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CAT Tracks for March 1, 2009
UP, UP AND AWAY |
From the Southern Illinoisan...
Cairo airport ready for takeoff
A partnership between Shawnee Community College,
By Adam Testa, The Southern
CAIRO - Driving through Alexander County on Illinois 3, one could easily overlook the small hangars and pilots lounge of Cairo Regional Airport.
Off the path of interstate traffic and away from the daily routines of residents, the small facility serves a variety of businessmen, farmers and local parachutists. But in the eyes of many community leaders, the airport offers a potential for growth, development and educational opportunities.
Leaders from the airport, Cairo, Alexander County, Shawnee Community College and Southern Illinois University Carbondale are moving forward with plans to construct a satellite campus for the two schools' aviation programs at the facility.
Plans call for the construction of a new hangar, three laboratories and a series of classrooms for classes offered by both Shawnee and SIUC. The site would also serve the "2+2 program," in which students can begin their studies at the community college and finish on the Carbondale campus.
For the people planning the project, it's about much more than a new facility.
"It's not about this building. It's not about the college," Shawnee President Larry Peterson said. "It's about our people, the hope and the opportunity."
Cairo Mayor Judson Childs said a realistic vision of hope is what the city needs. Several projects, including a rumored coal gasification plant where the airport sits, have built unrealized hope for Cairo, once a bustling community of nearly 20,000, now whittled down to a population of about 3,600.
Officials realize what could happen with an airport expansion, including the possibility of attracting new businesses, and has placed their full support behind the project, Childs said. While the city coffers aren't able to support the $5 million cost of the project, local government plans to lend support through all other means possible.
"Anything that's going to bring anything to Cairo and help develop the economy, we support that," Childs said. "I think once we get this one thing going, everything will fall in place."
A financing plan for the project has not been finished, but Peterson said money may be available through the Illinois Department of Transportation's aviation branch and the federal economic stimulus bill recently approved by Congress.
Donald Turner and Jack Gutterman, chairman and secretary of the Alexander County Airport Authority, said their organization's budget does not raise enough money through tax collection to support the entire project, but the board has placed unanimous support behind helping move the project forward.
The airport authority owns more than 300 acres of farmland beyond the airport's two runways and terminals, and this land could be used to develop businesses and industry in the area, Gutterman said.
While many associate the aviation industry with only flight, the training programs of Shawnee and SIUC's nationally recognized aviation program prepare students for careers in maintenance, aviation technology, management and more, Peterson said, adding most of the nation's current business in these fields is outsourced to other countries.
A facility and partnership of this magnitude would help lure businesses to keep the work local and bring jobs to an area of the state with very high unemployment levels, Peterson said.
"An already existing airport could be a gold mine, not only for education but also economic development," he said. "It's a golden opportunity for our college and our district."
SIUC and the Alexander County Airport Authority
seeks to build $5 million worth of infrastructure at the
Cairo Regional Airport facility. The venture will provide
Shawnee a place to operate its aviation program and
might also benefit the economy and commerce of Cairo
and Alexander County, as well as breathe new life into
the airport. (Steve Jahnke, The Southern)