CentOS - Aug 2005 - How do I get a "preferences" menu back into my panel?

For reasons I don't understand, there is no "Preferences" menu
available
in any of the drop down menus in my panel in Gnome.

It was there before, but I'm not sure what I could have done to remove 
it or how it could be missing.

How do I get a "preferences" menu back into my panel?

Dave