KINDER: LAKE BILL IS DEAD

State Sen. Peter Kinder's lake bill won't float this year.

Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, said the issue is dead for this session.

Kinder's bill made it out of committee but didn't get on the calendar for action by the full Senate.

"The Senate calendar is now loaded, and if you are not on here, it is not going to move this session," Kinder said.

The legislation would have amended a 1990 lake law. Supporters said it would have helped refloat the lake project by allowing for an initiative petition to get a sales tax issue before the voters.

"I am disappointed that the people of Cape Girardeau and Bollinger counties are not going to get a chance to vote on it," Kinder said.

The legislation dealt with efforts to get a recreational lake. Proponents want to build a lake in the Millersville area by damming the Whitewater and Little Whitewater rivers.

The lake would cover more than 7,000 acres in Cape Girardeau and Bollinger counties and include 133 miles of shoreline.

Kinder said he hasn't decided if he will introduce similar legislation in the 1998 session.

Besides the initiative petition provision, the bill would have limited a lake authority's power of eminent domain and rezoning authority.

Kinder said there is a backlog of bills because lawmakers "wasted a month on the stupid pay raise" at the beginning of the session.

Lake opponent Jim Roche of Millersville was thrilled by the bill's demise.

But he said the issue still isn't dead. "We need to put an end to it."

Roche is president of a group of Millersville-area property owners who oppose the project.

He wants to see the 1990 law repealed so that the lake project won't keep resurfacing.

But Cape Girardeau lawyer and lake supporter Don Thomasson said backers will continue to fight for a lake.

"We knew it might not get voted on this year," he said.

Lake supporters will lobby to get legislation introduced again next session.

Thomasson said he hopes Kinder will re-introduce the bill.

"We certainly believe in Peter," said Thomasson. "He has been an excellent senator and we feel he recognizes the worthwhile features of this bill."