A northbound Water Street creates problems

Q: I have read many times that Water Street needs to be one way going south, but have never understood why. If Main is already going south, why can't Water Street go north?

A: "Water Street could be made one-way northbound, but this would create its own set of problems," said Kent Bratton, Cape Girardeau city planner. "If Broadway, between Main and Water Streets, was left with two-way traffic, a turn-around would have to be built on the north side of the Water-Broadway intersection. There is not enough right-of-way available to do this at this time. A solution to this would be to make this one block of Broadway one-way westbound. However, then visitors coming east on Broadway would have to 'detour' down Main to Themis and then to Water Street to reach the riverfront and the mural. A further complicating factor is that a new office building is planned to be built north of this block of Broadway and its principal access will be from Broadway.

"There is simply no easy solution for this issue," Bratton said. "These, and a number of other alternatives, have been thoroughly discussed by all of the parties involved over the last year."

Q: Is it true that the Southeast Missourian has bucked the national trend toward declining newspaper readership and has actually seen a steady increase in the number of subscriptions to the newspaper?

A: "This is fact," said Southeast Missourian circulation director Mark Kneer. "The Southeast Missourian daily and Sunday paid circulation numbers have increased about 2.4 percent over last year." Kneer also explained that readership -- how many people are reading newspaper content, even if they don't buy their own copy -- is way up. Combined with distribution of Southeast Missourian news via the Internet, and readership is at an all-time high.

Q: Is it true that a respected, veteran Cape school board member was forced to abruptly resign from the Cape School Foundation Board? More than one thousands votes were cast for her. Citizens want to know.

A: Not true, said Sharon Mueller, who is cycling off the foundation board after several years.

"When the foundation was developed, we wanted to have two school board members on the foundation board," she said. "But every spring the school board has a reorganization meeting, and I decided to be on the policy committee for the next year. This allows school board member Charles Bertrand to take my place on the foundation board, and it gives me more control of my schedule. I still have a lot invested emotionally in the foundation."

Besides serving on the policy committee, Mueller, who is vice president of the school board, will continue to serve on the facility committee.

Angie Bender, executive director of the foundation, echoed Mueller's comments.

Jon K. Rust is publisher of the Southeast Missourian. Callie Clark Miller provided information from Angie Bender. If you have a question, e-mail factorfiction@semissourian.com or call Speak Out (334-5111) and identify your call as a question for "Fact or fiction?"