Cape Girardeau County allows burn notice to expire

A burn advisory, in effect for just more than a month in Cape Girardeau County, will now be allowed to expire, the County Commission decided Monday, Oct. 31.

The county issued the advisory Sept. 29 after Mark Winkler, the county's director of emergency management, warned of combustible conditions because of "a combination of temperature, low humidity, dry ground covering and possible increasing winds."

At the time, Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy said the advisory, which included discouragement of open outdoor burning, would be revisited when conditions change.

"I think it's fair to say conditions have changed," said Sam Herndon V, the county's deputy emergency management director, on Thursday, Oct. 27, citing the wet weather of recent days.

"We've gotten a dozen or so calls over the least four or five days asking if the advisory was going to be lifted," he said.

Weather Underground, wunderground.com, noted 0.6 inches of rain fell Wednesday, Oct. 26, with an additional 0.4 inches Sunday, Oct. 30.

The National Weather Service has indicated the next chance of rain locally will be Saturday, Nov. 5, when more than a third of an inch of precipitation is forecast.

"It's time to let [the advisory] expire," Second District Commissioner Charlie Herbst concluded.

County park lighting

The commission Monday chose Cape Girardeau's Metro Electric Supply, out of three bidders, for lighting supplies to add new illumination in Cape Girardeau County Park South. Metro will be paid $14,700 for 30 new "heads" at $490 each. Part of the funding for extending the lights comes from a recreational trails grant received from the state Department of Natural Resources.