SOUTH CAPE CARNIVAL DESIGNED FOR TOGETHERNESS; SCOTT CITY MINISTER, LOUNGE OWNER PLAN SATURDAY EVENT

A Scott City, Mo., minister wants to help improve relationships among residents in South Cape Girardeau, so he is helping to organize a South Side Community Carnival Saturday.

The event, complete with food, games, and music, will be held from noon to 6 p.m. in a vacant lot in the 400 block of Good Hope Street. All neighborhood residents are welcome.

Talmas McAlister passed out flyers to youths and residents in South Cape Girardeau Wednesday telling them about the event. One boy, Zachary Wilford, wanted to know if he could be inside the dunking booth when he heard about the carnival.

"With all the negative stuff that you hear, we wanted to do something for the kids," he said. "It's time to step in and tell people it's not as bad as it looks and sounds."

He is helping organize the event with Michael Pryor. Pryor operates the Taste Restaurant and Lounge on Good Hope, which has been placed on a six-month probationary liquor license because of the number of calls police respond to in the neighborhood.

The area around the Taste Lounge and the vacant lot next to it where the carnival is being held, have been the site of fights and incidents involving police. Last summer police were met by about 150 people, some of whom threw rocks and bricks at police. Several people were injured, including some officers.

With all that negative attention, Pryor said he had been thinking about ways to do something for the community. "It's nothing fancy, just something for the kids," Pryor said.

The carnival includes games, prizes, food and a horseshoe tournament for adults.

"We'd been thinking about doing something" and then McAlister came along asking if he could help, said Pryor. "It was like he was God-sent," Pryor said.

Pryor spent much of Wednesday afternoon mowing the lot next to his building and preparing the area for the carnival.

He and McAlister met later in the afternoon to talk about the setup for booths and games. "I've been figuring out the layout," Pryor said.

Things have calmed considerably since last summer's riot. Police are trying to work with South Cape Girardeau residents and leaders in that area to address concerns. A neighborhood leadership committee has helped start a neighborhood watch program and an event for teen-agers earlier this year.

Police have been invited to Saturday's event and many plan to attend. A few off-duty officers will sit in dunking booths and run radar guns for a baseball throw booth.

Police Cpl. Rick Schmidt, who works primarily from the substation on Good Hope Street, thinks the event should be good for the community.

"With all the attention the area has been getting with the council and last summer, I hope we can put that stuff behind us and we can get down there and meet the people and get involved," he said.

Schmidt hopes that by seeing the residents and teen-agers, police can build better relationships. It should "show that not every time an officer talks to you does it mean you're in trouble," he said. "We might just want to know what's going on today. I hope that's being conveyed to everybody -- not just to the southeast part of the city."

Police Chief Rick Hetzel said the carnival is just another example of how community policing works. People have long been asking about midnight basketball or activities for youth, and this carnival offers that.

"You can't re-establish trust without getting to know the people," he said. "Kids meeting officers and doing that in a positive role is the first step."

If the event offers no other benefits, it will help police re-establish ties with the neighborhood, he said.

Helen Allen agreed. "It's something better to do than run up and down the street," she said. "It gives them something to do and to stay out of trouble."

McAlester, who works in Cape Girardeau, said he "just got a burden for the kids," and wanted to plan an event that would reach them. He serves as a youth pastor at the Apostolic Lighthouse Church in Scott City.

"Maybe it will help improve relations," he said.