SOME WEED AND SEED PROGRAMS STILL GOING

Funding for Southeast Missouri Weed and Seed may be suspended, but several of the programs it supports will continue.

Many of those involved with the federally funded initiative to battle crime in five Southeast Missouri communities say they either are already funded through the end of the year or have other sources of money.

"Most of our current year's programs are already funded," said John McMinn, a Weed and Seed coordinator and Charleston assistant city manager. "But how we're going to take care of the next year, I don't know."

Operation Weed and Seed is a U.S. Department of Justice initiative designed to weed out violent crime, drug use and gang activity in targeted neighborhoods while funding grass-roots improvements in those areas.

The Justice Department informed board members of SEMO Weed and Seed this week that because of various errors in administrating the project funding for the $750,000 grant would stop until the problems are resolved.

Of the six or so programs that get funding from Weed and Seed in Cape Girardeau, only the Salvation Army will be affected, said J.J. Williamson, chairman of the local Weed and Seed steering committee.

"We did have hopes of a basketball league this fall," said Robert Gauthier of the Salvation Army. "But now we have a problem."

The Salvation Army, which locally receives money through private donations and the Area Wide United Way, had planned on using Weed and Seed money for basketball this fall and a volleyball league this winter. The leagues were to have incorporated anti-drug messages, he said.

Weed and Seed had already funded additional field trips with drug awareness messages over the summer, Gauthier said.

"I'm not sure where we go from here," he said.

Other Cape Girardeau organizations or programs receiving Weed and Seed money, including the Cape Girardeau Civic Center and the Healthy Families 2000 Community Block Party, are not as dependent on the funds, said Debra Hamilton, local Weed and Seed coordinator.

Those who will be halted are church-based or neighborhood groups, Hamilton said. She pointed to some South Cape Girardeau women who proposed a landscape beautification project, which they planned to carry out themselves with Weed and Seed funding.

They will have to reapply for a Weed and Seed mini-grant once funding is reinstated, she said.

"Weed and Seed was developed for ideas like these," Hamilton said. "It is money that was given to be used for people at the grass-roots level who are trying to make a difference where they live. Most federal programs aren't set up like this."

Williams expressed hope that funding might resume within a few weeks, since some of the Justice Department's complaints were merely misunderstandings.

He pointed to a summer food program administered by the Salvation Army. The Justice Department said Weed and Seed grants can't be used for food, alleging that money for the food program was misappropriated. All of the food items were paid for with a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant, while technical and support services for the food program were paid by Weed and Seed, Williams said.

The suspension of funding won't affect Cape Girardeau police at all, said Lt. Tracy Lemonds. Weed and Seed supports the police substation on Good Hope Street and Operation Safe Streets, which targets low-level crimes.

"If we need to find alternative funding, we'll find it," Lemonds said. "But it's not about money. It's about a program. We're still going to police the targeted area."

Cape Girardeau, Charleston, Caruthersville, Poplar Bluff and Sikeston are a part of Weed and Seed.

Sikeston will not be impacted by the funding cut since it receives a separate grant from Weed and Seed, said Steve Borgsmiller, Sikeston city manager.

Sikeston was recognized as a Weed and Seed site in November 1996, while the grant for the regional Weed and Seed board wasn't finalized until last December.

Sikeston is still spending its $125,000 grant, which does not increase but can be carried over by extensions year to year, Borgsmiller said.

McMinn of Charleston considers the most present danger to his Weed and Seed programs to be the new fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. That is when his funding will run out.

"One of the key ingredients is to get a new director in place now," McMinn said. The regional Weed and Seed board has sought a new director since April.

Not having money to pay a director now might make it harder to hire one, McMinn said.

"When you get federal funds, you generally don't keep much on hand," he said.