And answer without delay.

It was asked by downtown developer Jerry Cargill, who was upset that Marshall city commissioners and staffers did not attend a forum on tourism Friday at the Weisman Center.

"Why should I waste my time?" Cargill asked.

Cargill was perhaps a bit too polite to ask another obvious question: "Why should I waste my money?"

Cargill did not come to Marshall to earn a wall of plaques or gain accolades aplenty from the townsfolk. He is not spending piles of his own money just so people will like him. He is a businessman who, though he dearly loves Marshall, eventually expects to make his money back. This is exactly as it should be. Those are the kinds of business people we want in Marshall: Those who want to succeed.

But though he does not want the title, let their be no mistake nor doubt: If downtown Marshall is saved, Cargill will have been the one responsible. He had a vision and then he put the vision to work and he has invested his own time and his own money to see it happen.

So we can certainly understand his frustration at the lack of interest from tax-funded entities such as the city of Marshall and the Marshall Economic Development Corporation. After all, part of the taxes brought in by tourism will fund their activities.

While it is apparently true that one city staffer attended part of the meeting Friday, and that Main Street Director Bo Ellis attended the entire meeting, we agree with Cargill that this was not enough. Not nearly.

The overall tourism efforts of the city of Marshall are abysmal – and this is not a comment on the work being done through the chamber of commerce or new tourism director Geraldine Mauthe.