WEED, SEED DIRECTOR BIRD RESIGNS POST

Calvin Bird has resigned as executive director of Southeast Missouri's federally funded Weed and Seed program.

Bird submitted his resignation Thursday to the Weed and Seed board of directors. He previously had been placed on 15 days administrative leave with pay.

Bird was the first and only executive director for Weed and Seed of Southeast Missouri Inc. and had served since April 1, 1997.

Operation Weed and Seed is a U.S. Department of Justice initiative designed to weed out violent crime, drug use and gang activity in targeted neighborhoods in Cape Girardeau, Sikeston, Charleston, Poplar Bluff and Caruthersville.

Bird said Friday he resigned to take a position with the Greater Dimension Church of God in Christ in Cape Girardeau. His father is pastor of the church.

Bird will work with the Dimensions Unlimited Community Development Corp., coordinating a Job Training and Preparation Center, the Greater Dimensions Child Development Center and the Dimensions Housing Project.

He called his resignation from Weed and Seed a mutual decision between him and the board.

Both the church program and Weed and Seed are at a crossroads, Bird said. He chose to work with the church.

"I think it's a good thing for everyone concerned," Bird said.

Board members Friday refused to discuss the reasons behind Bird's resignation, saying it was a "personnel matter."

Dr. Paul Keys, dean of the College of Health and Human Services at Southeast Missouri State University, is president of the board. Keys said Bird was making a salary of $37,000 to $38,000.

Rick Hetzel, Cape Girardeau's police chief, serves as vice president of the board. Hetzel said the board plans to hire an interim director within a week and then commence a search for a new executive director.

Southeast Missouri's Weed and Seed is operating this year on a $750,000 grant. The money goes for administrative expenses and for funding of Weed and Seed projects in the five cities. Weed and Seed money, for example, helped fund Cape Girardeau's Good Hope neighborhood police station.

Keys said federal funding for the region's Weed and Seed program was received in late December.

Bird's resignation shouldn't pose a problem for the program's future. "We feel things are pretty well settled," said Keys.

In addition to an executive director, Weed and Seed of Southeast Missouri also has operated with an administrative assistant since January.

Both Keys and Hetzel said Bird had done a good job in getting the program launched.

"He wrote up the entire five-city application, which brought in three-quarters of a million dollars," Keys said.

Hetzel said Bird "did a good job" in establishing the framework for the Weed and Seed program in the region.

"I think we will continue to see a lot of very positive things occur in the communities involved," Hetzel said.

Bird explained that a large part of his job has been explaining the idea of Weed and Seed.

"It's a non-typical program," he said. "People are used to waiting for someone to tell them what will happen. This is a grass-roots community strategy that gets people involved with their own destinies."

He was successful in bringing awareness to the program. "People know it's not a gardening program," Bird said. "We were able to lay a foundation for growth. Now we are ready to take things up to the next level, solidifying the targeted areas."

"I've worked closely with my father for the last few years," Bird explained. "At this time, with the growth in the ministry, this is my destiny."

In his new position with the church, Bird will work with people to develop job skills.

Keys said the five-city Weed and Seed program is the only one of its kind in the nation. There are about 100 Weed and Seed programs in the nation, but the others are limited to a single city.