, 335-3331 or (800) 392-8771.

Starting late this month, volunteers will be at various sites including senior citizen centers to help seniors.

The volunteers provide free assistance to taxpayers who cannot afford professional tax help, particularly those who file basic tax returns. Volunteers assist those with special needs, including people with disabilities, non-English speaking people and older taxpayers.

Book discussion Jan. 24 at library

"The Road from Coorain," which tells the story of Jill Ker Conway's childhood and youth in Australia, will be discussed during the Book Discussion Group meeting Jan. 24 at the Cape Girardeau Public Library.

Paula Gresham-Bequette, reference coordinator at the library, will lead the 7 p.m. discussion.

The book is an autobiography, a story of Conway's youth in mid-century Australia. The author recounts the successive phases of her early life: childhood on a remote sheep station, her teen-age years in suburban Sydney, her education at the University of Sydney, her decision to become a historian and to leave Australia for the United States, and her search for her own identity.

Car club to discuss clubhouse, swap meet

A new clubhouse and upcoming swap meet are among items to be discussed at the Capaha Antique Car Club meeting at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 22 at Delmonico's Restaurant in Jackson.

A goal of the club is to purchase a building to serve as a small, antique-car museum and meeting place, said Dave Jackson of Cape Girardeau, president of the club.

The club has established a building committee to pursue its goals and has a site in mind. Committee members include Jackson, Dave McLain, Charlie Herbst, Ora Masters and Bill Dunning.

The club has about 75 members in parts of four states: Southeast Missouri, southwest Illinois, northwest Tennessee and northeast Arkansas. It has been a gathering point for antique car enthusiasts since 1963.

Dunning, of Fruitland, Mo., is vice president of the car club. Ken Chapman of Fredericktown, Mo., is treasurer and Steve Chapman of Fredericktown is secretary.

Judge to speak at Executive Club

Judge Terry Bullock, chief judge of the Kansas District Court and chairman of a planning commission on the future of the legal profession, will be guest speaker during the Executive Club dinner meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at Drury Lodge.

Bullock, who has served by special appointments as appellate judge for the Kansas Court of Appeals and the Kansas Supreme Court, has a degree form Kansas State, and his juris doctor degree is from Kansas University. His topic will be "Stop the Crime -- Save the Children."

The Executive Club meets six times a year. Reservations are available by contacting Judith Anne Lang, 334-9509, club secretary. People interested in joining should contact Lang.

Financial aid topic of Thursday seminar

Harold Deuser, director of St. Louis University Scholarship/Financial Aid, will be guest speaker at a financial aid workshop at Cape Central High School at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

Deuser will discuss a range of options available for student financing in college. The workshop is sponsored by Central High School guidance office.

Parents are invited to the seminar, to be held in Room 54 at the school.

Additional information is available by contacting the guidance office, 334-1111.

Missouri Parents Act rep program speaker

Pam Walls, regional coordinator of Missouri Parents Act, will be guest speaker on "Independently Speaking," which will air on WDKA-TV, channel 17, and cable access channel 5.

Walls will discuss educational services and rights offered to parents who have children with disabilities.

The program will air at 5:30 p.m. Sunday on WKDA and at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 15 and 29 on channel 5.

"Independently Speaking" focuses on services for the handicapped and seeks to educate the public. The program is produced by the Southeast Missouri State University student chapter of the Media Communications Association.

--From staff reports