P&G PLANT IS ANOTHER KEY COG IN AREA'S GEARS OF PROGRESS

The news that Procter & Gamble Co. will build another plant next to its existing facility north of Cape Girardeau caps a string of developments in recent months that clearly put this region near the top of any economic development list, either in Missouri or the Midwest. Consider:

-- Cape Girardeau voters approved a bond issue to make major improvements in the city's water system that will affect both the quantity and quality of water used by residential, business and industrial customers.

-- Dempster Hall, the new building on the Southeast Missouri State University campus that houses the business college, has opened. This multimillion-dollar complex is a state-of-the-art learning center that is as pleasing to the eye as it is functional.

-- Cape Girardeau voters approved a large-scale package of street improvements that will take several years to complete.

-- Work is nearing completion on the massive flood-control project along Kingshighway that will end annual flooding problems along a major business corridor in Cape Girardeau.

-- Construction has started on the much-needed Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge across the Mississippi River.

-- Work is expected to be completed later this year on the new highway link that will connect the new bridge to Interstate 55.

-- Retail and commercial development along Siemers Drive, parallel to I-55 between Route K and Bloomfield Road, is booming. Several major retail outlets along with a major office project and a new 14-screen cinema complex are either completed, nearing completion or under construction.

-- Notre Dame High School is gearing up to construct a new high school west of I-55 on Route K, and Eagle Ridge Christian School also is planning an educational complex in that direction.

-- Voters in the Jackson School District continue to support costly, but needed, construction projects to keep abreast of steady population growth.

-- And, thanks to supportive voters, the Cape Girardeau School District will be upgrading both buildings and programs in the years ahead, including a new elementary school, high school and vocational-technical school.

-- Osage Centre, Cape Girardeau's new multipurpose facility for meetings and indoor sports, has just had its opening, adding yet another first-rate facility to the existing meeting places provided both by hotels and civic buildings.

It would be hard to look at this list -- and any number of other recent developments, such as home and business construction and improvements to many existing businesses and industries -- without being impressed with the let's-get-it-done attitude that has taken hold of this area.

Key to much of this forward movement has been the support of voters who have repeatedly recognized the need for major projects that would enhance the education, living environment and overall business climate of the City of Roses and its environs.

Surely any industry, such as Procter & Gamble, would have to be impressed with this positive attitude. It is the same positive attitude that has made Cape Girardeau a trade center well beyond what might be expected for a town of 40,000 population. It is the same positive attitude that has turned Cape Girardeau into a premier medical crossroads, with two hospitals and dozens of medical clinics and specialty groups. It is the same positive attitude that has driven administrators and faculty at Southeast Missouri State University to provide opportunities for higher education that are among the best in the country.