YELL EDITION ALSO A SELLOUT IN JACKSON

JACKSON -- Area Wide United Way officials in Jackson reported the 1992 edition of YELL for newspapers sold out less than 90 minutes after going on sale at street corners Wednesday morning.

"It was overwhelming," said Joyce Hinze, a member of the Area Wide United Way board and Jackson YELL project coordinator.

"The papers went on sale at 6:30 a.m. By 7:45, all 1,200 copies plus a couple of hundred more YELL papers that were brought over from Cape Girardeau were sold. We want to thank the citizens of Jackson for their overwhelming generosity."

Hinze said even after all of the YELL copies were gone people were still pulling up at curbside with dollar bills wanting to buy a copy of the paper. "If there are any copies running around now they are collector's items," she said. "They are very rare. It will teach people to get out and buy earlier next year."

Hinze said the 1,200 YELL issues sold this year was a 20 percent increase over last year's press run, "and we could have sold a whole lot more."

Preliminary YELL sales figures in Jackson stood at $1,906, but Hinze said the final figure could top $2,000 when all money is counted. "That's more than double what we made last year," she said. "People were very generous with our YELL sales. In at least two cases we had $50 donations, and I'm not even sure they took a YELL paper."

Hinze attributed this year's increase in sales to a greater awareness of the purpose of YELL for newspapers and a greater promotion in its second year. YELL stands for Youth-Education-Literacy-Learning. All money raised from YELL sales in Jackson will remain in Jackson for youth literacy education, Hinze said.

The club with the greatest sales of papers was the Noon Optimist Club of Jackson, with $251.06. Second was the Jacksonian chapter of the American Business Women of America, with sales of $190. Third was the Jackson Lions Club with $141 in sales, and fourth, was a group of Jackson senior citizens, who raised $128.

Volunteers from approximately 17 Jackson area organizations and businesses participated in this year's event.

Hinze said competition among the YELL volunteers was highlighted by a spirited competition between the two Jackson banks. John M. Thompson of Boatman's Bank was standing in front of his bank hawking YELL papers at the corner of West Main and Court, while across the street at the corner of South High and West Main John N. Thompson of Capitol Bank was trying to outsell his financial rival.

Hinze said the final amount raised by each bank officer could not be determined late Wednesday afternoon because donations were still being counted.