OLD LORIMIER FENCING EFFORT DESERVES SUPPORT

An upcoming telethon designed to raise money for installation of a security fence around the city of Cape Girardeau's historic Old Lorimier Cemetery is an excellent example of people taking matters into their own hands in an effort to preserve an important piece of community history.

Sunday's telethon is being put together by the Historic Preservation Commission and the Historical Association of Greater Cape Girardeau. TCI Cablevision of Missouri Inc. will sponsor the telethon, which airs on channel 13, the local cable-access channel, beginning at 6 p.m.

The sponsors hope to raise a total of $30,000 for the fencing project. A fund-raising drive through the mail produced about $9,000 toward that goal. Hopefully the telethon will produce considerably more for this worthwhile project.

It is vital that the 186-year-old cemetery on North Fountain Street be preserved. The city's founder, Louis Lorimier, is buried there as are many of Cape Girardeau's earliest settlers and leaders.

The historic-preservation groups say the fencing project is just the beginning of their efforts; with help from the city and possibly some federal grants, they hope eventually to completely restore the many damaged and weathered headstones and identify the possibly thousands of unmarked graves.

Surrounding the cemetery with chain-link fence is an excellent starting point since the cemetery repeatedly has been the target of vandals. A fence should serve as a deterrent to vandals who have taken their toll on the cemetery over the years by overturning and breaking hundreds of headstones.

Late in 1989, after a renewed outbreak of vandal~ism at the cemetery, the city tried to do something to deter offenders by enacting a curfew barring people from city cemeteries between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. To coincide with the curfew, city police beefed up patrols through Old Lorimier. Both measures appear to have helped, but a fence would provide the best protection so that the restoration effort can be undertaken.

The city is not providing financing for the fencing project, so the only way it can be carried out is through private donations. Seeing the need for its preservation, the historic-preservation groups embarked upon their campaign to raise needed funding to protect Old Lorimier, and they are to be commended for their aggressive undertaking.

The fund-raising effort will only be successful through the generosity of the community.