It's never too late to make a big deal out of a small flag

What follows is a true story.

Last week I took my wife's car for an oil change. The car is eight years old. It has just over 11,000 miles on the odometer. Neither of us can remember the last time the oil was changed. The reminder sticker on the windshield said the next oil change was due when the odometer rolled round to 12,000 miles or in February -- of last year. So we were either a thousand miles early or 18 months late for the oil change.

But that's not the point.

The point is this: I took the car to an auto dealership on South Kingshighway. As I drove into the service bay, I had a clear view of the landscape to the south of the dealership. I saw something I had not seen on previous visits. But, as you can plainly figure out for yourself, I don't visit this particular dealership all that often.

There were two fellows behind the service counter. As they poked keys on a computer to start the oil-change routine, I casually asked: "How long has that cell tower been there?"

Without looking away from the computer's screen, one of the service managers said: "What cell tower?"

Then both of the guys looked outside to see what I was talking about. One of them said: "That's a cell tower?"

I said I thought it was a cell tower like the one planned to improve service in downtown Cape Girardeau. "Huh," said one of the fellows, who continued to look at the cell tower as if it had just sprung up overnight. "It looks like a flagpole."

Bingo!

Two birds with one stone.

Not only are plain cell-tower poles virtually invisible to the human eye, they are ASSUMED to be flagpoles.

Which undergirds my contention that at least one of these towers should, indeed, do double duty as a flagpole.

Of course, as I've repeatedly stated, the flag I have in mind is the Missouri state flag. The state flag was born right here in Cape Girardeau. Quick: Name five famous individuals including Rush Limbaugh who can claim Cape Girardeau as their birthplace.

Having trouble coming up with Numbers 2, 3, 4 and 5? I thought so.

Cape Girardeau's role in the history of the Missouri flag has been all but ignored over the years. But decades of neglect are no excuse. This city should be ballyhooing its claim as the birthplace of the Show Me State flag.

So, what's it going to be? Will someone take the lead -- someone who can make key decisions about cell towers, for example -- and install a magnificently large Missouri flag? Or will someone make the case for a special Missouri flag installation in a prominent location somewhere in our fair city?

Or will we lapse into another century of neglect, avoiding at nearly all cost the historical heritage whose mother was one Mrs. Oliver, who apparently knew a thing or two about stitchery?

As anyone driving through the construction zone around the new roundabout at Lexington and Route W can plainly see, there is a need for a prominent fixture in the middle of the circle. How big a Missouri flag do you think would fit there?

There are at least a dozen or so other decent locations in Cape Girardeau for a monument-sized flagpole and flag featuring the Missouri flag.

Pick one.

Put up a pole.

Run up the flag.

Tell everyone you know: We are proud to be the birthplace of the our state's flag.

Joe Sullivan is the retired editor of the Southeast Missourian.