DEMS: FARM CENTER PARTISAN

PORTAGEVILLE -- Five Democratic legislators from Southeast Missouri have accused the Delta Research Center of playing to Republican politics.

Delta Research Center officials deny it. The center's 45-member advisory board recently added a non-partisan policy to its mission statement in an effort to defuse the criticism.

The allegations centered around Republican speakers at last year's Field Day.

Center Superintendent Jake Fisher also has come under fire for circulating a candidate's petition among the center's staff last month.

The petition helped get independent candidate Denny Merideth III of rural Caruthersville on the ballot for the April 1 special election for state representative in the 162nd District.

Merideth is running against Democratic candidate Shirley Kay Davis of Caruthersville.

The University of Missouri, which operates the research center, is conducting an internal investigation concerning the petition.

Fisher said he won't resign. "I am not going to resign because I haven't done anything wrong," he said.

"I didn't break any rules of the university. I was in my rights," said Fisher.

"I am kind of the victim in all of this," he said.

Fisher has worked at the center for 36 years. He has directed the center since 1989.

The center is known for its agricultural research. It operates on a budget of about $1.5 to $2 million a year. About $600,000 of that comes from the state. Federal and private dollars make up the rest.

The center has 32 full-time employees.

These days, row crops aren't the only things being grown at the center.

There's also controversy, centering on the allegations of state Sen. Jerry Howard of Dexter, and state Reps. Gene Copeland of New Madrid, Larry Thomason of Kennett, Marilyn Williams of Dudley and Joe Heckemeyer of Sikeston.

The five lawmakers complained in a Jan. 30 letter to a University of Missouri curator that Republicans have used the center for partisan politics.

They singled out last year's Field Day. The annual event was held Aug. 29, a day before President Clinton made a campaign stop in Cape Girardeau.

The Democratic lawmakers said then-congressional candidate Jo Ann Emerson was featured at a breakfast memorializing her late husband, U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau.

Emerson died in June of lung cancer.

At the Field Day, U.S. Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., spoke in the afternoon. The Democratic lawmakers said Bond "blatantly bashed Democrats and the president's visit to Cape Girardeau."

The lawmakers said many at the Field Day were offended by the partisan politics.

"With this in mind, I worry about the future of the Delta Center which appears to allow partisan politics to cloud its mission to assist the citizens of Missouri," the legislators wrote.

Thomason said last week he didn't believe the center's actions were deliberate.

The letter was written to Fred Hall Jr. of Springfield. Hall is a member of the University of Missouri Board of Curators and past president of the board.

Hall asked the lawmakers to write a letter after receiving verbal complaints from both politicians and others about Field Day.

Hall said he also received letters of complaint from a number of individuals, including Emily Firebaugh.

Firebaugh, a Farmington Democrat, lost to Jo Ann Emerson last fall in the 8th District congressional race.

Center officials said Firebaugh was invited to the breakfast but didn't attend.