LAKE VOTE OFFICIALLY DISCARDED; CAPE COUNTY EFFORT ALSO SEEMS UNLIKELY

JACKSON - Bollinger County Presiding Commissioner Elwood Mouser this week officially notified the Cape Girardeau County Commission that his county would not be calling an election for a proposed 7,700-acre recreational lake in the two counties.

Mouser called Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep to tell him there would be no election called because the results of a straw poll in a Marble Hill newspaper indicated a majority of those responding did not want an election held.

Under the original plan, about 28 percent of the lake would be in Bollinger County and the rest in Cape Girardeau County.

Several members of the lake committee had suggested Cape County might consider building a lake on its own without the neighboring county's participation.

But Irvin Garms, a member of the lake committee with an extensive construction background that includes lakes and dams, said after conferring with a consultant, it is not practical to build a lake within the confines of Cape County.

In response to inquiries about a Cape County-only lake, Garms said he talked with representatives of Freese and Nichols, the Fort Worth, Tex. engineering firm that conducted a feasibility study on the proposed $73 million lake project.

Garms explained that to keep the lake out of Bollinger County, you would need an approximate elevation of 440 mean sea level, yet that would leave a lake of only about 1,700 acres. The original lake proposal had an elevation of 480 feet.

"A dam to support elevation 440 water storage would have the same core trench beneath it as the original one supporting elevation 480 water stage," said Garms. "You would also need the exact same concrete and steel gated control structure as with the large dam in order to bypass the water flow at flood stage.

"Therefore, the cost would skyrocket per acre-foot of water. I would recommend no further consideration of a lake of that size."

Under the original project plan, there would have been two lakes connected by a canal. On the larger lake using the Big Whitewater River, there would have been 5,500 acres of water with about 800 acres of it in Bollinger County.

Some lake committee members have suggested building just the one large lake. However, Garms stressed that would still require some support from Bollinger County.

"There is no way to keep the big lake out of Bollinger County," said Garms.

A 5,500-acre lake like this would be a better recreational lake that Wappapello, noted Garms, because of its much greater depth. Lake Wappapello, which was constructed primarily for flood control, has a minimum pool of 4,600 acres, but its operating pool can be as high as about 8,000 acres.

Garms said there is no other place in Cape County to build a lake of any size due to fault lines and rock formations not suitable for a lake and dam.

All three Cape County commissioners have said they would have no problems with the lake committee meeting again to look at other options but would not allocate any more county funds to the study.

Overall, about $135,000 has been spent on the project, with about $80,000 of the funds coming from Cape County.

"I feel a bit uncomfortable after four-and-a-half years of hard work sending the committee a `Dear John' letter," said Huckstep. "But, I don't think we're comfortable spending any more money on the project either."

Associate Commissioner Leonard Sander said he would support another meeting only "if it doesn't cost anything. A lot of people have said we've spent enough money on this already.

"We've been told since this started that without Bollinger County's participation it would not be feasible," added Sander. "But if there would not be a funding burden on Cape County I would have no objection to another meeting."

Associate Commissioner E.C. Younghouse said he believes any request for another meeting should come from members of the lake committee.

"If they request a meeting, I'm willing to have it and to be there," said Younghouse. "But, I would think at this point it's all over with."

Huckstep added, "My feeling is that this project is deader than a hammer. But these guys busted their butts as a committee. If there is a perception that there is some project out there that is feasible, they should be able to look at it.

"It is not fair to totally shut them off without at least listening to them."