Packages assembled for Operation Havre Love

After three weeks of preparation, the project to send care packages to sailors stationed on the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Persian Gulf is in its final stages.

Havre resident Jean Smith, 61, the planner of Operation Havre Love, said this morning she hopes to start packing boxes by noon and get the packages on their way to Great Falls this afternoon.

"I've got it cleared through the ship," said Smith, who has a granddaughter from Havre, Jody Corner, on the aircraft carrier. "It will get to them. They might be back home by the time it gets to them, but they'll get it."

Smith said Jody, 19, spoke...