City wins in River Campus ruling

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Supreme Court sided with the city of Cape Girardeau in a lawsuit filed by Cape Girardeau motel entrepreneur Jim Drury over the Southeast Missouri State University River Campus.

The suit questioned the title of the city ordinance to put a River Campus tax issue on the ballot. The project will be funded with a hike and extension in the city's hotel, motel and restaurant tax and with state and private funds.

In June, a three-judge panel of the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District sided with Drury, ruling that the title of the August 1998 city ordinance that put the tax issue on the ballot violated the state Constitution and the city's own charter because it didn't describe in detail how the money would be used.

[ Read the text of the court's decision ]