A NEW HOME: COUNTY EXTENSION OPENS NEW OFFICE

Having a place to call one's own, on a nice plot of land, has been a vision that has driven American farmers since before the nation was forged. The University Outreach & Extension Program has been helping farmers maintain that dream since 1914.

Tuesday the Cape Girardeau County Outreach & Extension staff realized its own such dream. A new brick office was dedicated on Jackson Trails Road, opening a new chapter in the long history of Extension in the county.

Many contributed to the new Extension home. In particular, the family of Byron and the late Margaret Lang donated 2.5 acres of land, while long-time Extension official B.W. "Bill" Harrison and the Cape Girardeau County Commission made significant contributions. Numerous individuals, groups and companies also contributed.

"We are in a telecommunications era," said Dr. William Meyer, president of the county Extension Council. "The old building was not what we needed."

The County Commission was approached about the possibility. Commissioners instructed Extension personnel to "see how much you can get" first. Despite lean times for the agriculture business, farmers contributed liberally. The drive was kicked off in February 1999. Meyer called the finished site "the product of that seed that germinated and took root."

The only negative of the day was the absence of Dr. Manual Pachesco, president of the University of Missouri-Columbia. Pachesco had to stay in Columbia for a special curators' meeting due to the death of Gov. Mel Carnahan. He sent his best wishes and congratulations by phone.

Ron Turner, executive vice president of the Extension Council, called the project "a tribute to partnership, a tribute to leadership and a tribute to Cape County and this region."

"I saw all 114 counties in the state and there isn't a county in the state that wouldn't love to have this kind of facility we're dedicating today," Turner said.

According to Turner, the means were as important as the ends.

"It's more than mortar and brick and land," he said. "It's the way you've worked together."

Gayle King, long-time Extension worker, introduced Harrison. A meeting room will bear the name of D.W. and the late Hazel Harrison. King, a protg of Harrison, called Harrison a legend in the field. During King's 33 years of Extension work, he considered Harrison "the best supervisor I ever had."

Harrison, 90, spent 39 years in Extension. He met his future wife, a former school teacher and performing artist (also the second Southeast Sagamore queen), when he hired her for a Scott County Extension job.

Harrison noted that the Extension program was made possible by a 1914 law and that Cape County was the first county to take advantage of it.

"Cape County is still out in front," Harrison said. "Keep it up! You deserved a lot and should be real proud of what you've got in facility, staff and performance."

Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones, a former president of the Extension Council, called it a "really good feeling" to see the project completed.

"I've enjoyed the partnership arrangement," he said. "The Cooperative Extension service is very well named. They're a great partner with Cape County. I'm very proud of the new facility."

He also tabbed the Cape County extension personnel as "super beneficial and super helpful" to their clients.

Commissioner Larry Bock then recognized members of the Lang family, who donated the plat of land just south of town in Highway 25. He noted that Byron Lang was a local farming pioneer. Lang introduced the use of anhydrous ammonia into the area, as well as no-till concepts and hybrid seed corn. A foyer in the building bears the name of Byron and Margaret Lang.

A tree-planting ceremony was also held, with Dortha Strack planting a Gingko tree, provided by the Family Community Education group.