County paving

Today is the deadline for property owners along Cape Girardeau County roads designated for this year's paving season to commit to easements. Foot-dragging negotiations with a few owners have bogged down these efforts in the wake of the approval in 2006 by voters of a special county sales tax. The county requires all landowners along a designated paving project to donate easements.

The county commission's decision earlier this week to set the deadline was a good one. Instead of continuing to spend considerable time and energy convincing holdouts to sign, the county has made it clear that it wants to keep its commitment to hard-surface as many gravel roads as possible using revenue from the sales tax. If landowners don't provide the easements, the county will choose other roads in need of paving.

For the most part, landowners have been generous in giving easements for roads that not only have hard surfaces but also are wider and safer. The notion that some reluctant property owners could be persuaded by the peer pressure of neighbors has work in some cases, but not all.

Move on. There are plenty of county roads that need paving -- and plenty of willing property owners along those roads.