MAGAZINE LOOKS AT RUSH'S ROOTS

You know you're famous when People magazine publishes a story about your hometown that doesn't mention what you're famous for.

Along with the celebrity wedding photos that fill the latest issue of People magazine is a three-page color spread about Rush Limbaugh's hometown and its tour of his old haunts.

"The Roots of Rush" refers to him as Cape Girardeau's "homegrown conservative hero," but why "the scenes of Rush's youth are hallowed places" to Limbaugh's "dittoheads" is understood.

Among the photos splayed across the pages are: Limbaugh at 12 in his Little League baseball uniform; old pal and now orthodontist David Crowe with son Austin; mother Millie drinking coffee at home; and the gang at the Varsity Barber Shop, Limbaugh's employer when he was 13.

Barbershop owner Willis Segraves recalls for People, "Rush's mom drove him to work in a Cadillac."

Also included are a Cape Girardeau postcard with Limbaugh's picture and autograph on the back, a photo of Wimpy's owner Bill Lewis chomping a burger and a shot of Esicar's Old Hickory Smokehouse. Unaccountably, the pig statues in front of Esicar's have been dressed up in psychedelic colors through photographic trickery.

Though the article mentions that not everyone in Cape Girardeau is happy with the tour, the story is a hit -- especially the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The CVB, which has an annual budget of about $300,000, spent $18,400 to promote its Rush Limbaugh Hometown Tour, which began in January. If purchased as advertising, those three pages in People would have cost $382,950.

"I thought it was great," CVB Executive Director Mary Miller said of the story. "All in all it was a very positive portrayal of the Hometown Tour."

Limbaugh's notoriety also is paying off for others.

Esicar's received calls from all over the country after a mention on one of his programs last summer. When People hit the newsstands Monday, a woman from San Diego was on the line asking for information about the store's meats.

Blake Esicar said his father, Richard, was good friends with the late Rush Limbaugh Jr. "Rush and Rusty used to eat a lot of our products," he said. "Millie still does come in."

Esicar's is one of three locations where the free Hometown Tour maps are available. "I get a kick out of talking to all the people who stop by," Esicar said.

Miller said Limbaugh isn't the only reason Cape Girardeau is getting noticed.

On Monday, a PBS crew working on a program called "On the River" will be in town filming Trail of Tears State Park, Old St. Vincent's College, some bed and breakfasts and the downtown historic district along with the arrival of the American Queen steamboat.

The program, which will include stops in Paducah, Cairo, Memphis and St. Louis, will air in the fall.

"We are receiving national attention, and not just from Rush," Miller said. "These folks are interested in our history."