I-66 in Cape is impractical, illogical

To the editor:

As a resident of Cape Girardeau County with roots since 1803, I have enjoyed the sparring of words on the I-66 project.

Sikeston is dead right on this issue, and Cape Girardeau is dead wrong. Thomas Jefferson said that "error of opinion can be tolerated as long as reason is left free to combat it."

I-66 is a vainglorious dream of parochial patroons of a city whose infrastructure is crumbling and whose public schools are suffering the metastasized cancer of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, while clinging with Faulkner-like attachment to the past.

Cape has a bridge to nowhere. It was needed. But in the more practical, rational scheme of things, it is impractical, illogical and not reasonable in today's environment to dream of an interstate highway with a nexus in Cape Girardeau.

Cape, stop trying to emulate Paducah, Ky. Expend your energy understanding why and how Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas continue to experience industrial growth, population growth and commercial development. Why have Jonesboro, Ark., and Springfield, Mo., eclipsed your position and status? Why have their universities prospered exponentially?

Sikeston, understand that Cape's attitude and behavior have a historical basis. Many there have always looked down on those outside her city limits. They even tried to steal our jail here in Cape Girardeau County once upon a time.

GEORGE MILLER, Oak Ridge