TOP 10 LOCAL STORIES OF 1997

Southeast Missouri led the state to a dubious honor in 1997. Missouri, by some calculations, leads the nation in the number of methamphetamine labs.

At the same time, law enforcement shut down the illegal drug labs at a rate of more than one a day, also making Missouri the national leader.

Methamphetamine traffic and eradication efforts tops the Southeast Missourian's news stories for the year.

Members of the Missourian news staff voted on stories from the front pages of the past year, and methamphetamine ranked first.

The rest of the list:

2. Crime Stoppers, a new crime fighting organization, was organized in response to a string of 1996 home invasions targeting Cape Girardeau's elderly. In August, tips to Crime Stoppers helped police arrest three men in connection with the burglaries.

3. Cape Girardeau voters said yes to new schools.

4. Charleston was selected as the site for a new 1,500-bed maximum-security prison.

5. Ron Shumate, who won more games than any other basketball coach in Southeast Missouri State University history, was fired as the head men's basketball coach.

6. Construction on the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge, which began in September 1996, came to a halt in December. The construction contract was terminated.

7. The 100-year-old Mississippi County courthouse was destroyed in an arson fire in February.

8. Boyd Gaming Corp. closed its Cape Girardeau office in January, taking with it hopes for a riverboat casino.

9. In April, Procter & Gamble Co. announced it would build a $350 million addition to its Cape Girardeau County plant.

10. In October, a Sikeston man Gary Clark shot and killed Sikeston physician Ed Felker. Then Clark shot and killed his fiance, Barbara Jean Garland, before shooting himself to death.

For more details and photos of the top stories, see Page 1C.