A Cancer-Fighting Lighthouse is Planned for Ohio River METROPOLIS, IL (wsiu) - A group that offers cancer-fighting information plans to build a lighthouse on the Ohio River in Metropolis.

Rudy Bess, founding director of the Hope Light Project says he and his wife Beverly are lighthouse buffs, and they believe this will be the only lighthouse on the Ohio River .

The way Bess envisions it, the beacon, visible for 10-15 miles, would operate at all times; volunteers, including cancer survivors, would staff the information center during the day, giving out reference material and brochures.

The location, in Dorothy Miller Park , is about 1,500 feet east of Harrah's Casino. Bess says it would be great if casino customers who step outside to smoke would see the lighthouse and stop in for information on cancer.

The project will cost around $300,000. Bess is accumulating donations now. He hopes to build the lighthouse in about a year. A Carbondale firm is designing the structure; once the designs are complete, Bess will apply for Coast Guard permission to erect the lighthouse.


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