Not impressed

I visited good ole ElDo in January of this year. I wanted to show my granddaughter where I grew up and other sites of interest in town. I was absolutely appalled at how much this fine town had eroded. I was literally ashamed to say I was from here. My father is buried at Clintonville Cemetery. I was also very upset at the upkeep of the cemetery. I was always so proud of El Dorado, but not so much anymore. Please, to the citizens and government of El Dorado, please try to clean up this city and make it as beautiful as it once was. Thank you.

Juanita Samples Wolf

Dear Ms. Wolf,

I know it’s hard to go home to a place that is changing. I’m glad you had many happy memories here.

However, as someone who lives here, I did notice that you did not exactly say what you were disappointed in. Did you go downtown and see the efforts of the Spring City Revitalization Group? I noticed you last visited in January, but surely you were here sometime in the summer months and possibly went to band concert in the Park. The Park Band has been playing continually in the summer for 135 years.  Did you visit our community building that houses the city offices, a gym, walking track, game room and weight room? If you had visited the community building you would have seen the plans for the new library.

Did you go by the school on Park Street and see the addition to the high school that includes another gym? Did you realize that the Cedar County Memorial Hospital has had two major additions since you’ve been gone?

The Chamber of Commerce has two clean up days that are community driven. The city has two bulky trash pick-up days a year. And in the last 20+ years, the city has demolished 78 derelict buildings.

We even have a solar farm

On May 12, Governor Mike Parson will be in town for the dedication of the Patriot Parkway, a section of Hwy. 54 that will display 48 American flags.

There are many people in El Dorado Springs working tirelessly to improve our hometown.

I invite you and your granddaughter back to El Dorado Springs anytime. Come by my office at 125 N. Main. I’d be more than happy to give you a tour of El Dorado Springs as it now.

Kimball Long