FUNDING SLOWS COUNTY DRIVE TO COMPUTER AGE

JACKSON -- The information superhighway soon will become more than a couple words tossed around by computer buffs, but Cape Girardeau County may be delayed in getting on it.

Already, the Cape Girardeau Public Library has InterNET, a system linking it with the Smithsonian Institution, various colleges and universities and the U.S. Government. For now, only library staff has access to the InterNET computer.

But according to independent computer specialist Larry Loos, a system called Show-Me Net could link the average Cape Girardeau County resident with the state library, Southeast Missouri State University, the county government and more.

Loos pitched the system to the Cape County Commission Thursday, first showing a video about Heartland Free-net in Peoria, Ill. There, public library patrons have access to network computers. They can leave questions on the system to be answered by attorneys, mechanics, politicians and other experts.

These experts donate their time and citizens reap the benefits.

Show-Me Net would provide a similar service here, and Loos has teamed with the Vision 2000 planning organization to make it happen. They say the system will promote civil participation, educational excellence, economic vitality and community involvement.

Now they need money.

"If we wait three or four years, everyone else is going to have access and we will be behind," Loos said. "If we don't make it happen, Southwestern Bell Telephone will, and I'm not at all comfortable relying on them to provide that sense of community exhibited on the videotape."

He compared the information superhighway to railroads in the 1800s, when towns that had a train station grew and prospered. Loos also mentioned Interstate 55. Towns along its route benefited, but many towns on old Highway 61 suffered.

He asked for $15,000 of the system's $100,220 first-year budget from the commission. The money will pay for equipment, connection fees and personnel. Loos added that there would be ongoing costs, too, but these would be less once the system was up and running.

As with other requests heard lately, a ruling in Livingston County stood in the way of Cape Girardeau County Commission committing funds to the project. Livingston County commissioners went to trial for donating public funds to private ventures. Although acquitted of criminal charges, the case raised questions about allocating funds in other counties.

"I would like to see Cape Girardeau County in the forefront of this," Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones said. "However, until we look into the legality of this, there's a question of whether we could give a nickel."

Jones directed county staff to check with Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle about possibly entering a contract for services with Show-Me Net.

If Loos and Vision 2000 are able to raise enough money through grants, contracts and donations, the system could be up and going by August.