Richard A. Howerton
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
We seen two comments in the newspaper concerning the statue of Ceres that was recently removed from the Capitol dome.
In the event that there is consideration for a replacement for the statue of Ceres, please consider this:
Thousands of students come from every school district in the state to visit the Capitol building each year. They look up from their bus to get their first look at the Capitol, and with their first sighting they see on the top of the Capitol dome a statue. Now, the question is what statue could make an impression on these students?
Should they see a statue of a mythical Greek goddess? Or, should they see a statue of a real person from Missouri history?
There is a man in Missouri history who should be considered. This man began life as a slave on a cotton farm in western Missouri. He, along with his mother and sister were stolen by bushwhackers (horse thieves) who rode away with them. Then, because he was so sick that he was thought to be dead, he was thrown away to the side of the road. When he was found, he was lying in the dirt by the side of the road. And, from that most meager of beginnings, he became the most important and most decorated man ever to be born in the state of Missouri.
He was honored with too many decorations to innumerate here, but just as an example, there is a nuclear missile submarine named “USS George Washington Carver.”