TWO MEN WITH LOCAL TIES IN KEY POSTS

Devastation brought Donnie Carter his most recent assignment. Charles Easley got his through a government scandal.

The high-profile government officials have two things in common: They spent time in Southeast Missouri and both face challenging jobs.

Donnie Carter, a 1974 Southeast Missouri State University graduate, is a high-ranking official with the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

With his recent promotion, Carter now is in charge of investigating the series of church fires which also have ignited tempers in the South.

At last count, over 80 historically black and multicultural churches have been torched, firebombed or vandalized since January 1990.

Charles Easley's new job isn't much easier.

Just over two weeks ago, Easley, a Portageville native, was appointed to head the new Executive Office of the President Security Office. Easley has worked in White House security since 1986.

The White House hired Easley to head the new security office after the man formerly in charge, Craig Livingstone, was placed on administrative leave.

Livingstone is absent while the FBI investigates charges that he and another White House aide improperly sought FBI background files on 408 officials of the Reagan and Bush administrations. Many Congressional Republicans allege that the aim was to form an "enemies list."

Carter grew up in Mississippi before attending Southeast Missouri State University. In 1975, Carter worked for former Cape Girardeau Police Chief Henry Gerecke as a research assistant. Gerecke said Carter spent a year studying the police department, making projections as to where the city should be with regard to police patrolling and strength.

"We created maps, plotted where crimes were occurring so we had some kind of idea how we could utilize the force," said Gerecke. "He put in a good healthy year. He was quite an interesting, intelligent young man who I thought would go far in this world."

Gerecke was right.

Carter became an ATF agent the following year.

Carter met his wife, Carolyn, at Southeast. She is a Bell City native.

She says they've lived in Chicago, Charlotte, N.C., Columbia, S.C., and now have landed in Virginia due to her husband's recent promotion. His office is in Washington, D.C.

Both remember Cape Girardeau very well. She says she considers it "sort of" her home town.

In fact, when she and her husband were traveling to their new Virginia home, they made a point of stopping off in Cape Girardeau to look at their alma mater.

Charles Easley is a 20-year veteran of the Army, retiring in 1978. For 12 of those years he served as a counterintelligence special agent.

He also served eight years as the technical security adviser to the security officer of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Easley received a Bronze Star while in the military.

Neither men were available to comment.