JACKSON, CAPE CONTINUE USEFUL TALKS

Cooperation. That has been a watchword between the cities of Cape Girardeau and Jackson in recent months. The Cape Girardeau City Council and Jackson Board of Aldermen held its first joint meeting in January to discuss issues of mutual interest. Since that time, city leaders have continued to hammer out such critical concerns as annexation, road needs and shared water for emergency use.

This renewed spirit of cooperation makes sense for neighbors with growing commercial and residential districts. There's nothing wrong with good-natured sports rivalries. But progressive communities must band together for the greater public good in terms of orderly development and growth.

Both communities feel strongly about maintaining their own identities. There are no secret agendas here: No plans for one city to gobble up another, no talk of community mergers. Both Cape Girardeau and Jackson are thriving on their own merits.

City officials in both towns are working to identify growth patterns over the next five to 20 years. Cost is a significant factor, because annexation isn't cheap. It brings the promise of extending sewer, water, streets and police and fire protection within a specified period of time.

The two cities have already informally agreed that Jackson will grow into the areas west of Interstate 55 from the I-55/U.S. 61 interchange to Fruitland, while Cape Girardeau will grow into the east side of that corridor. Cape Girardeau has already extended water and sewer lines to the new Notre Dame High School on Route K, and Jackson plans to build a new school on Highway 25. Annexation of nearby properties seems sensible.

But many areas along Route W, Route K and Highway 25 won't be easily divided. Both cities hope to focus on friendly annexations as has been done in the past. Fighting with landowners and neighboring cities can be costly from a legal standpoint.

Some small successes have already been achieved such as extending the cable access channel to Jackson. Both cities also worked together in support of developing an I-55 interchange to accommodate Jackson's extension of East Main Street and extending a Route K-Highway 74 link to the interstate. The joint committee also lent its support for developing an east-west interstate highway between Paducah, Ky., and Van Buren.

No one expects such major issues as annexation to be hammered out overnight. The process may take several years of give and take. But as long as the lines of discussion remain open, the public interests of both cities and citizens are better served.