YELL TIME CAPSULE WILL BE BURIED TUESDAY EVENING

Cape Girardeau may not be able to put time in a bottle, but it can stick it inside a steel box.

What will be 50 years of local history will be buried this evening at 6 in Arena Park in a time capsule sponsored by the Youth Education Literacy Learning Foundation. It won't be opened again until the year 2050.

"We hope that within the 50-year period of the time capsule illiteracy will be wiped out in our community," said Kim McDowell of the Southeast Missourian and a board member of the YELL Foundation.

The foundation funds literacy programs in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City. Much of that funding comes from the sale of YELL newspaper editions, which were sold for $2 each on street corners today.

The time capsule will be buried next to the flag pole near the A.C. Brase Arena cornerstone during the SEMO District Fair.

The burial site for the time capsule was chosen to tie the ceremony together with the fair, said Dan Muser, Cape Girardeau parks superintendent.

"I tried to pick a spot in the park where I thought it was least likely to be disturbed over 50 years," Muser said.

Using a backhoe, a crew from the parks department dug a 42-inch-deep hole for the time capsule, which is a 2-foot-by-14-inch steel box. The box will be set inside a concrete culvert 24 inches in diameter on the inside and 36 inches in diameter on the outside, Muser said. A slab of concrete will cover it, he said.

Rose Concrete is proving the cement vaulting.

A copy of the YELL edition will be one of the items that will be entombed in the time capsule. This year's edition will include historic news pages like the German surrender in 1918, coverage of the Cape Girardeau tornado of 1949 and Mark McGwire's 70th home run in 1998; predictions from third-graders from the region's schools on what life will be like in the 21st century; family photos from readers; a historic timeline; millennium activities; information about the YELL Foundation; and a copy of today's Southeast Missourian.

Also going into the time capsule will be "City of Roses," a book on the history of Cape Girardeau; a book from Vision 2000; and items from Southeast Missouri State University and the cities of Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City.

At today's burial ceremony, entertainment will be by Robin Hosp, a popular singer from Jackson, and Liesl Schoenberger, a local high school student who has won competitions for both her violin and fiddle playing. Speakers will be high school student J.P. Limbaugh, known for his oratory skills, and the Rev. Walter J. Keisker, a longtime Lutheran pastor who turned 100 this year.

A marker from Ford and Sons Funeral Home will keep the burial site visible and remind those in the future when it will be time to open the capsule.

Items put in the capsule will be carefully prepared with preservation materials before being placed in the capsule to help ensure the materials will remain in good shape for the opening 50 years from now.

Once all the items are in the time capsule, the oxygen will be removed to help preserve the items even longer, McDowell said.