Retired professor Charlie Rodriguez, of Murphysboro, displays his photo of the Southern Illinois Airport tower Friday that he took in the mid 1990s. The control tower at the Murphysboro airport control tower risks closure by April 1 because of federal spending cuts. Rodriguez said the control tower enables communication between pilots and air-traffic control operators. “I’ve been flying since 1974, and we’ve always had some sort of control tower ever since I can remember,” he said. Alexa Rogals-Daily Egyptian