SOME DISFAVOR HAVING TO LEAVE FOR NEW BRIDGE; HOMEOWNERS ON ROUTE REJECT STATE OFFERS FOR THEIR PROPERTY

Anna May Williams, a retired mother of seven, likes to sit in her front yard in the evening and talk with her neighbors. On the quiet street where she lives, she says, everyone knows one another.

But she knows her days there are numbered.

Her house is on the corner of Asher and College, where the new Mississippi River Bridge corridor at Cape Girardeau will be. The quiet neighborhood where Williams lives will be leveled to make way for the bridge.

"I put everything I had into this house," said Williams. "I've had a hand-to-mouth job all my life, and I always thought if you worked hard and were honest, you'd be rewarded."

Williams said she doesn't want to give up the four-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath home where she frequently babysits her grandchildren.

"I like progress, but this is a good neighborhood," she said. "They want to push us out."

Williams purchased the house 20 years ago and was looking forward to the day five years from now when the mortgage will be paid.

But now she feels anything but rewarded. She said the state isn't giving her enough for her home.

The state has offered her $16,000 for her house and $27,000 in right of way compensation, for a total of $43,000. That covers relocation expenses and property rights. She says it's not enough to purchase a similar house in a similar neighborhood.

"They say we live in a depressed area, that's why we're getting what we're getting," she said.

She said every house state workers have found for her is, to her, not as nice as the one she's got. So far, she has not agreed to sell and says the state is not being fair to the residents of Asher Street.

Williams receives Social Security and says she won't be able to buy a house comparable to the one she's got without taking out another mortgage.

"And who is going to give me a loan at my age?" she said. "I'm on a fixed income.

"If they can't come up with something, I'm going to be here when they build the bridge," she said.

Williams is one of more than 100 people who will be relocated to make way for the bridge. About 30 of them have already sold their homes to the state. Not all have yet been approached by the state and not all feel they aren't getting a fair deal.

"We certainly try to make these people as happy as we can," said Leroy Nunn, the head of the Missouri Highway Department Right of Way Division in Sikeston. "We do our utmost to find them something as good or better."

In fact, he said, "For many of these people, we're buying homes they'd never be able to sell."

But Williams' neighbor, Betty Mosley, is also not selling her three-bedroom house where she, her husband and three sons live.

"There is a lot of sentimental value here that they're not considering," Mosley said. "They're not concerned about what our homes mean to us."

Mosley has lived in the house for 14 years. The state is offering her $15,400 for the house and another $22,600 for the property rights. She says it's not enough.

"It's not fair. But none of us has enough money to fight the state, so they think they can walk all over us," she said.

State officials say they're not taking advantage of anyone.

"I've never forced anyone out of their home," Nunn said. "This can be settled out of court."

It's expected to cost about $6 million in relocation costs before the bridge route is cleared. Nunn said most of that money isn't going to pay for real estate. Most of it will go to fulfill state guidelines concerning relocated families.

In most cases, the state is required to pay the families' living expenses for 42 months, such as the $27,000 Williams was offered. And that's on top of the cost of the real estate. The relocation costs include the property rights as well as increases in mortgage payments, utilities and similar costs.

If the homeowners have to take out a new loan at a higher rate of interest, the state is required to make up the difference.

Nunn said state workers help displaced families find available, comparable homes in similar neighborhoods. The state is required to find "safe, sanitary" homes for all displaced residents, he said.

Unlike renters, home owners are required to purchase another home in order to collect the relocation costs, Nunn said. The state pays closing costs.

"They'll be paid for their real estate regardless of whether we buy the property or we have to resort to condemnation," he said. "They'll get the money for their property."

But as for the relocation money, "The rule is, you've got to spend it to get it," he said, according to state law.

Mosley said that's not fair.

"When push comes to shove, they're taking your property," she said.

When home owners like Mosley are not satisfied with the state assessment, there are several options, he said. One of the options is fighting it out in court. The state would first have to condemn the property.

The relocation process will take several years. Nunn said it's often the most difficult phase in a highway project that involves destruction of homes.

"It's difficult, but not insurmountable," he said.

"We try to cut down on the hurt these people feel by making sure they are completely satisfied. But we are not required to move them any place they want to go."

Williams and Mosley said they'll stay in their homes, at least until they're forced out.

"My 13-year-old said he's not moving," Mosley said.

But the bottom line is, Nunn said, the houses have to go.

"If the state did not have the right to eminent domain, there would never be any progress," he said.

On Monday: One man who lived in a rented house along the bridge route compares his state settlement to "winning the lottery."