VETO OF CRIME BILL THREATENS CRIME LAB

President Clinton's veto of a crime bill threatens efforts to relocate the Southeast Missouri Crime Lab.

The vetoed bill included $500,000 to refurbish and remodel a building at Ellis and Merriwether that has been used as a warehouse by Southeast Missouri State University's facilities management department. The remodeled structure would serve as the new crime lab.

The crime lab currently occupies an old house on Henderson Street. The lab has outgrown the 2,500-square-foot structure, whose small rooms were never designed to handle such an operation."We have got to get the crime lab relocated," lab Director Dr. Robert Briner said Thursday. The proposed relocation would provide the crime lab with 7,000 square feet of space on one level. "It gives you a lot more flexibility."The half-million dollars would have paid half the cost of the $1 million relocation and renovation project.

Briner said the crime lab already has the remaining funding, which includes a U.S. Justice Department grant of $250,000, as well as donations and money from the university and the state.

But the money committed to the project would go largely to furnish the new lab. Briner said the university and the crime lab were counting on the $500,000 in crime-bill funding to cover construction costs. "The $500,000 is basically bricks and mortar," he said.

Briner said facilities management crews are in the process of moving out of the Ellis Street building.

Briner hopes Clinton and Congress will include funding for the crime lab when they reach agreement on a crime bill.

If the money is there, construction could begin after the first of the year. Briner said he and his staff hope to move into the new crime lab by next fall.

Spokespersons for U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, and Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Missouri, voiced optimism that funding for the crime lab would be included in any compromise measure."Chances are pretty good that it will be in there," said Emerson spokeswoman Kris Kruger. "I don't see it as being any big sticking point."Bond spokesman Dan Hubbard said the senator would fight to keep the crime-lab funding in any revised bill.

Clinton wants Congress to provide funding in the crime bill for the hiring of more police officers.

But Emerson said the bill already includes $150 million for hiring police to work directly with schools and communities to improve school safety. It also increases Drug Enforcement Agency funding by $70 million."The president again has demonstrated that he is more interested in putting politics before people," Emerson said.