WORK BEGINS ON HIGH SCHOOL GYM FLOOR

Work began this week to install a new floor at Cape Girardeau Central High School's gymnasium.

The subfloor was installed over the top of the existing floor Monday and Tuesday. The actual wooden floor planks are scheduled to arrive Thursday.

School officials hope the floor will be done in four weeks.

The project is being financed by a group of parents, alumni and businesspersons led by businessman Kermit Meystedt.

Meystedt hopes to raise $75,000 to pay for the floor. He signed a line of credit with a local bank, making the project possible this year. The fund-raising effort is just beginning.

"We've just kind of put it on the back burner because of the flood. We were hoping not to muddy the waters, so to say," Meystedt said. "We thought everyone's donations should be going to the Red Cross and the flood relief."

Now that floodwaters are receding, Meystedt said he hopes community members have some money left over to pay for the new floor.

Anyone wishing to contribute may call Meystedt at his company, Genesis Transportation Co. Inc., at 335-2275.

While the floor didn't look like much Tuesday afternoon it was covered with plywood boys basketball coach Rod Gorman and athletic director Terry Kitchen said it looks great to them.

Gorman said he and members of the team are looking forward to practicing on the new surface.

"The game of basketball is meant to be played on a hardwood floor," Gorman said. "We think our facility is one of the best in Southeast Missouri. Now we will be one of the best in the state."

Gorman said the new floor should provide a safer surface for students.

"The old floor was a synthetic poured surface that gets harder as it gets older," he said. "When we practice on that floor for a week, players start to have sore knees and shin splints. It's really hard on their legs."

"The new floor is for the whole school," said Kitchen. "The gym is used for physical education courses."

"The way money is now in education there is no way Central High School could have gotten a floor like this," said Terry Kitchen, athletic director.

"We really appreciate the support of the citizens of Cape Girardeau."

He added that community support generates enthusiasm among the student body.

"I can tell that the basketball players, both girls and boys, are excited," Kitchen said. "We are going to put forth good athletic teams, but we need to have parents and alumni and concerned citizens backing you up. That's what makes sure students will give it their best."