CAPE COUNTY CONSIDERS NUISANCE ABATEMENT ORDINANCE

JACKSON, Mo. -- Jack Piepenbrok can round up troublesome animals, but there's nothing he can do about junk cars, litter and weeds in rural Cape Girardeau County.

"We have all kind of turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to junk cars and illegal dumping and that kind of thing because we can't do anything about it," said Piepenbrok, an animal-control officer since September for the city of Jackson and rural Cape Girar-deau County. He also handles nuisance abatement for Jackson. The city and county share the cost of the $30,000 operation.

Piepenbrok won't be ignoring litter problems if the Cape Girardeau County Commission approves a proposed nuisance abatement measure.

The three-member commission is currently reviewing a proposed ordinance that would regulate everything from household waste to abandoned cars and junk machinery.

The measure has been on the drawing board for months. Commissioners took no action last year, focusing instead on trying to win voter approval of a ballot measure that would have ushered in planning and zoning in unincorporated areas of the county.

Misdemeanor possible

Commissioners now are considering a final draft of the proposed ordinance, which would make it a class A misdemeanor for a land owner or renter to "knowingly" keep or allow "an accumulation of garbage, refuse or rubbish."

Under the measure, the county commission could order Piepenbrok, serving as the nuisance abatement officer, the sheriff's department or the county health department to give written notice to a violator to address the problem.

The violator would have from 10 to 60 days to correct the situation. Failure to meet the deadline could result in prosecution. The commission could recommend the prosecuting attorney take the violator to court.

If convicted, the violator could be jailed for up to one year or fined a maximum of $1,000, or both.

Charlotte Craig, director of the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center, has fielded nuisance complaints. She's seen land along the county's dusty back roads littered with everything from household trash to tires, car parts to washing machines. In some case, roadside ditches have become dumping grounds.

"I see that all the time when I am out riding horses," said Craig, who lives near Gordonville, Mo.

Without a nuisance ordinance, Craig said, the county government can do little to address the problem.

County commissioners have fielded their share of nuisance complaints too. "Most of it has to do with people accumulating garbage and not paying to have it hauled off," said Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones.

The cities of Cape Girardeau and Jackson have regulations to address nuisance problems. The rural areas of the county don't.

Jones said the commission wants to avoid the build up of rubbish and litter that could attract rats and spread disease.

"We are not trying to regulate neighbors," said Jones.

First District Commissioner Larry Bock said, "We're after the unhealthy dangerous situation."

Bock said the commission needs to be careful how it words a nuisance abatement law. "One man's junk is another man's treasure," he said.

If the measure is approved, it would be enforced on a complaint basis. "This is going to be based on written complaints," said Jones.

He said the commission might hold a public hearing before voting on the nuisance abatement measure.

Call us

Know of a nuisance problem?

Are you bothered by a neighbor's junk cars? Has your rural landscape been littered with a graveyard of tires? Have roadside ditches become dumping grounds?

If you live in rural Cape Girardeau County and know first-hand of such problems, call Southeast Missourian staff writer Mark Bliss at 335-6611, extension 123, or e-mail him at mbliss@semissourian.com.