BOND ISSUE PASSES BY CLOSE VOTE

Missouri voters Tuesday narrowly passed a $250 million, statewide bond issue Tuesday. The bonds will finance construction of new prisons and university facilities, including a College of Business building at Southeast Missouri State University.

The issue passed 412,651 to 404,695 with 99 percent of the vote counted.

Computer problems in Ralls County and unknown problems in Saline County meant votes in those two counties may not be reported until today. There are about 5,600 registered voters in Ralls County and about 15,300 registered voters in Saline County.

Supporters of Constitutional Amendment 4 held out hope for the measure throughout the night. "I think it is going to be very close, but I think we are going to eke it out," Donald Dickerson, Southeast Missouri State University regent, predicted earlier in the evening.

The money would be used to build new prisons and university facilities statewide, including a College of Business building at Southeast Missouri State University.

Earlier in the evening, Southeast President Kala Stroup suggested school officials would "go back to the drawing board" in an effort to secure construction dollars if voters rejected the bond issue.

Cape Girardeau County voters rejected the bond issue by a 743-vote margin, 5,219 against to 4,476 for. Voters in the Southeast Missouri counties of Perry, Bollinger, Scott, Stoddard and Butler also defeated the measure.

Stroup and other school officials expressed surprise that voters in the university's home county defeated the constitutional amendment.

Dickerson, a Cape Girardeau attorney, called the local defeat "a tragic circumstance."

Supporters had mounted a telephone campaign and mailed information on the ballot measure over the course of the last three weeks. The campaign involved about 600 volunteers, including more than 100 students. Almost 60,000 people were contacted in the course of the campaign.

Business leaders, including the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, had voiced support for the bond issue.

"It's disappointing," said John Mehner, Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce president, as he left the university's alumni center where school officials and business-building supporters had gathered to follow the election returns.

Stroup said the school needs $12.3 million in state funding to construct the building.

Supporters of the bond issue had said that the state could afford to retire the bonds without a tax increase. But critics said approval of the measure would authorize the state to raise taxes, if necessary, to retire the bonds.