Successful ideas honor those who followed through

To the editor:

How often does someone send a letter describing how he has been wrong? The paper described the barbecue contest, now in the 11th successful year. It is largely the project of the agricultural committee of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, of which I was a member. When the contest was first proposed, I expressed timidity at the idea.

I also had strong doubts about the prospects of the Rotary Club of Cape Girardeau's plan for a Soap Box Derby and was impressed by Thoreau's caution that "Possessions are more easily acquired than gotten rid of." Fortunately, bolder residents than I carried these projects to fruition.

Dr. Edward Schneider, Charlie Knote, Leta Bahn, Dieter Jedan and others can look upon these projects as personal tributes. I find wisdom and refuge in Pope's cliche: "Be not the first by which the new is tried, nor yet the last to lay the old aside."

PETER HILTY

Cape Girardeau