Dear Editor,
Selmo Park is on its last legs, with the bulldozers due to move in in less than a month. Instead of an historic house, we’ll have some “green space,” thanks to many years of less-than-benign neglect. The price tag for renovation was cited as $2 million; the price tag for demolition is another hole in our local history and heritage.
As is typical for UCM, public input was neither requested nor accepted. Their mind was made up before the public was made aware of the problem. Unofficial rumblings were heard as far back as last October; a few Homecoming beers loosened a tongue. UCM’s decision proves that it cares little for Warrensburg’s heritage, just as the new retail complex as part of the dorms under construction on South Street proves it cares little for  locally-owned businesses.
The short term costs overlook the long term costs. I doubt if the 440+ persons who like an unpubliczed Facebook page (Save Selmo Park) will ever donate to UCM. The actual costs of demolition have not been publicized; have the costs of providing & maintaining a new, “suitable,” presidential residence been reported?
Each UCM President leaves a legacy and many have been memorialized in campus buildings: we have Diemer Hall, Lovinger Hall, the Elliott Student Union. We could have a Chuck Ambrose art gallery, museum or welcome center; it appears we will we instead have the Chuck Ambrose hole in our heritage.
Bill Wayne (BS 1989)
Sandra Wayne (BS 1974, MA 1977)
Warrensburg