PRIDE COALITION TO MEET OCT. 20

A coalition of at least 17 community groups interested in improving the quality of life on Cape Girardeau's south side will hold a meeting at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 20 at the Show Me Center.

The meeting will give coalition members "a glimpse of what the whole is," said Dr. Charles Kupchella, a meeting organizer.

"Everybody who has some interest in some aspect of pride in Cape Girardeau can get together with people who have some other interest in pride in Cape Girardeau," he said.

Kupchella, a member of the Downtown Neighborhood Association and Southeast Missouri State University provost, will discuss the nature of the coalition, Mayor Al Spradling III will provide a "state of the city" assessment, and Chamber of Commerce President John Mehner will evaluate the River Campus proposal's potential impact on the city.

Kupchella said the meeting will focus on Southeast's plan to transform the old St. Vincent's Seminary into a River Campus because of the proximity of the November vote on the issue.

"The River Campus is seen as a linchpin," he said. "If that can happen, then we can get a vision of what might be possible for Cape Girardeau and the downtown."

Though many of the coalition's groups have a particular interest in the city's south side, some don't. That reflects the coalition's overall goal, says Dennis Meyer of the Haarig Area Development Corp.

"The whole purpose of the organization is to benefit the whole city of Cape Girardeau," Meyer said.

"This is important for the people of Cape Girardeau," said Jim Williams, also a member of the Haarig group. The announcement of the coalition gathering was made at the Haarig group's meeting Monday night.

Besides the Haarig group, other members of the coalition include the Cape Girardeau City Council, the Cape Girardeau Historic Preservation Commission, the Cape Girardeau Police Department, the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, the Community Caring Council and the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Other members are the Downtown Development Corp., the Downtown Merchants Association, the Downtown Neighborhood Association, the Historical Association of Greater Cape Girardeau, the NAACP, the Regional Commerce and Growth Association, Southeast Missouri State University, the Southside Neighborhood Investment Group, the Safe House, Vision 2000 and consultant Walt Wildman.

The Haarig group is particularly interested in the fate of the long-vacant, old St. Francis Hospital, the identification of property eyesores, a program of litter control and regular cleanup, and promotion of Civil War Forts C and D as historic sites.