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NewsJune 3, 1998

The federal government continues to plan for construction of a new federal courthouse west of Cape Girardeau City Hall. But the project's future depends on securing funding from Congress, officials said. Both U.S. Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., and Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, want Congress to include more than $2 million in the fiscal 1999 budget to fund design work on the project...

The federal government continues to plan for construction of a new federal courthouse west of Cape Girardeau City Hall.

But the project's future depends on securing funding from Congress, officials said.

Both U.S. Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., and Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, want Congress to include more than $2 million in the fiscal 1999 budget to fund design work on the project.

Last week Emerson requested design funding for the project in a letter to Rep. Jay Kim, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Public Buildings and Economic Development.

She said the Federal Building in Cape Girardeau only has two courtrooms. Those courtrooms are shared by six judges, although only one magistrate judge is permanently stationed in the Federal Building.

Those judges who regularly hold court in Cape Girardeau include four district judges, the resident magistrate judge and another magistrate judge, and a bankruptcy judge.

"Possibly two more judges are projected for appointment to serve Cape Girardeau within the next 10 years," she wrote.

Emerson said there is no room for expansion in the existing Federal Building.

The General Services Administration continues to study the feasibility of building a $30 million courthouse on the nearly six-acre Happy Hollow site south of Independence. Part of the area was once a dump. But GSA officials said last year that they didn't expect the site to pose any environmental problems.

A St. Louis engineering firm is completing an environmental assessment. The assessment report should be finished by the end of the month, said Jim Ogden of the GSA's regional office in Kansas City.

Once that assessment is finished, GSA staff will do a site selection report that will look at the feasibility of building a courthouse on the Happy Hollow site.

If the site proves suitable, the agency will then hold a hearing in August to get public reaction.

Even with favorable public comment, the GSA won't buy the property until or unless Congress appropriates design funds for the project.

Four years ago Congress appropriated $3.8 million to buy land for a new federal courthouse in Cape Girardeau. The appropriation of funds for design work would provide "a clear indication" that Congress plans to proceed with the project, Ogden said Tuesday.

If all goes right, the GSA would buy the Happy Hollow site early next year. Construction could start in 2001 and be completed by 2003, Ogden said.

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Plans call for construction of a 145,000-square-foot courthouse that would provide needed courtroom space, judges' chambers and space for other court-related offices.

Federal court cases currently are heard in the Federal Building on Broadway. That building also houses other federal offices, including Emerson's Cape Girardeau office.

The Federal Building would continue to be used by various federal agencies after the courthouse is built.

A GSA official suggested last year that the courthouse project wouldn't proceed unless there are plans to assign a full-time district judge to Cape Girardeau. At this point there are no plans to assign a full-time district judge to the Cape Girardeau courthouse.

But Jim Woodward, chief deputy clerk with the federal court in St. Louis, said the courthouse is needed even if a full-time district judge isn't assigned to Cape Girardeau.

Woodward said federal court in Cape Girardeau handles an increasing number of criminal cases.

"We are projecting there could be as many as 100 criminal cases filed in the Southeast Division by the close of 1998," said Woodward.

Five years ago the Southeast Division would have handled only a fourth to a third as many cases, he said. Drug arrests account for much of the criminal caseload.

The civil caseload in Cape Girardeau has remained fairly constant. About 175 to 200 civil cases a year are filed in federal court in Cape Girardeau.

Woodward said a new courthouse also is needed for security reasons.

Woodward said the courthouse project dates to 1991.

A full-time district judge wasn't a condition for building the courthouse, he said. "This has come up after the fact."

Woodward said the Cape Girardeau project has come under congressional scrutiny as have other federal courthouse projects nationwide.

But he said the Cape Girardeau project remains on a list of projects that could be funded within the next three years.

The Cape Girardeau project ranks 10th among 14 courthouse projects being considered for funding in fiscal 1999, according to Bond's office. Leading the way is the proposed construction of a federal courthouse in Brooklyn, N.Y., at a cost of $153 million.

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