Cairo's residents are mostly black. The town is an arm pit, as I noted before, not worth the hundreds of thousands of acres of prime Missouri farm land that will be lost to production, plus the farm houses that will be destroyed.
I was in East Prairie, MO. just last week and Cairo, Il which is located a few miles upriver from East Prairie. I have an uncle who lives in East Praire and works at the grain elevators in Cairo. Cairo was once a beautiful river town ; lots of river barge commerce. The managing editor of a local news paper told me the small farmers are gone. East Prairie and Cairo are rotting down to older retired farmers and the rest is young unemployed. Lots of dope and crack houses in both cities. I mean, it’s like stepping into a nightmare. I have been going there to visit relatives since the 50s and have personally seen the decline. The local advise from law enforcement (friends of my relatives)is NOT to travel on the roads near Cairo after dark. Seems crackheads head for the freeway after dark and cruse for fun and game. I actually time my trips to pass Cairo during the day.
I was in East Prairie, MO. just last week and Cairo, Il which is located a few miles upriver from East Prairie. I have an uncle who lives in East Praire and works at the grain elevators in Cairo. Cairo was once a beautiful river town ; lots of river barge commerce. The managing editor of a local news paper told me the small farmers are gone. East Prairie and Cairo are rotting down to older retired farmers and the rest is young unemployed. Lots of dope and crack houses in both cities. I mean, it’s like stepping into a nightmare. I have been going there to visit relatives since the 50s and have personally seen the decline. The local advise from law enforcement (friends of my relatives)is NOT to travel on the roads near Cairo after dark. Seems crackheads head for the freeway after dark and cruse for fun and game. I actually time my trips to pass Cairo during the day.