Yellow ribbons to go up in Jackson

With the prodding of a Jackson seventh-grader, the Jackson Board of Aldermen Monday night unanimously voted to show support for U.S. troops serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Columbia Sternickle was looking for support for her Operation Yellow Ribbon undertaking, a class project that would include tying yellow ribbons around utility poles from Highway 25 all the way to Auffenberg Autopark in Cape Girardeau, at 611 S. Kingshighway.

Not only did she get support in the form of permission to place the yellow ribbons on the public utility poles in Jackson, she got her project funded with a $200 donation.

"I was very much surprised by that," she said.

Operation Yellow Ribbon will take place on April 19, the one-month anniversary of the start of the war. Volunteers -- Sternickle is hoping for at least 30 -- can gather at the Cape Girardeau County courthouse in Jackson.

Sternickle said Operation Yellow Ribbon will serve as an assignment for her community service class, taught by Donna Brown.

"A lot of people at school are worrying about the war," she said. "We thought this would be a way to put our worrying to a good cause and show that teens in Jackson and across America do care."

Sternickle, who attended the meeting with classmate Morgan Stout, estimated that four to six 500-yard spools of yellow ribbon would be needed to decorate the poles along U.S. 61. At $30 per spool, that's quite a bit of money to raise in less than two weeks. The board took care of that in one swoop, authorizing up to $200 for the purchase of the ribbons.

Jackson Mayor Paul Sander, who made the $200 motion, said allowing the ribbons to be placed on the poles is against normal protocol.

"But this is an unusual situation," Sander said. "This wasn't for a service club or for a church. This is for the whole country."

Sander said the action should not be taken necessarily as support for the war or political views.

Sternickle has a special interest in the war. Her godmother's husband, Larry Holcomb, is a civilian helicopter mechanic serving in Iraq.

bmiller@semissourian

243-6635