LAKE: ANOTHER ARCH OR WHITE ELEPHANT?

Cape Girardeau and Bollinger counties would hook big economic gains from a proposed recreational lake, proponents say.

"I am convinced this is another Arch in St. Louis, another I-55 going through this part of the world, another Show Me Center," said Cape Girardeau lawyer Don Thomasson.

Thomasson heads up a committee of about a dozen property owners who are lobbying for the lake. Also backing the project is the Regional Commerce and Growth Association.

But opponents view the lake project as money down the drain. They say a lake would be costly to build and won't provide a big payback for the two-county region.

The lake would provide an economic boost to the area, according to an economic impact study conducted for lake supporters.

Southeast Missouri State University economics professor Dr. Bruce Domazlicky and economics students did the study last fall.

They concluded the lake could generate $30 million a year for the economy of the two counties. Restaurants and motels could see increased business. Businesses that cater to water recreation also would benefit from a lake, Domazlicky said.

The study estimates that 2 million people a year would visit the lake, with a fourth of them coming from outside the two-county area.

It is estimated it would cost almost $85 million to build the lake and another $29 million to operate and maintain it for 20 years.

Domazlicky said that estimate is based on an earlier feasibility study done by a consulting firm. He said he and the economics students took the original estimate from 1989 and adjusted it for inflation.

He said the economic benefits just from tourism outweigh the cost of developing the lake.

But lake opponents discount the earlier feasibility study and the latest economic impact study.

"I can grab stuff out of the air, but that doesn't count," said Elwood Mouser, Bollinger County's presiding commissioner.

Two-thirds of the lake would be in Cape Girardeau County. Bollinger County would see few benefits, Mouser said.

"All we would have is the backwaters. It would cost more for law enforcement than we would get out of it," he said.

Jim Roche owns a farm near Millersville.

"I moved out there because I wanted the rural lifestyle," he said. He doesn't want a lake development in his backyard.

Roche believes the economic studies have inflated the benefits of a lake project.