CITIZENS ARE NOT SERVED BY DELAYS ON LAKE ISSUE

The topic of a large recreational lake in Cape Girardeau and Bollinger counties was revived at a meeting Tuesday night but little light was shed on the future of the project. If anything, the endeavor's move to demise or fruition has been further delayed by a straw poll to weigh public opinion in the matter. Taxpayers of the two counties deserve better.

After years of study and after legislation was signed by Gov. John Ashcroft establishing a lake authority and paving the way to a public vote on a tax to fund it, the Bollinger County Commission backed out of the project in 1990. Commis~sion~ers ~there declined to call an election for their constituents, which would have given them a true sense of the citizens' mood. In Cape Girardeau County, where support for the project was more visible, there was no choice but to follow suit; without the accord and property of both counties, the project could not be undertaken.

At the Tuesday meeting, held after eight months in limbo by the bi-county lake committee, the presiding commissioner of Bollinger County recommended that a non-binding straw poll be placed in a weekly Marble Hill newspaper to judge citizens' attitudes about the issue. Because the newspaper has a circulation of 3,500 and there are 7,700 registered voters in that county, it was suggested other ballots could be available at the courthouse.

There are several problems with this approach. One is that there is no scientific method here to determine the wishes of the people of Bollinger County. The commissioner is proposing that a $73 million enterprise be decided in the same way the Major League Baseball all-star team is picked. The derisive term "vote early and often" comes to mind; those with a vested interest in the outcome of the poll, either for or against the project, could pad the results without hindrance.

Another problem is that little new ground is being plowed here. People in the marketing department of Southeast Missouri State University conducted a scientifically valid lake survey, commissioned by the Southeast Missourian, in April 1990. That survey showed that 37.5 percent of Bollinger Countians favored the lake concept, while 48.8 percent opposed it and 13.7 percent had no opinion. On the question of a 25-year, one-cent sales tax to fund the lake, 41.4 percent of those in Bollinger County favored it, while 58.6 percent opposed it. What is to be gained at this point, what will the Bollinger County commissioners learn, by taking another survey, only one with less credibility?

One of the questions suggested for the straw poll was this: "Should the people of Bollinger County be permitted to vote on the lake issue?" Doesn't it seem redundant to have citizens step forward to vote on whether they should be able to vote again? Democracy has never been made more cumbersome.

If Bollinger County residents are concerned about the wording of the state legislation, as many have claimed, let them work to amend it. No such action was attempted during this year's legislative session.

Two facts are inescapable. One is that taxpayers have paid more than $120,000 so far in the lake effort; none of that money was forthcoming from the Bollinger County Commission. The other fact is that county officials are elected to make tough decisions, not defer them to newspaper straw polls.

Frankly, the exercise of meetings with no accompanying action has grown tiresome. If the lake project has a life, let's get on with it. If it is dead, let's not expend more time on it. In neither case would either county's taxpayers be manipulated as they are now.