Special events in Cape, Levin book

Several local events are set to take place within the next week. Here's a look at a few coming events of note:n Thursday, Feb. 23: The annual Old Town Cape dinner and awards banquet will be held at Dockside. Contact Old Town Cape for details. It will be a big year with Broadway street modifications, building remodeling and the targeted fall completion of the Isle of Capri Casino.

* Friday, Feb. 24: The ADDY -- advertising marketing club awards -- will take place at Ray's Plaza Conference Center. Social hour is at 5:30 p.m. with the dinner following at 6:30 p.m. It's always good to see who wins the highly competitive media awards, and it's always a good friend who wins the ADDY for his or her contribution to advertising and marketing in a three-state area.

* Friday, Feb. 24: Associated Industries Missouri President Ray McCarty will speak at a luncheon at the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce with updates on the Missouri Legislature. The cost for the lunch is $15 for members and $20 for nonmembers. To register, call 573-634-2246 or go to www.aimo.com.

* Wednesday-Sunday, Feb. 22-26: "The Pajama Game" continues at the River Campus, with the special Southeast Missouri University Foundation night scheduled for Friday. This is the big spring musical, a must-see show.

* Sunday, Feb. 26: The Oscars will be televised. It's hard to find a good movie lately that doesn't explode off the screen. I've got different tastes. I saw "Casablanca," "Joan of Arc" and "Song of Bernadette" on TV recently. Outstanding!

* Tuesday, Feb. 28: St. Petersburg Symphony at the River Campus.

* Wednesday, Feb. 29: There will be two key lectures at Southeast Missouri State University. The annual Michael Davis journalism lecture will feature Byron McCauley. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, starts at noon and will be held in the Rose Theatre in the Grauel Building. At 7:30 p.m. in the Show Me Center Kurt Warner will speak as part of the university's speakers series. Southeast faculty, staff and students with a valid university ID receive free admission. Others who wish to attend can purchase tickets for $10 at the Show Me Center box office.

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Here are a few recent events also worth noting:

I. Three Cape Girardeau County judges enlightened about 100 people attending a Pachyderm meeting last week. It was time well spent as Presiding Judge Ben Lewis and Associate Judges Gary Kamp and Scott Lipke explained the system, their philosophies and personalities in a question and answer format.

II. A good friend, David Ross, has retired from doing an outstanding job as Show Me Center director for 25 years. A pleasant, low-key individual who got the job done in dealing with the city, the university and the many events housed there -- not an easy task.

III. Welcome back to Mike Smythe, who returns to Cape Girardeau as the general manager of KBSI FOX 23 and its sister station, WDKA in Paducah, Ky. A surprise offer to a key presence in the media information field in this area.

IV. Author, promoter and innovator Jim Riley of Red Letter Marketing, along with illustrator, musician and Cape Girardeau personality Don Greenwood entertained and explained how to write and illustrate children's books -- of which they've done two and with a third on its way.

V. Two other local authors, Jane Stacy and Jerry Ford, are promoting their books of local interest and personalities -- of which they both are.

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I'm currently reading the best-selling book, "Ameritopia" by Mark Levin and after listing some light-heartened comments about current events, I now share the closing comments in the epilogue, which are timely to today's political atmosphere:

"Upon taking the oath of office on Jan. 20, 1981, in his first inaugural address President Ronald Reagan told the American people:

"‘If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before. Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on earth. The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay that price. It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government. It is time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We're not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing.'"

Gary Rust is chairman of Rust Communications.