TOP 10 LOCAL STORIES OF 1997: CRIME, CRIME FIGHTING, ECONOMIC CHANGES TOP THE NEWS

An ongoing story concerning the growing traffic in methamphetamine in Southeast Missouri along with an efforts to combat crime of all kinds topped the local news in 1997.

Also on the Southeast Missourian newspaper's Top 10 list, were yes votes to build Cape Girardeau schools and a Mississippi County Courthouse and goodbyes to Southeast Missouri State University basketball coach Ron Shumate and Boyd Gaming Corp. New jobs were promised through an expansion to Procter & Gamble and a new state prison in Charleston. And in October, one Sikeston man took three lives in Sikeston leaving questions about his motives.

The Southeast Missourian news staff voted on stories from the front pages of the past year. Here are the results.

1. Methamphetamine topped the news as drug traffickers continued to set up illegal drug labs and law enforcement shut them down in record numbers.

According to some calculations, Missouri has the most meth labs of any state in the country, surpassing California in that category.

The Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force busted about one-third of the total meth labs discovered in the United States in 1995 and part of 1996. Labs were shut down at a rate of more than one a day, making Missouri the national leader. Much of the meth business was conducted in Southeast Missouri, and local law enforcement sought help from the federal and state government to continue fighting the problem.

2. A string of 1996 home invasions targeting Cape Girardeau's elderly led the community to take a stand against crime. Crime Stoppers, an organization that rewards anonymous tipsters for information leading to arrests, was formed. In August, with help from Crime Stoppers, three men were arrested and charged with committing four of the home invasions. Walter Lee pleaded guilty. The case against Tyrone Walker has been moved to Madison County, and John Jackson is set to appear in court in March.

3. In April, voters said yes to new school buildings for Cape Girardeau, approving the sale of $14 million in bonds and waiving the Proposition C rollback. It was the fourth school funding proposal Cape voters faced this decade. Three failed. The yes vote set in motion the first stage of a three-phase master plan for the school district. New tax money will fund construction of an elementary school, a vocational-technical school, an addition to Jefferson Elementary School and renovations at the district's other schools. May Greene and Washington schools will be closed. Future plans call for construction of a high school.

4. Following a highly competitive and sometimes political selection process, Charleston won a new 1,500-bed maximum-security prison, projected to bring jobs and economic development to Mississippi County. The prison will be built on a 120-acre site south of Interstate 57 and the city limits. Chosen for a second prison was Licking.

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 in May. The firing was linked by the university to an NCAA investigation into the Indians' program. Gary Garner was chosen to lead the Southeast basketball program into a new era.

6. Construction on the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge, which began in September 1996, came to a halt in December. A bedrock problem discovered in July under a pier being built in the river brought the project to a stop. The $50.8 million contract for construction of the bridge was terminated. The contractor, Flatiron Construction, had completed about 25 percent of the project.

7. The 100-year-old Mississippi County courthouse was destroyed in an arson fire in February. After much debate, voters decided in August to pay an additional half-cent sales tax for a new courthouse. Some had hoped to preserve the historic structure.

8. Boyd Gaming Corp., the Nevada gambling company which had promised a riverboat casino, a five-level parking garage, restaurant and gift shops, closed its office in January, taking with it hopes for gambling in downtown Cape Girardeau. An apparent moratorium on new gambling licenses in Missouri forced Boyd to reassess its investment here, but company officials said they hadn't given up on Cape Girardeau.

9. In April, Procter & Gamble Co. announced it would build a $350 million addition to its Cape Girardeau County plant to enable an increase in production of tissues and towels. The addition will be adjacent to the plant.

The expansion, among the top-three industrial projects in Missouri over the past decade, will result in 350 more jobs. With 1,200 workers, the plant north of Cape Girardeau near Trail of Tears State Park already is the largest employer in Southeast Missouri.

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. Clark applied for and was issued a gun permit the day of the shootings. Missouri does not have a mandatory waiting period for handgun permits or purchases once the permit is issued.