Wednesday, April 25, 2012 NATION
SPORTS
Primary wins
Victory for Jackson
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney captured wins in several states’ primaries Tuesday. Page 5A
Jackson’s baseball team beat Perryville 10-0 in five innings Tuesday. Page 1B
County backs away from buying former federal building for now
Poseidon was winning the battle.
The rivers had taken the reins.
Mortals pleaded for government’s mercy.
But heartbreak spilled over.
DOCUMENTS SHOW the county had made offers of more than $1 million in the past BY SCOTT MOYERS
SOUTHEAST MISSOURIAN The Cape Girardeau County Commission has officially ended negotiations that never really got started with the new owner of the former federal building on Broadway. Meanwhile, the federal government agency that unloaded it has admitted to major missteps in the way the sale was handled. The commission voted unanimously Thursday to “cut off all negotiations at this time due to the lack of response from the current owner,” according to
minutes from the closedsession meeting that were provided to the Southeast Missourian in response to a Sunshine Law request. But the 150 pages in closed meeting minutes that dates back to 2009 also tells the story of the county’s frequent attempts over the years to buy the building, with offers that ranged from $1 to $1.2 million and that, in fact, a deal was in place at one point for the county to own it. But those all fell through, only to have the agency ultimately sell the building in February to someone else for $325,015. The documents also helped shed light on Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy’s calculated gamble to stop bidding during a See BUILDING, Page 11A
Docs Read minutes from closed sessions of Cape Girardeau County Commission meetings at semissourian.com. DAVID CARSON ~ St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“The entire system was at risk. There were eminent failures.”
An explosion lights up the May 2 night sky as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers blows an 11,000-foot hole in the Birds Point levee in Mississippi County, Mo.
BY MELISSA MILLER
On this day, April 25
SOUTHEAST MISSOURIAN
Cape river level: 40.3 feet Cape flood stage: 32 feet Cairo river level: 54.6 feet Cairo flood stage: 40 feet Rainfall: 4.69 inches
Reservoirs were full, the rivers kept swelling and the rain kept coming. The Ohio River set a record of 61.1 feet on the Cairo, Ill., gauge. It was still climbing. Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh, president of the Mississippi River Commission, had a decision to make on May 1, 2011. Under the Flood Control Act of 1928, The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had the authority to intentionally breach the Birds Point levee and relieve pressure from the rising waters. His decision to act on this authority May 2 flooded 130,000 acres of farmland — home to about 50 families in Mississippi and
Several more roads in Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Perry and Scott counties were closed due to flooding. The American Red Cross opened a shelter for flood victims. Gov. Jay Nixon activated the Missouri National Guard and promised he would do everything in his power to keep the corps from blowing the Birds Point levee. The corps announced that officials will meet tomorrow on whether to blow the levee. For a complete timeline of the Flood of 2011 or to see the photos from last year, go to semissourian.com/flood2011.
Photo gallery See photo galleries, view an interactive timeline and read coverage of the flood at semissourian. com/flood2011. New Madrid counties. It’s a decision, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, that prevented more than $112 billion in damages throughout the Mississippi River and Tributaries system. But the farmers, whose livelihood depends on the floodway, are still counting what Walsh’s decision cost them. The Food and Agriculture Research Policy Institute estimates the crop losses alone at $85 million and a broader economic impact
exceeding $156 million. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson contends the corps wasn’t working off proper maps of the floodway and based its decision on incorrect hydrology. A levee break in an unexpected area could have easily caused $1 billion in damage, said Robert Anderson, corps spokesman in Vicksburg, Miss. “The entire system was at risk,” Anderson said. “There were eminent failures. All along the system people were really at the point where the levees were about to be either overtopped or the pressure from the historic heights was just going to create a failure in an area that is not scheduled to fail.” See FLOOD, Page 11A
Weapons charges dropped in Nov. concealed gun case THE SUSPECT had maintained that he had only been trying to protect himself BY SCOTT MOYERS
SOUTHEAST MISSOURIAN Calling it the “appropriate thing to do” in light of the evidence, prosecutors Tuesday dismissed a weapons charge against a Jackson man who stood accused of wielding a gun during a heated argument at a Cape Girardeau gas station last November. James H. “Junior” Swift was in court Tuesday awaiting a judge’s decision about whether he would stand
trial for unlawful use of a weapon when word came down that the charges had been dropped. Swift, who is licensed to carry a concealed weapon, had maintained that he had only been trying to protect himself when he reached into his car and put his gun in his waistband following an argument about moving his car at Kidd’s on Broadway. At issue was whether Swift deliberately displayed the weapon in an angry or threatening manner, a legal prerequisite for the charge. Cape Girardeau County assistant prosecutor Jack Koester began to have doubts about the charges See CHARGES, Page 11A
Cape Girardeau Junior High School officials seeing an increase in number of mice try to ward them off,” said Neil Glass, the Cape Girardeau School District’s administrative services director in charge of facilities. School administrators said they aren’t sure exactly why there seems to be an increased number of mice running about the school this year,
BY ERIN RAGAN
SOUTHEAST MISSOURIAN Cape Girardeau Junior High School students are reporting they’ve had some unwelcome guests recently. “We’re doing the best we can to
but they are trying to take care of the problem. One factor may be that portions of the school are more open to the elements because of ongoing construction of a library addition on the school’s east side, Glass said. Mice sometimes get into other
buildings in the district in addition to the junior high, but that school seems to see the problem more frequently, he said, especially when the weather turns cold. The addition is scheduled to be completed in July. “We can hit it a little harder after
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construction and make sure they are gone,” he said. For now, the district has contracted with a local pest control company to get rid of the mice using glue traps, and students have been
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Volume 108 • Issue 174
H:75 L: 63
Partly sunny and warm