WILSON CRITICIZES EFFORTS TO TRIM MEDICARE DOLLARS

BENTON -- Lt. Gov. Roger Wilson Thursday criticized mostly Republican efforts to trim Medicare, which, he said, would leave Missouri footing the bill on care for the elderly and indigent.

During a visit at the Scott County Courthouse in Benton, Wilson told reporters 800,000 senior citizens in Missouri are in danger of losing Medicare benefits because of proposals in Washington.

Wilson said the federal government should think twice about cuts affecting the elderly and others because of the effect those cuts would have on state governments. He said Missouri would feel obligated to take care of the elderly and indigent, and the federal proposals would leave state government clambering for a way to fund Medicare.

"I can't believe they would do this," Wilson said. "But if they did, it would be a lack of attentiveness. The federal government doesn't realize what they're doing."

As vice chairman of the Missouri Division of Tourism, Wilson said tourism was down slightly in Missouri this year, but it also is nationwide. He blamed the slight decline on the economy.

"I think it will pick back up next year," he said. "I think the money will be flowing and more people will be hitting the road."

Wilson attended the Sikeston Jaycees Bootheel Rodeo Wednesday. "That's a great event -- the 15th largest in the nation -- and we'd like to see it promoted more heavily," he said.

Wilson met Thursday with Mississippi and Scott county commissioners.

"I'm taking a request to the governor from the Mississippi County Commission for help on a levee project," he said. The request asks for state help in repairing a levee in New Madrid County that floods Mississippi County when the river rises as it did during the flood two months ago.