TRYOUT FOR NUISANCE OFFICER IS A GOOD IDEA

With continued residential growth in Jackson and rural Cape Girardeau County, problems with loose and stray animals, illegal trash dumping and old cars have become more prevalent.

In an effort to do something about it, Cape Girardeau County and Jackson officials are considering the joint employment of a nuisance officer to handle those and similar problems.

The county has considered such a position for a long time but has never seriously pursued the matter. Now that Jackson is interested in participating, employment of a nuisance officer to serve both the county and Jackson may become reality in the near future.

Neither knows the scope of the demand for such a person either in Jackson or in the county, so they are talking about hiring an officer on a trial basis and tracking the amount of business the nuisance officer has and where most of the business takes place. If justified, the county and Jackson might some day each have a nuisance officer, one or the other might have one, or neither.

The trial approach is a sensible way to determine the needs.