May 10, 2009 10:26 PM
Q: What do Vladimir Lenin, Josef Stalin, and Ho Chi Minh have in common with The Kansas City Star?
A: They have all been lovingly preserved long after death in glass caskets for their adoring throngs to see.
Not everyone gets to build their own mausoleum. Even Lenin and Ho Chi Minh didn’t plan for such extravagances as being embalmed and put on display. But as recently as 2006, the Star sought to immortalize its nineteenth-century printing technology by putting it under glass. (Take that, Internet!) Just two years later the paper was shedding employees faster than Mayor Funkhouser's administration. Did the Star really not see this coming?
At some point in the not-too-distant future, Kansas Citians--assuming there is anyone left to pay the earnings tax--will have to decide what to do with the Star’s Crystal Casket.
(Story continues below.)
As a public service, The Missouri Record invites readers to submit their ideas for consideration. We’ll nominate the best and let readers vote for their favorite.
To save time, we’ve already entered suggestions from City Councilman Russ Johnson (a light rail hub station) and former mayor Kay Waldo Barnes (a TIF supported something).
There is no award, save for the unlikely chance that the winner will be featured in a slow news day edition of the Star's blog, Primebuzz.
Thanks for participating, and best of luck to you all.
Patrick Tuohey is president of Market and Communications Research Inc., a public opinion and communication research firm he founded in 1999. He and his wife Michelle live in Kansas City, Missouri with their three daughters.
Hey everyone, it's The Record's first online contest!
