To the editor:

A statue of Rutherford Hayes! Flush goes the toilet — $400,000 down the drain. What are city leaders thinking?

Let’s do something great. How about a statue of a big hole in the ground? I don’t care if the city of Delaware gets grant money or donations … there has to be thousands of ways to spend money better than a statue.

Maybe we have too many assistants with nothing to do but think of ways to spend tax dollars. Grants are tax dollars. You know the story of the guy selling “sky hooks.” Well, the city of Delaware would evidently buy them as an investment. After all, the inventor probably was born close to here.

How in the world is a statue of Rutherford B. Hayes going to add to the image of Delaware? He was born here and left, never to return. When I first read this article in the paper, I thought it was a joke. City government must have too much money. Sell that corner lot and help residents of Delaware.

John Riggs

Delaware