OLD LORIMIER CARETAKER IN NEW, DRY HOME

He's only moving around the corner, but Bobby Banfield's new house could be the start of a whole new life.

Banfield, the caretaker at Old Lorimier Cemetery who was shot in the face in a July 31 robbery at the cemetery, is the latest Cape Girardeau resident relocated through the city's flood buyout program.

He is moving up the hill from his old home at 414 Third St. to 1209 N. Spanish.

"Now all we need is a tornado," he joked.

The deal on the new house was signed Tuesday morning, said Ken Eftink, development services coordinator for the city of Cape Girardeau.

Eftink called the relocation "a little bit of good luck" for Banfield, whose Third Street home was damaged in the 1993 and 1995 floods.

It will be a few more days before Banfield gets moved into his new home, and he expects to hear soon on when he will return to his job at Old Lorimier Cemetery.

"I hate to move," said Banfield, who had lived on Third Street since the early 1970s.

"The '73 flood wasn't too bad," he said. "From '93 on, I had it: The water came up every year."

Two of his neighbors were also bought out, he said.

The 1993 flood left water standing about 4 inches deep in the Third Street house. "There was mold from the water coming in," he said.

Banfield has lived in Cape Girardeau all his life, and he's always stayed pretty close to the river, he said.

The new house, purchased through the city and the Interfaith organization, "looks good," he said.

He said he originally applied for the buyout after the 1993 flood.

Eftink said the city has received $2,490,580 in buyout revenues, and has spent approximately $1.7 million of that. So far the city has acquired 78 homes, including 37 relocations.

Banfield, who has worked for the city for 31 years, said he has been taking things a day at a time since the shooting.

"Some days I feel better; some days I don't," he said.

Investigators said the four Cape Girardeau men charged in the shooting -- Jonathan Charles Betts, Tyler Jay Baine, Ivan Palmer and Terry Lee Gerlach -- waited outside Banfield's home and then followed him to the cemetery, where he was shot and robbed as he was opening the cemetery gate.

He said he wasn't too worried about returning to work, adding he received "a few prank calls" after the shooting, but that was about it.

He's hoping for a nice, quiet life in his new home.

"I hope I stay dry and nothing happens," he said.

Baine and Palmer have pleaded innocent to charges of conspiracy to commit robbery and armed criminal action. Their trials were moved to Perry County on a change of venue, and are set to start Oct. 23.

Gerlach has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery. He testified against the other three men at their preliminary hearings.

Betts is charged with first-degree assault for allegedly shooting Bansfield in the face when the robbery went bad.

Betts' will be tried in New Madrid County on a change of venue.