YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT: TEEN-AGERS TAKE ON CITY ISSUES

Missing perhaps only a controversial liquor license renewal to debate, a mock Cape Girardeau City Council, composed of students from area high schools, tackled issues mirroring those the actual council recently faced.

And mock mayor Teresa Minor of Notre Dame Regional High School gave the gavel a good workout, rapping the bench-top to restore order.

Monday, the students took to the actual City Council bench in city hall and handled both hecklers and the intricate rules of council procedure.

The meeting was part of the 16th annual Optimist Club Youth in Government Day, which also featured students job-shadowing city employees and a luncheon.

More than 75 students from Central, Jackson, Notre Dame, Oak Ridge, and Delta high schools participated in the event, which was sponsored by four Cape Girardeau and two Jackson Optimist Clubs.

Ending the council debate whether to install a automated camera at a city traffic light to film traffic offenders, councilwoman Alyssa Holyfield of Central High School said, "I believe people will learn what light we have that on, and will figure out ways of getting around it."

On the debate whether to ban fireworks to ease the number of fireworks complaints to Cape Girardeau Police, it was Notre Dame student Matthew Long's turn to offer the final word.

"Enforcing it strictly would take up just as many resources as taking the calls," the mock councilman said.

Following the council meeting was lunch with guest speaker Morley Swingle. The Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney told the assembled students that reading of the prosecutions of Nazi officials at Nuremberg and of Charles Manson in California was what first interested him in his chosen career.

On the many judgment calls of when to prosecute, Swingle said, "Sometimes it is obvious, and sometimes you have tough decisions to make."

Swingle said one of the tough decisions was opting not to prosecute the man who shot and killed Debra Ann Poch, 44, of Cape Girardeau, who a neighbor believed was "Railroad Killer" Rafael Resendez-Ramirez trying to break into his house.

Optimist Club member Thomas M. Meyer, a local realtor, is credited with keeping the Youth in Government Day tradition alive in the Cape Girardeau-Jackson area.

Meyer said he recalled what an impact a job shadowing day had on him as a high schooler.

"I remember going to the old police station and sitting in on a (mock) jury," Meyer said.