Yellow ribbon placed along 10-mile stretch

Judy Smith of Jackson, tied a ribbon on the pole at Old Cape Rd. and Highway 61 in Jackson; one of about 150 she and husband, Rodney, double-knotted as part of Operation Yellow Ribbon yesterday. The couple started at 7 a.m. and after completing the job done by 9 a.m. went back for another 50 ribbons.

By Chris Pagano ~ Southeast Missourian

The shock and awe of Operation Iraqi Freedom may be over, but hundreds of thousands of soldiers, sailors and airmen are still around Iraq. That was enough reason for two Jackson students and roughly 25 others to tie yellow ribbons along 10 miles of Kingshighway on Saturday.

Operation Yellow Ribbon began at 7 a.m. at the gazebo on the courthouse lawn in Jackson. Columbia Sternickle and Morgan Stout, Jackson Middle School students in Donna Brown's exploratory community service class, began the event with prayer and a ceremonial ribbon tying.

Donna Sternickle, Columbia's mother, said her daughter's hope for the effort was that "people in Jackson and Cape Girardeau will realize the importance of unity and combine their efforts for something this important."

The project evolved when Brown challenged her students to develop their own community service project.

Stout and Sternickle received permission from the cities of Cape Girardeau and Jackson to tie ribbons on telephone and light poles along U.S. 61 beginning at the Iron Mountain Railway depot in Jackson to Auffenberg Auto Park in Cape Girardeau.

A $200 donation from the Jackson Board of Aldermen combined with donations to purchase an additional three rolls, each 1,000 feet in length, provided 12 rolls of ribbon. Volunteer teams were divided into 24 units equipped with 100 sections of 8-foot-long crime scene tape. No words were printed on the tape. Instructions were given to double-knot the ribbons around poles, leaving ample streamers to noticeably blow in the breeze.

2,400 ribbons

Upon the project's completion, about 2,400 ribbons were displayed along well-traveled U.S. 61.

"We want to show that both communities support our soldiers, whether they support the war or not," Donna Sternickle said.Jackson police officer Steve Green stopped by during the event to make a donation and pick up some smaller ribbons to attach to police cars.

Marine Lance Cpl. Tyler Stearns, a 2000 Jackson High School graduate, was particularly in his mom and stepfather's thoughts as they climbed through tall grass along U.S. 61 between Shawnee Boulevard and the entrance ramp to Interstate 55 in Jackson. It was Stearns' 21st birthday Friday. "This has special meaning today. We've been communicating through e-mail and he knows what we're doing today," said his mother, Judy Smith. "He's encouraged to know people here care. It really means a lot to him."

Stearns, a Marine, is deployed overseas attached to an air wing on an aircraft carrier. He is scheduled to come home in June, his mother said.

When the troops come home, plans are being made for a synchronized clipping of the ribbons, made by servicemen and their families.

The Smiths completed their assigned area by 9 a.m. and went back to get another 50 ribbons to fill in areas that looked empty. "We even tied one on the train," Smith said.

cpagano@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133