Tonight the combined boards that oversee the Joplin Museum Complex will meet to discuss and vote on the plan presented by City Manager, Mark Rohr, on moving the JMC to a restored Union Depot building. While we believe the vote will be only to push for further investigation and feasibility, it’s an important step in the future of the JMC and for Joplin.
It is at this point that the JMC can reject the plan, and if the City Council refuses to throw its considerable heft into the question, thus will end the chance to bring history to history. The SPARK program, outlined by Mr. Rohr in his recent guest column in the Joplin Globe is a dynamic and bold vision for the future of the city. The transfer of the JMC to the Union Depot is likely not a make or break element of SPARK, it should and will move on without the JMC if the Board chooses to vote against the plan. However, to do so will result in the JMC failing to keep abreast with the future of the city and her people. The museum, relegated to Schifferdecker Park, will remain out of sight and out of mind of most Joplin citizens.
This is a chance for the members of the Board to recognize the same spirit of Joplin that they charge themselves with protecting, the boldness of miners and merchants, and a people who saw only a bright future for the city at the edge of the great Southwest. We urge the Board members to vote in favor the of the plan or be left behind as the rest of Joplin moves forward into the future.
This is what one of the JMC meetings might sound like:
Clair Goodwin (Old White Golfer): Gosh, I’d hate for the JMC to be moved away from Schifferdecker Golf Course. I wouldn’t know what to do.
Brad Belk (Under-qualified Director): Me, too. Our current location in the boondocks keeps people away which means I have more time to groom Percy the Cat. Isn’t that right, Percy?
Percy the Cat (Fleabag): Meee-ow! (Translation: Help me!)
Allen Shirley (Pharmaceutical King): I’d hate for the JMC to move because then I might actually have to donate money for the new facility instead of buying old newspapers and Lincoln memorabilia that have nothing to do with Joplin’s local history.
John Knapp (Geology Professor at Bruce Speck’s University): Ugh, I’d have to come up with new information for the mineral collections. I can barely teach kids physics, let alone about rocks.
Bob Harrington (Just Another Old White Guy): I’m too bloated to think. At least Bruce Speck gives me a paycheck.
Obviously, fun aside, Mark Rohr are smarter than these old white goobers. I predict they hem and haw and fail to move the JMC to the Union Depot because they are too old, too stubborn, and too stupid to do the right thing. I wish the city would cut off funding, kill the museum, and disperse the collections to credible museums and archives.