Memorial Day weekend a time to honor fallen military members

The upcoming weekend will offer plenty of opportunities to recognize our country's military men who have given their lives. Several of those events, including Saturday's "Carry the Load" walk and more traditional ceremonies in Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Chaffee and elsewhere, can be found in our TGIF section in today's newspaper or on our online calendar, semoevents.com.

We have some special places and staples that are good places to visit and pay our respects, too. The Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield, Missouri, is one. The Avenue of Flags at Cape County Park North is another. There's a veterans wall in Jackson's Brookside Park as well.

Whether attending a ceremony or doing so in a more private way, we hope you find some time this weekend to pay respect to the memories of our servicemembers lost in military service to our country.

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As Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial kickoff of summer, we'd like to remind everyone that this is the weekend Cape Splash opens to the public. Other public pools will open as well.

It's also the weekend for the annual 100-mile yard sale along Highway 25. If you're not shopping for bargains, it's probably a good idea to avoid the highway if possible.

But whether garage sale shopping, camping, swimming or barbecuing this weekend, please be safe in celebrating Memorial Day and the start of summer.