Wait till you hear this great idea

During one of our philosophical conversations, a colleague here at the newspaper had a great idea and suggested I take up the cause in my column, because, goodness knows, this column will trumpet just about anything legal.

Look at the list: World Famous Downtown Golf Course, Cape Girardeau Fruitcake and Praline Festival Days, Battle of Cape Girardeau Grudge Match, Trail of Tears Rite of Initiation (participants cross the Mississippi River in the winter without a boat) and the All-County Sailing Relays at the Capaha Park lagoon.

Who says this column never comes up with any good ideas?

My colleague said he would just as soon stay in the background on this latest idea. He said I could take full credit. That was a tempting offer.

I will honor his request to stay low-key. I won't even tell you his initials. But his name is Jon Rust.

OK. Here's the idea:

There have been many suggestions about what to do with the old bridge. I say blow it to smithereens. But there are others who favor keeping pieces of the bridge -- if not all of it -- as a place to look at the river or a pedestrian-bicycle river crossing.

I don't understand those suggestions. As much as modern motorists have cussed that old bridge, it's hard to imagine any of them seriously discussing the notion of keeping a single rusted girder.

Besides, the Missouri Department of Transportation has a contract with the U.S. Coast Guard that says the old bridge has to come down. And that's that.

But Jon Rust's idea is intriguing, and it's the only one concerning the old bridge that makes a lick of sense. And I'm not just saying that because Jon is co-president of the company that owns this newspaper. That didn't even enter my mind when I decided to write a column saying how much I liked his idea. Honest.

What Jon proposed is that we keep the first three piers of the old bridge on the Illinois side of the river as monuments. Now, this takes some imagination, and you might have to squint your eyes to form a mental picture of what he's talking about. But give it a try. You'll see what I mean.

Take away the decaying hulk of the old bridge. Take away the main piers that are in the river channel and are a hazard for barge traffic. Just leave the three massive concrete towers on the Illinois side where there's hardly ever any water.

Those piers would be a fitting reminder of the history and service of the old bridge. By themselves, they are imposing structures that would be plainly visible from Cape Girardeau's Riverfront Park and from vehicles traveling over the new bridge.

China has its wall. Egypt has it pyramids. Paris has its tower. St. Louis has its arch. Sikeston has throwed rolls. Cape Girardeau also needs something completely useless but which would cause anyone to take a quick snapshot.

In time -- a few centuries, perhaps -- a certain mystique would surround the old piers. We would forget there was ever a bridge. Surely those monoliths date from some prehistoric era and either have some unknown religious significance or represent an elegant example of Iron Age astronomy. Right?

Now admit it. You like the idea just as much as I do.

If you don't, please keep your thoughts to yourself.

If you do, please remember to tell Jon how lucky he is to have an editor like me. They don't make 'em like me anymore. Tell him that.

R. Joe Sullivan is the editor of the Southeast Missourian.