LETTERS: CITY FLAG IDEA BEGAN EIGHT YEARS AGO

To the editor:

Congratulations to the teacher and Class of 2000. Cape Girardeau will finally be getting a city flag.

As one of the writers of the flag proposal submitted to Vision 2000 in 1993, I have a particular interest in this issue.

There is one matter that requires clarification, however. The Sept. 27 editorial states, "Now Councilman Melvin Gateley suggests an official flag for the city as well." This statement may lead readers to conclude that the flag proposal originates from that source.

When I was an undergraduate at Southeast Missouri State University in 1993, I participated in a group collaboration with Libby Boleach, Lisa Durham and Barry Shuck to create specific documents which would enable a group of interested city residents to implement activities to bring about the creation and adoption of an official city flag. Nor was it our group that originated the idea. Indeed, our group continued the initial proposal by a previous group of professional-writing students (Michael Dickey, Matt Toenskoetter and Roger Merseal) in 1992. All of us were under the direction of Dr. Michael Hogan (Department of English), who had made the proposal to the Council on the Arts as early as 1989.

Both the 1992 group and our 1993 group presented our proposals to Mr. Gateley, because he was the leader of Vision 2000. Particularly, we though that a flag would be the legacy of the city's bicentennial year. And we included that emphasis in our proposal. The 1993 set of materials laid out the plans and the procedures and forms for bringing the proposal for a city flag to fruition.

Thus, the suggestion for a city flag is a full eight years old. The high school teacher is to be congratulated on identifying a group which is interested in this civic project. Speaking on behalf of both groups of university students who created the two sets of documents to try to implement the creation and adoption of a city flag, I am happy that finally something is being done.

LINDA BARRO

Cape Girardeau