YELL TIME CAPSULE PLANNED

YELL promotes literacy efforts throughout the region. But the new YELL Foundation wants to expand its reach into the next millennium.

The foundation voted late last week to sponsor a millennium YELL edition filled with family photographs and stories, predictions from children and businesses, and full-page reproductions of historic newspaper front pages.

In conjunction with the SEMO District Fair, these special YELL millennium publications and other items will be buried in a time capsule near the Arena Building during Fair Week. Plans are to open the capsule with a party in 2050.

"We have seen so much change to the Cape and Jackson areas, so many dramatic changes," said Karen Green, chairman of the YELL Foundation Board. "It's hard to imagine how much more change we will experience in the next 50 years.

"Isn't it interesting to wonder if there will be illiteracy in the next century? Maybe we won't need to YELL in 2050."

Green said the special publication promises to be a collector's item.

"Filled with stories about families and photographs, it should be a very exciting project," she said.

Linking the annual YELL effort with the SEMO District Fair makes sense because the two always occur the same week. The 1999 SEMO District Fair is scheduled Sept. 12 to 18. YELL Day is always Tuesday of Fair Week.

Fair board president Pete Poe said the board has discussed several possible millennium activities and thinks the YELL time capsule project would be a great way to involve fairgoers in the buildup to the millennium.

"The fair has been around 143 years. We're going strong into the next century," he said.

Dan Muser heads up the parks and recreation department for the city of Cape Girardeau. He recommended burying the capsule near the Arena Building cornerstone.

"The Arena Building has been around longer than anything else here," he said. "It would probably be the area least likely to be disturbed."

A ceremony at Arena Park will be held on YELL day, Sept. 14, so fairgoers can join in. The spot would be marked so future visitors can help count down to its unveiling.

Residents throughout the YELL region will be encouraged to submit their own end-of-the-millennium stories and family photographs to be featured in the section. Details and deadlines for the project will be announced by the Southeast Missourian in the near future.

Another millennium section will feature full-page reproductions of historic newspaper front pages dating back to the 1800s.

The project will also involve third-graders from Scott City, Jackson, Cape Girardeau and Chaffee. They'll be asked to write short essays about what they expect life to be like in 2050. Public and parochial schoolteachers will be contacted about the project in the coming weeks. These third-graders will then be invited back in 50 years when the time capsule will be opened.

Local business people will also be interviewed about their predictions for the next century.

These sections will be included in the YELL edition that will be sold on street corners in September. Thanks to a special Mark McGwire section, the 1998 YELL edition sold out quickly. Organizers are hoping the special millennium publications will make this year's YELL a similar success. And who knows, McGwire may be in the picture as well if he has another stunning season.

Although YELL has been a part of the region for eight years, the foundation is relatively new. Efforts to organize the foundation began last summer, and it obtained its tax deductible status late last year. Previously, YELL was coordinated by the Area Wide United Way and the Missourian.

Members of the new YELL Foundation include Green as chairwoman, Joe Sullivan as vice chairman, Nancy Jernigan as treasurer, Mark Kneer as secretary and board members Nancy Bray, Christal Adams, Julia Jorgensen, Donna Bedwell, Dennis Marchi, Val Tuschoff, Tina McDowell, the Rev. Sam Roethemeyer and Pat Zellmer.

Money raised through YELL supports the area Newspaper in Education program. Newspapers are delivered to area schools at no cost to teachers. Thousands of dollars are also distributed as grants for literacy projects.