Dialogue, willingness to compromise led to agreement
“Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don’t believe is right.”
— Jane Goodall
* * *
Mostly, it is a done deal.
Aside from working out a few logistics of such things as moving one of the new irrigation lines, agreeing on who will cut the grass and make sure the site is maintained, the veterans memorial will find a home in Riverfront Park.
Hooray for dialogue!
Chalk one up for the willingness to find common ground. (Sorry, no pun intended.)
As the veterans and the Park Committee succinctly put it: It was time to end the angst, come together and find a solution for all of Libby. And, they have.
The son of a military man, I got to see first-hand the sacrifices my father, and mother, made for our country.
Veterans are right up there with apple pie and baseball.
Did they deserve a place in the park?
Absolutely.
Is it where they initially wanted to be. No, but things have a strange way of always working out for the best, I believe.
It IS a great site.
Consider this: The memorial will be on the southwest curve of the park, which will virtually wrap around nearly three of five sides of the marble and bronze monument.
Folks, this memorial will be a destination. Think of those veterans who may not be able — or at least have difficulty — to get out of their vehicles. Certainly, there is ample parking in this area, but if they want to drive around it, they will almost be able to do that entirely.
This site is right next to the road.
If the site were in the middle of the grassy area that the Park Committee wanted to preserve, those disabled veterans would have had a more-difficult time in reaching it.
In my father’s waning days, walking great distances was not something this once-tough Chief Master Sergeant relished.
The close proximity aspect is something not wasted on Lincoln County Veterans Memorial Committee President Dennis Osborne, who I bumped into at Rosauers this week.
“That’s really a big plus, and its something we thought about after (Committee Member) Brent Teske staked it out,” Osborne said. “I think its a huge plus.”
Also, there already is ample parking, and the Park Committee is discussing a restroom in that general area.
Board Member Ken Mancuso said the day he revisited the site with Park Committee Chairwoman Peggy Williams and Teske: “I liked this site from the beginning.”
Mancuso explained they believe the site will be ready — except for the Scott Lennard-created bronze — by Veterans Day 2013. The bronze, Osborne said, “will take 13 months to complete.”
Thirteen months is a long time, but if it’s anything like the Lennard bronze at Fireman’s Park, and we expect it will be, it will be well worth the wait.
Congratulations to everyone involved in making this happen!
(Alan Lewis Gerstenecker is editor of The Western News. His column appears weekly.)