COUNTY ADDS 48 ACRES OF PARKLAND

It took some haggling, paperwork and handshaking, but at the end of everything, Cape Girardeau County Park was 48 acres bigger.

County Commissioners purchased the wooded land from the Dr. O.L. and Anna Seabaugh estate. The late doctor's son, Dr. Bill Seabaugh, was at Spradling and Spradling law firm Thursday to wrap up the $301,750 deal.

He said his mother and father would have been proud for their land to go to the county park system.

"My mother loved those woods," Seabaugh said. "We even called it `Momma's Woods.' We are thrilled that it will be part of the park."

Deer, turkey, other wildlife and rare ferns are native to the 48 acres, he said.

The estate received higher offers for the land, which is on the south side of North County Park along Highway 61. About four acres were sold at $10,000 each.

But O.L. Seabaugh's offspring didn't want the land to be used for houses and sold it to the commission at $60,000 under its appraised value.

Commissioners took the money from the county's capital improvements fund. They said the county's growth in population and in park usage made it a necessary purchase.

"I called in April last year to get a pavilion out there for June, July or August and couldn't get one," Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones said. "There are people out there all the time."

He said Park Supervisor Bruce Watkins receives a steady stream of calls for the two weeks following Jan. 2 -- the first day people can reserve pavilions for the year.

With this purchase, the county park system consists of more than 288 acres of land, most of it developed into shelters, basketball courts, lakes and playgrounds. The last purchase, 25 acres in 1993, added 25 acres of woods to the park.

Jones said he hoped the new land would have a nature trail constructed on it, but he and other commissioners are waiting for direction from the county's four-member Planning and Recreation Board. Longtime members Bob Wilhite and John Allgood, along with recently appointed members David Hitt and Virgil Chirnside, were entrusted with planning the future of the park.