VETS SEEK KLAUS PARK FOR CEMETERY; COUNTY CONSIDERS REQUEST THAT 32 ACRES BE DONATED

JACKSON -- The Cape Girardeau County Commission is considering whether it should donate county owned Klaus Park for a Missouri Veterans Cemetery.

The Cape Girardeau Joint Veterans Council has been searching for a site of 50 to 80 acres that could be donated for a cemetery. It has been unable to find a donor.

Last week the council asked the commission to donate Klaus Park. The commission tabled action to seek information on the legality of making the park a cemetery and to get public opinion of the idea.

"Members are stretching our minds, trying to think of other possibilities," said Charles Woodford of the Joint Veterans Council. "We are asking Realtors, farmers, acquaintances for ideas."

The 32-acre Klaus Park is situated southwest of the Interstate 55-Highway 61 interchange.

"As far as we're concerned, it would be an acceptable site," said Woodford. "We would prefer 50 acres, but Klaus Park is probably expandable with surrounding property owners."

Gerald Jones, the county presiding commissioner, said: "We don't even know if it's legal. If it is legal, then we'd need to have some public hearings. I would want to see what people in the county think."

In 1996, the commission offered the park for a Division of Youth Services juvenile center through a long-term lease agreement. But neighbors objected, and the center wasn't built in Cape Girardeau County.

Robert Buckner, executive director of the Missouri Veterans Commission, will visit Cape Girardeau Tuesday. The Veterans Commission has said a veterans cemetery will be built in Southeast Missouri, and it is in search of a site.

"We don't have a site to show him," Woodford said. "But there will be a cemetery in Southeast Missouri, and we think Cape Girardeau would be the best place."

Cape Girardeau meets topography and water table requirements. "The demographics look good," Woodford said. "This is where the veterans are."

Woodford said if Klaus Park isn't made available perhaps some organization with property in Cape Girardeau County will donate its land. "We'll just keep working," he said.