DON'T BE FOOLED BY LAWSUIT AGAINST P&Z

Opponents of planning and zoning in Cape Girardeau County filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging the county commission's spending of tax dollars to develop planning and zoning regulations before voters approved the issue. The lawsuit was filed in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court against the county commissioners by 75 county taxpayers, including leaders of the Committee to Protect Land Owners Rights.

Anyone with 50 bucks, the saying goes, can file a lawsuit. This saying comes to mind when we learn of this 11th-hour suit coming just one week before voting on this hotly disputed issue. Suspicions are further raised when the attorney for those bringing the suit publicly states that in the event of a defeat of the proposal on Tuesday, the lawsuit might well be dropped.

Let's be clear: Voters can and will make up their own minds on planning and zoning. We have no problem with principled opposition and no votes that are based on facts. Many misleading statements have been made and much disinformation distributed, however, by opponents, including the canard that this proposal will lead to higher taxes.

Moreover, county commissioners find themselves in a catch-22: They spend a few bucks to develop preliminary plans so that voters have an opportunity to know what it is they're voting on, and get shot at. But if they hadn't done so, the same opponents would decry the fact that no one knew what they were voting on.

We are confident that no matter how you feel on planning and zoning, our county commissioners haven't violated any statute, a publicity-seeking lawsuit to the contrary notwithstanding.

Again, by all means vote against planning if that's where you come down. Don't base that position, however, on a bogus lawsuit that is overwhelmingly likely to be thrown out of court -- if it isn't dropped altogether by the folks who filed it.