NEW MU ARENA: IS THIS WHAT TAXPAYERS WANT?

He's 76 now, but former Missouri Gov. Warren Hearnes is far from trading in his remarkable legal and political career for a pair of pruning shears and an easy chair.

He's active in community affairs in Charleston, Mo. He passionately follows state politics. And he is very in touch with the people of Missouri -- the people who elected him governor on two occasions in the 1960s.

And he recently showed he's in touch with the pulse of the people with some wise, pithy comments about the University of Missouri-Columbia's plan to build a new arena for the basketball Tigers, relegating the arena named for him to practice sessions and other events.

The idea might be insulting to some two-term governors. At least it might make them a little sad.

Hearnes doesn't see it that way.

"How I feel or don't feel is immaterial," he said late last month. "My only question: Is this a good deal as far as the taxpayers are concerned?"

That's the $75 million question for every taxpaying resident of Missouri. Legislators are considering a proposal to budget $35 million for the new stadium plus sell bonds for additional costs. Private donors would pay the rest.

It sounds nice. Who doesn't want Missouri's largest university to be a showplace? In fact, the exact same desire is what launched MU's Hearnes Center.

Hearnes said he was in Champaign, Ill., at the time to watch the Tigers play the University of Illinois, and he toured the new basketball arena there.

An impressed Hearnes returned to his home state and asked MU's athletic director why Missouri didn't have such a building. He was told request after request had been denied. The Tigers were playing then in a dilapidated Brewer Field House.

With his famous mix of political savvy and brute force, Hearnes pushed his $12 million arena through the state legislature. It was completed in 1972.

Many Southeast Missouri residents have visited it while following their favorite high-school teams for state basketball competitions.

Of course, buildings become outdated or too small for their purposes. It's the nature of things as our state grows and as more students elect to complete a post-high school education.

But Hearnes raised a good point when he asked: "Are we going to go into debt every 30 years for a new stadium?"

Most Missourians probably would answer "no."