LETTERS: PLEASE HELP CURB ACTS OF VANDALISM

To the editor:

Thanks to a generous donation from the Downtown Cape Girardeau restaurant and bar owners, the Downtown Merchants Association once again made efforts to beautify the area by installing four large planter pots near the clock on Main Street only to have them vandalized repeatedly. If you will recall, two years ago just prior to Riverfest, 18 flowering baskets were hung in that same area. Within three days, all were stolen or destroyed beyond use.

Visit any city across the country and you can see anything from quaint whiskey barrels filled with annuals to expensive limestone pots filled with dramatic plant displays. Yet here in Cape Girardeau it seems difficult to provide such things for the enjoyment of all.

What has been done on the corners at the clock on Main Street is only a start. The plan is to extend the idea throughout the downtown and historic area. However, if the vandalism continues, the project will cease due to those who have no appreciation for the beauty, effort and expense.

Could the community in general help us protect and maintain the efforts made to beautify the downtown area? We believe more merchants and homeowners across the city would landscape more extensively if they could trust it would not be vandalized. Please help by reporting vandalism of landscaping and structures to the proper authorities.

DEBBIE NAETER, Chairman

Downtown Beautification Committee

JIM WEATHERHOLT, President

Downtown Merchants Association