EDITOR:
I saw your Facebook post about painting the Platte City water tower orange.
Brings back memories of the controversy about the color in 1992-1993. I was on the city council at the time and the council was split on the color, 3 to 3. Sonny Hill Motors used the water tower as a selling point in their advertisements, “Right by that Platte City Water Tower” was the closing statement on his TV advertisements. Talk of painting the water tower beige like the new tower east of town brought a lot of attention to the painting process and costs involved.
High school students were involved with petitions being circulated and signed in favor of orange. Sonny changed his closing statement in his TV ads to “Right by that orange Platte City water tower” while holding an orange in his hand.
It was interesting that the three aldermen wanting beige were alumni of Platte County R-3, while those for orange were not, me included.
The city council election that spring brought on board a new alderman in favor of orange, and immediately after being sworn in, a vote was held and orange was the color!
As a sidenote, Sonny Hill paid for the clear coat to keep the orange from fading with money that, as it turned out, should have been sent to GMC financing.
Feel free to share this information with your readers if you want!
--Dennis Meyer
Platte County
