YELL VOLUNTEERS READY TO TAKE THE STREETS TUESDAY; SPECIAL NEW PAPERS WILL INCLUDE PRIZES AND COMIC BOOKS

A recent survey found that nearly half of American adults can't perform tasks any more difficult than filling out a bank deposit slip or locating an intersection on a street map.

To help combat such shocking literacy statistics locally, vendors will hit the streets of Cape Girardeau, Scott City and Jackson early Tuesday to sell YELL Youth, Education, Literacy and Learning editions of the Southeast Missourian newspaper.

Money raised through the sale of the $2 special edition will be divided equally between the Southeast Missourian Newspaper in Education (NIE) program, which serves five counties, and special literacy grants administered by the United Way.

Funds earmarked for the NIE program will be matched by the Southeast Missourian to promote learning and literacy in classrooms throughout Southeast Missouri, said Kim McDowell, NIE coordinator for the Missourian.

"This is our third year for the NIE program, and it continues to grow," McDowell said. "We've received such an enthusiastic response from not only the students but the teachers whose classrooms are opened up to the world through the newspaper."

McDowell said one of the most popular days for newspapers in the classroom is Tuesday, when the Mini Page insert appears. Beginning Tuesday, education features, information and columns will be presented in the "Learning" section of the Southeast Missourian.

"Teachers keep coming back and telling us that their students are learning so much by reading the paper in their classrooms," McDowell said. "And they don't even know they are learning because the newspaper is not the conventional textbook image of a learning device.

"The newspaper takes problems posed to the students in their textbooks and puts them into real-life situations," she continued. "It reinforces everything they are learning in class, while teaching them valuable living skills."

McDowell said NIE also promotes reading by children who are otherwise disinterested in learning.

"It might start with them reading the police report or the comics," she said. "But then, before you know it, they are reading other books and doing better in school."

Other monies raised through the sale of the YELL edition have been used for literacy projects at the Cape Girardeau Area Vocational-Technical School, the Reading is Fundamental program at the Cape Girardeau Public Library and to purchase books designed to enhance adult reading skills.

Ten thousand special editions of the Southeast Missourian and 1,800 editions of the Jackson Cashbook Journal will be sold at street corners Tuesday. Hundreds of volunteers will be out selling the papers beginning at 6:30 a.m. and ending when the copies run out or at 10 a.m.

A comic book will appear in every edition of YELL and a variety of instant prizes will be inserted randomly. Grand prize claim numbers also will be included in the newspaper.