DELTA LEADERS URGE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The Lower Mississippi Delta region needs to boost economic development in its battle against "brain drain," community leaders in the region told federal officials Monday.

To do so, the region needs improved roads, schools, cultural opportunities, job training, and a commitment by the states to work together, they said.

The seven-state region along the Mississippi River stretches from Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois to the Gulf Coast.

The area covers 219 counties and parishes, including 29 counties in Southeast Missouri. The region is home to more than 8 million people.

Memphis, Tenn., businessman Wilbur Hawkins said education is a "one-way ticket" away from the Delta for many people.

Hawkins previously served as executive director of the Lower Mississippi Delta Development Commission, which authored an economic development plan for the region in 1990.

The Clinton administration, led by U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, wants to boost economic opportunities in the region.

To that end, federal officials held four "listening sessions" in the region.

The last of the sessions was held Monday in Cape Girardeau. Nearly 200 people attended the general meeting at the Show Me Center or the small group sessions that accompanied the session.

Slater planned to attend the session but canceled at the last minute so he could stay in Washington where Congress was addressing the Transportation Department budget.

Al Eisenberg, deputy assistant secretary for transportation, said the region is bound together by "the magic and majesty" of the Mississippi River.

He said the listening sessions will help lay the building blocks for the region's future.

That future may not include Conn Davis.

The 18-year-old from East Prairie plays on the high school football team.

While he has enjoyed growing up in the close-knit town of 3,500, Davis said the standard of living is lower.

There are fewer jobs and less exposure to the arts, he said.

Rural schools can't afford to offer the array of courses urban schools can, Davis said.

"Some of the people in my community have never been outside the county," he said.

Davis, who wants to go to college and become a doctor, is concerned about the apathy he sees around him.

Many in his hometown don't want to help themselves, he said. "They haven't been driven. They haven't been pushed."

As a future parent, Davis said he wants more for his children.

"I want my children to be exposed to more cultural, educational and career opportunities," he said.

Tom Tucker, however, thinks the region can offer a future for Davis and others.

Tucker is executive director of the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission in Perryville.

He chaired a small discussion group that looked at business and industrial development.

Tucker said the region needs to have "a voice" in Washington. It would benefit from having a congressional caucus composed of the federal lawmakers from the seven states.

It also would help if there was a permanent organization established to coordinate efforts in the region.

The organization would need some federal funding to operate, Tucker said.