COURTS: APPEALS COURT SESSION AT SEMO

After drawing a crowd of about 100 last year, the Missouri Court of Appeals will perform another road show at Southeast Missouri State University.

Five cases with local interest will be on the docket Thursday when the state's busiest appeals court meets for a morning session on campus at Dempster Hall.

Typically, the Eastern District Court of Appeals hears cases in its St. Louis courtroom, but last November the court came to an undergraduate university for the first time.

History will repeat itself as the court continues an effort to make itself accessible.

The cases the court will hear during sessions at 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. on Thursday include four from circuit court in Cape Girardeau and one from Ste. Genevieve, Mo. They are:

* A Commerce Bank appeal of a decision regarding a check transfer with First State Bank that it alleges involved misrepresentation.

* Regional Primary Care Inc. and Family Practice Specialty Center have appealed a decision regarding severance pay to former employee Jack L. Ferguson.

* Kevin Morris of Sikeston, Mo., has appealed a marijuana possession conviction.

* F.E. Rhodes and his wife have appealed a decision regarding a prior non-competition agreement between them and service station owner James H. Estes and his wife.

* A Ste. Genevieve woman has appealed a decision to turn over 58 acres of property to a man who owns all the property surrounding it.

Aside from the three civil and one criminal case on appeal from Cape Girardeau County's circuit court, those who attend will get a rare chance to see three appeals court judges whose futures will be decided in Tuesday's election.

Voters will decide whether to retain judges Lawrence Mooney, Sherri Sullivan, and Richard Teitelman to 12-year terms. Theywere appointed by the late Gov. Mel Carnahan.