STODDARD COUNTY PUTS SCENIC BYWAY PLAN ON HOLD

BLOOMFIELD -- Faced with a standing-room-only crowd pressing it to act, the Stoddard County Commission this week agreed to shelve for 90 days the effort to acquire state and federal designations for a scenic byway through the county.

Presiding Commissioner Jerry Elder won support for his plan to delay action on the matter until an advisory committee has time to look into the various issues raised by those opposed to such a designation.

The committee, which Elder hopes to keep to about a dozen members, will include both proponents and opponents to the move to acquire designation.

The members could be named as early as Monday.

Many of those attending apparently were hoping the three-member commission would vote against the scenic byway project in light of the turnout at a public hearing last week. At that hearing, opponents far outweighed supporters of the byway proposed to run from the Arkansas border through Dunklin, Stoddard and Scott counties.

Elder argued that it would be premature to scrap the effort without further study of the matter. "I'm not sure it would be the right thing to do right now," he said in reply to an opponent who called for the commission to vote on the matter. "I'd like to see it sorted out when it's not so emotional."

The Dunklin County Commission had endorsed the scenic byway project with little opposition voiced to the proposal.