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When he was a young man playing in a band, he found his calling. Miller grew up on the south side of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½, near Cleveland High School. He played the accordion, then the drums. He played in several bands. One of them performed at weddings.

Miller sometimes felt the venues were poorly managed. So he got into the wedding venue business. For more than 40 years, he and his wife, Donna, have operated in south ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County, on Telegraph Road. Their daughters now help run the business.

The banquet center hosts more than weddings. Sometimes it serves people at the other end of the life spectrum, hosting funeral gatherings, particularly for military families who have buried a loved one at the nearby Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

About a decade ago, Miller and some other South County business folks had an idea. They wanted to build a monument — a “flag plaza� of sorts at the intersection of Interstate 255 and Telegraph Road, on the southeast corner. It’s where lots of people turn off to get to the cemetery.

“We’re welcoming people from all over the Midwest,� Miller said.

The highway intersection, owned and operated by the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT), has never been very welcoming. Miller and Annette Adams, who lives in Oakville, put together an ad hoc group called the Telegraph Road Beautification Committee. They started recruiting volunteers to pick up trash along the side of the road.

In 2012, they got support from ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County officials and the federal government to build their plaza. They secured $300,000 in federal funding to build a stone wall and erect seven flags: the U.S. flag, the Missouri flag and one flag each from the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard.

MoDOT said no.

The state agency had cooperated with local governments on such projects before, such as allowing cities to install welcome signs on state right-of-ways. But for the plaza proposal, MoDOT wanted a government body to “sponsor� it and pay for upkeep.

“Everything about the project was a fight,� Miller remembers.

The reason he told me about the project that never came to fruition is because of a column I wrote earlier this month. MoDOT cleared the section of land where the flag plaza had been planned. There were a couple of unhoused people living on the land in tents, and the site had become overrun with Bradford pear trees, honeysuckle and invasive weeds. MoDOT’s response was to send in the bulldozers.

In the agency’s zest to evict two people who weren’t causing anybody any problems, Miller and Adams saw an opportunity.

“With the quadrant now cleared, it is the ideal time to landscape it,� Adams wrote me in an email. “Devoted members of the Facebook group spent many hours clearing and cleaning the area for years. It would be much easier now, with the trees and shrubbery removed.�

It’s been nearly a decade since the flag plaza plan was shelved, but the county ordinance that was passed to allow its creation still exists. And according to county documents, most of the federal money should still be available.

Marie Elliott, a spokeswoman for MoDOT, told me the agency is open to having talks about the flag plaza.

“We are available to discuss a new proposed concept with this group,� Elliott wrote me in an email. “The group is welcome to discuss or submit a proposed concept.�

But the same problem exists. MoDOT needs some agency — preferably a government agency — to sign on the dotted line and take responsibility for ongoing maintenance.

The area in question is in unincorporated no-man’s land, and the county declined previously to take on the responsibility.

Adams wonders if the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County Port Authority might be interested. That economic development agency hands out grants every year, with much of the money generated from the nearby casino.

“We are so fortunate to have a national cemetery in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½,â€� Adams says. “I know there are enough people that want to see this area improved.â€�

The land is cleared. The plans are drawn up. Volunteers stand ready to clean the area and keep it pristine. All a good idea needs to be pushed across the finish line is a willing government agency to adopt it.

Miller has the plans at his banquet center and hopes they can someday leap off the paper and come to life.

“Time is marching on,� he says.