Letter From Kentucky - 8

This first part of the stanza implies how the city has changed. He uses the hotel and airport name changes to illustrate time changing and the city evolving, while showing the slow process of evolution and the traditions that were strong enough to survive the changing times. Whats unique about the second stanza is about conversations the author overhears at a bar. The conversation he spends the most time on is one about someone convincing a man not to commit a crime. As the author does throughout this stanza, he uses his environment to depict on what level things have evolved in his city, and where they've remained the same.

The reason the man speaking tells the person not to commit the crime is to not have further trouble than he already has. Once again, the purpose of this is to depict the evolution of the city.
Something I didn't understand was the importance of the last few quotes the author overheard at the bar. I didn't understand what the significance was of the connection, or lack thereof, of the topics of conversation. The only use I could really gather is to depict there are more people at the bar.