BEKKI COOK ADDS TO PRIDE OF CAPE GIRARDEAU

Cape Girardeau Countians will swell with pride next week as we watch one of our own, Secretary of State Bekki Cook, take the oath of office for her post shortly before noon on Monday. Cook, a Jackson native who graduated from Jackson High School and a Democrat, was appointed to fill a vacancy in the post in December 1994 and has served since. She is the first Cape Girardeau County resident to serve in one of the six constitutional offices of state government in 100 years.

This newspaper has had occasion to disagree, on principle, with certain decisions taken or not taken during Cook's tenure in office. None of this detracts from the pride we share with our fellow Cape Countians in seeing a neighbor sworn into this important statewide office. In November, following a vigorous campaign, the voters returned her to a full, four-year term in her own right.

We join her family and many friends and supporters in wishing her well on her big inauguration day and in the ensuing four years of her term. There is plenty of important work to be done, and we have every expectation that Bekki Cook will apply herself diligently to the tasks at hand.