COMMITTEE SET TO BEGIN PERRY COUNTY LAKE STUDY

PERRYVILLE - A committee appointed by Perry County Presiding Commissioner Karl Klaus might meet this week to begin reviewing a 25 year old proposal for a recreational lake near Brewer.

Klaus said he appointed the committee after several people in the county suggested a review of the plan, developed by the Chamber of Commerce in 1966, might be worthwhile.

He said he also received encouragement to study the plan after a Cape-Bollinger County lake proposal fell through earlier this summer.

The Perry County lake proposal called for building a lake by damming up Saline and Goose Creeks. The proposed lake would have been about 2,000 acres, although some variations could increase its size to about 4,000 acres.

Three feasibility studies of the project were conducted between 1963 and 1966. A detailed engineers report also was drafted and core samples were taken.

The project fell through when the committee was unable to secure a federal grant for the primary funding of the first phase of construction. Klaus said the agenda for the new committee's first meeting, tentatively set for Sept. 4, includes an outline of the group's objectives and election of a chairman.

He has appointed Tom Tomlinson as the temporary chairman of the seven-member committee.

Klaus said Thursday he did not want to disclose details of the committee's activities until an organizational meeting was held.

"The only thing we have done so far is appoint a committee," he said. "We really have not done anything else yet."

The group likely will address issues that include the old study's validity, the proposed lake's costs, who would own the lake, its economic impact on the area, and other matters.

Other members of the committee include Mark Mattingly and Gerald Guemmer, residents of the proposed lake site, Tom Sutterer, Ken Stark, Norbert Schumer, and JoAnn Sumner. Schumer also served on the original lake committee.

Under the 1966 proposal, the six-mile long lake would include 32 miles of shoreline.

Cape County Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep, who was one of the leading proponents of the Cape-Bollinger County Lake, has told Klaus that he will make all files and data gathered during their study available to the Perry County committee.

When things started going sour on a partnership with Bollinger County, Huckstep said he and Klaus discussed a joint venture between Cape Girardeau and Perry Counties on a lake. However, engineers said it was not practical to run a lake between the two counties.

State Rep. Herb Fallert, D-Ste. Genevieve, who represents Perry County in the Missouri House, said he would be willing to help the committee in any way possible.

"I don't know that much about it right now but I think it is a good idea to bring it up again and take another look," said Fallert. "I am willing to help in any way I can."

Fallert handled legislation in the House that gave voters in Cape and Bollinger Counties the right to create a lake authority and fund a lake by passing a one-cent sales tax.

But the issue was never put to a vote because the Bollinger County Commission declined to do so.