Veterans consider alternative

Lincoln County Veterans Memorial Committee members, given five site options within Riverfront Park for a veterans monument by the Park Committee, have narrowed their choice to two — one within the park and that of others outside the park.

“We’ve got people willing to buy us an acre. We’ve got some things to decide,” Veterans Memorial Committee Member Terry Andreessen said during Friday’s noon meeting with Libby Park Committee members at City Hall. 

The veterans’ meeting was the second in two weeks with the Park Committee. During the meeting last week, Park Committee members, which consist of Councilwomen Peggy Williams, Vicky Lawrence and Robin Benson, provided veterans with five sites within the park, none of which included the 5,625-square-foot area in the center of the park the veterans seek.

Of those five sites, veterans said they are willing to consider site option “A,” which is located on the curve of the west side of the park near the David Thompson Search & Rescue headquarters.

Sitting in on the meeting was Mayor Doug Roll, a Marine Corps veteran.

“While your monument is beautiful, I’m afraid this will become a veterans park,” Roll said. 

Roll reminded veterans of the history of the park, that it was once a contaminated industrial site, and that the idea of rebirth for Libby is the theme Park Committee have for Riverfront Park.

“I enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1973. I never expected anything for my service. ... I think the folks on this committee are being portrayed as having little respect or appreciation for veterans, and that is unfair,” Roll said.

Roll defended the Councilwomen’s position on the park, as protecting the theme as rebirth for the park and indicated Park Committee members felt intimidated by the Veterans Memorial Committee during their last meeting. 

Williams confessed she felt intimidated during the last meeting. In describing the women’s feelings, Roll described the act as bullied.

 “That last statement is bull,” quipped Andreessen.

Veterans Memorial Committee Member Ken Mancuso quickly apologized if that was the feeling Park Committee members felt upon the conclusion of the last meeting.

“I have felt intimidation,” Williams admitted.

Still, the Park Committee held its ground on maintaining the green space in the center of the park.

“People have come up to me and told me ‘we do want the green space,’” Lawrence said.

Roll then reiterated the beauty of the Veterans Memorial design.

“It’s a beautiful statue. Can’t we find a way to integrate it into the park?” Roll asked the veterans.

The Veterans Committee agreed to work with the Park Committee developing an idea for the monument at Site A. However, as Andreessen stated, the veterans want to consider all options, one of which was a site elsewhere.

Both sides agreed to work on their respective processes and meet again after Thanksgiving. No further date has been set.