Treatment of local veteran group through the memorial monument process stumps reader

Letter to the Editor,

After reading all the articles about the Park Committee and our mayor and how they have treated the Veterans Committee, I just can’t believe what I have read. Matt Bunk, publisher of The Western News, said it all, but I’m going to add my thoughts.

I just don’t understand what could possibly have been a problem in picking a site for the proposed Veterans Memorial. Seems to me the Veterans Committee should have been allowed to place the memorial where they thought it should be and not by the railroad tracks or way to the back of the park. Shame on the Park Committee for proposing such a site.

The Mayor and City Council seem to make problems when none exist. I hope when the dust settles, the mayor and Park Committee rethink how they have handled this and have a lot of second thoughts.

One of the mayor’s comments was they didn’t want to turn the park into a veterans park. Does anyone have a problem with that? If you do, you had better think about it. No one has done more for all of us than the vets. The mayor said the park was for the rebirth of Libby. Unfortunately, the vets who have died for our freedom do not have a rebirth.

I get tears in my eyes at the Veterans Day services and especially when “Taps” is played. However, I am always disappointed at the small attendance.

People either have an awful short memory or just don’t care. I will never ever understand why people will not take a few minutes (It’s about a 20-minute service) out of their busy lives to pay respect for the people who have made it possible to live and breathe the American dream as we do today.

— Garman V. Guthrie

Libby