Talks continue to make local memorial for veterans reality

Clear Lake veterans report they have not given up on the idea of constructing a memorial to veterans in the community.  

After almost one year of discussion, rejected proposals, appointment of a task force to study possible locations and, most recently, news that the group was deadlocked between two possible sites, V.F.W. Commander Mike Nelson said a small group of veterans has been meeting informally with Mayor Nelson Crabb and City Administrator Scott Flory to keep the memorial idea alive.

Nelson said that group is expected to grow to also include two City Council members.  He added that he is optimistic a veterans memorial will become a reality in the near future.  He declined to identify locations the groups has been discussing with city representatives.

City Councilman Mike Callanan (at-large) sounded off at the conclusion of the May 18 Council meeting, letting the public and other Council members know he does not consider it to be the Council’s job to promote construction of a veterans memorial.

“I continue to get lots of questions and discussion from the community on this topic; rightly so,” Callanan said near the conclusion of the meeting.  “I want to make it clear the only thing the Council has done is listen to input.  We voted to turn the Sea Wall location down and left it for a committee to study for six and one-half months, only to have the Sea Wall not get the hoped for verdict, or a majority.  This is not a City of Clear Lake project.  Local veterans initiated the idea and plan to raise funds for it.”

Callanan called any attempt by the City to choose a location for such a memorial a “fool’s mission.”  The group planning and paying for such a project should take the lead, he said.

“I’m a little frustrated at some pointing fingers at the Council asking us to take the next step,” he added.

Earlier in the meeting, Walt Muskovich, a resident of Clear Lake, spoke to the Council during the citizen’s opportunity to address the Council on issues not appearing on the agenda.  Muskovich, a Vietnam-era veteran, said he sensed a lack of direction for a monument.  He said he would like to see it located at the city-owned Veteran’s Memorial Golf Course on North Shore.

Since the beginning of the year other locations, including the Sea Wall, corner of 8th Street and Main Avenue, and area near City Beach formerly occupied by a water tower, were studied as a possible site for three flag poles and granite walls displaying the names of local veterans.  The City Council, on the recommendation of the Parks and Recreation Board, formally turned down a request to place the memorial at the Sea Wall.  No other specific site has been proposed.