The weekly tribune and the Cape County herald. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1914-1918, 1915-09-24
BRIDGE PLANNED
FORSLOANCREEK.
ROW IN COUNCIL
Fowler, Scivally and Koch
titzky Try to Decide
Streams Jurisdiction.
MANY NAMES ARE ON
LIST ASKING SPAN
Council Decides to Make an In
VestigatiOn to Decide Who
Does Work.

When representatives of a hundred
families in North Cape last night pc
titioned the City Council to repair a
concrete bridge over Sloan's Creek on
North Main street, it was revealed
that responsibility for the structures
maintenance had been avoided by the
township highway commissioners in
the face of an agreement with the
council.
A sharp collOquy took place between
Councilman Jay Z. Fowler and Coun-
ty Engineer Dennis Scivally and Otto
KOchtitzky of the township commits
! sioners.
Kochtitzky and Scivally declared
that the commissioners had not prom
ised to take care of the bridge to an
extent that would require them to
make the present repairs. Mayor Rage
supported Fowler in his contention
| that the commissioners had.
The petition asking the repair of the
bridge was presented to the council by
Mercer D. Wilson, president of the
Wilson Bros. Realty Co., and Thomas
NJ. Williams. The council voted to have
City Engineer Chris Silver confer with
the Street and Wharf Committee as
well as the Judiciary Committee in
| handling the matter.
An effort will be made to determine
whether the city or the county is re-
spOnsible for the repair work, and
should the city undertake the respon-
sibility it is probable that work will
be commenced at once to have the re-
pairs made.
The petition asks for particular at
tention given to the approaches espe-
cially the one on the north side of the
structure.
The petitioners are property own
ers and resident sof the Robinson Gale
road and Red Star additions and the
bridge is used by virtually all of the
residents of those places in getting to
and from the city. The present condi-
ton of the approaches makes it wholly
impossible for the crossing to be used
by vehicles of any sort and the road at
precent is fenced up.
"By the expenditure of a few hun
bred dollars to put in retaining
WALL" the petition says, "and dirt
filling on the north approach, it would
restore safety both for vehicles and
for pedestrians.
"a committee recently waited upon
the highway commissioners of this
township and asked for help in re-
storing the crossing to a safe condi-
ton. The commissioners refused any
help on the ground that they were not
authorized to make any repairs inside
the city limits, unless it was on a
street that connected with gravel or
a macadam county road.
"The property owners, 100 families,
are forced to go to the Bend road and
cross by the iron bridge to reach work
at the schOe factory and to get the
children to the Washington school,"
The following were the names at
tached to the petition: n. H. Frazier,
Abe Seabaugh, C. E. Markest, ]. J.
Markest, c. Rem, William Rose, L. A.
O'Howell, Beammer Lumber Co., Geo.
R. Nieswanger, Freeze Threshing Ma
chine Co., John Clark, Ernest Lee
Bowman, w. C. Peterson, ]. J. Kimbel,
Stephen Kimbel, Walter Gerhardt, H. |
A. Knoop, H. N. Wood, Paul Brooks,
DR.. D. NJ. Blount, John w. Brooks,
John A. Oxford, H. S. Deane, Ben
Vineyard, H. E. Alexander, J. E. Cahill, |
Otto Friedrich, B. Kraft, w. S. AL |
bert, w. F. Bergman, W. G. Bartels,
w. w. Hinchey, B. Kroft, Bertha
Vogt, ]. C. Gale, John L. Miller, South |
Side Realty Co., w. c. Balm, Thos. M.
Williams, G. C. Robinson, Wilson
Bros. Realty Co., C. J. Winningham |
and Moses Whybark.
Mayor Rage called upon Scivally to
explain why the commission refused to
do the work and by what law the re-
fusal was made.
Scivally said that the statutes re-
quire the county to make the road and
bridges within the city when they con-
meet with a hard paved roadway lead
ing from the country into the confines
of the city.
The roadway in this case is not
paved in any fashion so that the law
does not apply. The Big Bend road
with the iron bridge over the creek is
by the county he said.
Fowler then rose to his feet and de-
clared that it was his impression that (
the commissioners had agreed to take {
care of this concrete bridge anyway.
Scivally then explained that the /