WATER CAN'T STYMIE RETAILERS

High water doesn't stop home cooking at Witz Restaurant in East Cape Girardeau, Ill.

But, the restaurant, which normally attracts diners from a wide area, has experienced lighter crowds recently.

"People think we're closed," Betty Colyer said.

Colyer and her husband, William M. "Witz" Colyer, own the restaurant, which opened in 1982.

"We never closed in 1993, and we're not closed now," Betty Colyer said. "We don't have the seep water we had two years ago."

Colyer blames the misunderstanding on the floodwater and a sign near the bridge in Cape Girardeau. The sign cautions motorists to use care for the "next 7 miles."

"Work is under way on raising the level of Route 3 south of the Route 146-3 intersection," she said. "There's no problem along Route 146."

Witz is on Route 146, a mile from the Mississippi River bridge.

Two years ago during flood conditions, Witz Restaurant gave its customers something to remind them of the "Great Flood of 1993," a bottle of Southern Illinois seepwater.

"My mother always said if you get a lemon, make some lemonade," Colyer said. "In other words, you make the best of any situation." Although seepwater was a major Southern Illinois problem in 1993, the restaurant remained open throughout the flooding.

Retail merchants in East Cape Girardeau aren't experiencing water problems yet.

One business, the Buy-N-Save, is conducting a "flood sale." The store offers furniture, clothing, tools and a number of other items.

The Karpet Korner continues to attract people. "We haven't noticed a difference yet," manager Lenny Martin said.

James Lingle, of the Purple Crackle nightclub, agreed, saying he hadn't noticed any big differences.

Meanwhile, a business near Interstate 55 and Highway 74 in Missouri, has built a rock levee to keep water away from its building.

"People can get in and out of the store here now," E. C. Younghouse of Younghouse Distributing Co. Inc. said. "We had some problems before the levee."

One customer drove to the Younghouse warehouse from Kentucky, turned around and went back home.

"He called us from Kentucky, however, and we shipped out his order," Younghouse said.

Overall, during the 1993 flood, the Cape Girardeau retail economy remained good. During the first nine months of 1993 sales taxes were up over sales taxes during the same period of 1992.