LETTERS: ACT NOW TO SAVE PAST FOR TOMORROW

To the editor:

Recently I visited Calavaras Big Tree Park while vacationing in California. Being a native of the Southern Illinois-Southeast Missouri area, I was in complete awe of the huge redwood trees. While walking down one of the paths, we spotted a hulking mass of what had once been a magnificent redwood tree. My boyfriend and I read the small epitaph that had been written for the tree. Discovered in the early 1800s, the tree was the largest in the grove. Our forefathers were so impressed with the discovery they systematically stripped, dismantled and destroyed the great tree. It was shipped back to the East in sections and reassembled for gawking crowds, all just to prove to those in the East that these trees really existed. Now all that is left are the scarred remnants of the beautiful tree. It is a sad testament that people were so thoughtless and destructive. Something that could have been left alone and enjoyed by everyone now only reminds us how many of our ancestors chose to ravage and deconstruct rather than beautify and restore.

My point is this: Do we want to continue this arrogant policy, or do we want to rise above it and make Cape Girardeau a shining example of a town dedicated to preserving beauty. Cape is an old town with a lot of history. Yes, a large percentage of the old buildings in town are in less than their original splendor. But if the community stands together to demand restoration instead of demolition, it can be done. New York is doing it. Kansas City is doing it. Savannah has done it. Is Cape too small? Or is Cape too small-minded? Please, choose to work toward restoration for our community. Otherwise, in five to 10 years we will have nothing but scarred patches of land with epitaphs of "Here lies only the memory of a beautiful turn-of-the-century building."

MELINDA LOHMEIER

Cape Girardeau