Symbolism cuts both ways in public park monuments

Apparently the Supreme Court has not really settled the constroversiy over private donations of monuments for public parks.

Alert reader "John F" appended a comment today's column on this subject, which included a quote from Samuel Alito asking what the meaning of a statue of Pancho Villa in a Tucson, Ariz., was supposed to mean: "Does this statue commemorate a 'revolutionary leader who advocated for agrarian reform and the poor' or 'a violent bandit'?"

John F wrote, "The statue of Villa was a gift to the city of Tucson from its sister city of Hermosillo and was delivered to Tucson in the summer of 1980 or 1981. I was living there at the time and a college buddy of mine and I went to the next meeting of the city council and proposed that since the people of Hermosillo felt that honoring us with a statue of Villa was a good thing we should show our gratitude by honoring the city of Hermosillo by presenting them with a statue of Blackjack Pershing.

"For some reason the members of the council didn't think that was a good idea."

Now there's a message whose meaning is hard to miss.