THE CLINTON VISIT: CAPAHA PARK, CAPE GIRARDEAU BACK TO NORMAL

Seemingly almost as quickly as he arrived, President Bill Clinton has gone.

The park that held 25,000 to 35,000 people, depending on who you ask, is now empty, save for a few tents.

Cars bustle on the previously closed streets that all made way for the presidential motorcade. Even river traffic must stop for the president, but the barges have all started moving again.

Getting the park ready was the main feat in preparing for Clinton's visit. Crews pulled in Tuesday for Friday's rally.

Fortunately, said Dan Muser, Parks and Recreation Department director, it took longer to get the park ready than to clean it up. Muser said Capaha Park was pretty much back in its original form hours after the rally.

"We basically had an all-out assault on the park by maintenance folks and public works maintenance people," Muser said.

About 25 city employees got in the park shortly after Clinton and his entourage left, he said. All the fencing was taken down and all the trash was picked up by 7 p.m., just two hours after the buses pulled out.

The tents were still standing Sunday afternoon. Muser said they were put up by a St. Louis company hired by the Clinton campaign.

He thought the tents would be down by today since the stage Clinton and other politicians spoke from, built by the same St.-Louis-based company, was dismantled Friday.

The large number of people left behind large quantities of trash, Muser said. Most of it was on the ground and not in the trash receptacles.

"The problem was, people were so packed in that they couldn't get to the receptacles," Muser said. "Where ever you were when things were happening, that's where you had to stay."

He said the most time-consuming task involved taking down the 8,000 feet of fencing. But he said even that wasn't so bad considering city crews spent days laboriously getting the fencing in the right places. Security changes or special additions requested by the White House caused that to take a little longer.

All in all, he said, the large number of people had no effect on the park. "They didn't hurt the ground. As dry as it is, they didn't hurt the grass. The damage was virtually nonexistent."

Gladys Ritter lives across the street from Capaha Park. She said she'll always remember the day President Clinton came to visit. But she'll also remember how fast the park got cleaned up.

"The fellows worked Friday evening 'til dark," Ritter said. "Isn't that wonderful? The stage was taken down and everything was clean. I stood out there and looked it all over. They deserve praise for taking care of that park.

"It really is a village where the community has pulled together." she said.

According to police, the event was also squeaky clean in regards to trouble. There were no arrests or any severe traffic problems.

A right-to-life group was disgruntled after being refused entrance to the main rally area. Security personnel said that their shirts, all displaying pro-life wording, indicated they were protesters. When directed to the protest area, the group declined to stay.