BLOOMFIELD GOOD CHOICE FOR CEMETERY

The selection of Bloomfield for one of two state veterans cemeteries in Eastern Missouri will be a nice addition to the community. It is an appropriate selection for a number of reasons:

-- The Stoddard County seat community continues to raise money to build a Stars and Stripes Museum and Library, which is under construction across the street from the cemetery site. The two will compliment one another.

-- Bloomfield is centrally located in Southeast Missouri, the region the cemetery is to serve. Travel to and from Bloomfield from any part of the region is fairly easy and a short trip.

-- Bloomfield is about midway between the Missouri Veterans' Home in Cape Girardeau and the Veterans Administration Hospital in Poplar Bluff.

-- Stoddard County will give the state 50 acres of land for the cemetery, keeping the costs down. The land used to be part of the Stoddard County poor farm.

The Missouri Veterans' Commission, which is developing a state cemetery system for veterans, solicited and received six proposals for the cemetery. The cemetery is expected to have room for 20,000 to 25,000 graves and should be usable for a minimum of 60 years.

The museum and library are named after the fact that Bloomfield is the birthplace of Stars and Stripes, a military publication. The publication still thrives today, although it isn't published at Bloomfield. The small community also has a rich history from the Civil War.

The museum is in the process of collecting military artifacts for display. The same individuals developing the museum put together the cemetery proposal, and they deserve praise for their efforts.

Among proposals was one from interests in Cape Girardeau County. That proposal, however, did not include an offer of free land, as did Stoddard County's. The state commission could hardly turn that offer down.

The Bloomfield cemetery is expected to be ready in 2001. With the museum and library being developed in the meantime, Bloomfield can look forward to providing a facility that will offer information on the Stars and Stripes and military and a final resting place for thousands of U.S. veterans.

DEXTER NEWSPAPERMAN HEADS TO HALL OF FAME

A newspaperman who witnessed and reported on events across Southeast Missouri for many years will be inducted Oct. 30 into the hall of fame of the Missouri Press Association during its annual convention in Kansas City.

Barney Miller, who bought the weekly Dexter Statesman at Dexter in 1957 and combined it with the weekly Messenger into a twice-weekly publication, is among the eighth group to be inducted into the hall of fame since it was established in 1991 to honor those who have made exemplary contributions to the newspaper industry. Miller sold the paper when he retired in 1984.

Four other newspapermen, including the late Oliver B. Ferguson, who published the Fredericktown Democrat-News from 1946 to 1975, also are among the inductees.

Miller's Dexter Statesmen stayed on top of events in Dexter and Stoddard county, as it does today, in the true spirit of a small-town newspaper. It is fitting that fellow newspaper people think so much of his to bring him into the hall of fame. His contributions to industry have been immense.