LAKE OPPONENENTS RENOUNCE UNSAVORY TACTICS

MILLERSVILLE -- Some opponents of an effort to build a Cape Girardeau-Bollinger counties lake apparently are using coercion in their attempts to sway opinion.

Following reports from state Sen. Peter Kinder and Marble Hill businessman Stan Crader that they have been cursed by lake opponents, a lake opposition group Thursday night threatened legal action against anyone using such tactics in its name.

Crader, who has been vocal in support of the lake, further claimed he has been threatened. He no longer is campaigning for the lake.

Jim Roche, president of the Cape Girardeau-Bollinger Counties Land Owners Group, told 100 landowners at the Millersville School that he would bring a slander suit against people being abusive saying they represent the group.

"We want nothing to do with this kind of behavior; it is cowardly and despicable," Roche said.

State Rep. David Schwab, who attended the meeting, said it is counter-productive for people to be abusive to make a point with their representatives.

"It certainly doesn't help the cause," said Schwab, a Jackson-area Republican. "When someone calls and tells you how they feel, and you can tell it's coming from their heart, you always respond better to that," said Schwab.

Schwab detailed three amendments he is sponsoring to a Senate bill that Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, is sponsoring. Kinder's bill would allow the lake project, and an accompanying 1-cent sales tax, to be voted upon in Cape Girardeau and Bollinger counties if sufficient signatures can be obtained on initiative petitions.

The lake was proposed in 1990 but never voted on because both county commissions refused to put it on the ballot.

Schwab's amendment proposes that affected property owners first vote on the lake. If they were to approve it by a simple majority, it would go on the ballot. He also suggests the lake authority, should the measure pass, pay property tax for the first five years of the lake's existence. If the issue is defeated, it couldn't be voted on again.

Schwab said the affected property owners don't feel comfortable planning with the possibility of the proposal resurfacing every few years. He wants the issue decided.

Schwab reported that 80 percent of the 110 respondents to a survey he distributed among property owners came back against the project.

Schwab said for his survey he obtained a list of more than 200 property owners in the affected area from Irvin Garms, whom he described as a lake proponent, and Greg Williams of the Regional Commerce and Growth Association. The RCGA is proposing the lake project.

Many of the opponents said Schwab had their best interests at heart when he made his proposals. Cheryl Sebaugh, whose family has owned property for 100 years where the lake would be formed, said she would still vote against the project.

The opposition group picked up the support of the Sierra Club. Alan Journet, conservation chairman for the local Sierra Club, said at the meeting the legislative branch of the club has voted to oppose the lake bill.

Journet said the project represents the loss of thousands of valuable acres of farmland for a recreational lake of questionable worth.

The landowners' group is scheduled to meet again at 7 p.m April 3, at Woodland High School in Marble Hill.