County can give Veterans Memorial project final push it needs

Time to put Veterans Memorial Project at finish line.

Veterans in the county received some good news this week, which will give their Chase County Veterans Memorial effort the big nudge it needed, thanks to Imperial city council members and support from the mayor.
    A unanimous vote at the council’s Monday meeting designated $100,000 toward the veterans memorial project a committee has been working on for years. Now, it’s the county’s turn to lend its support by a formal vote for its courthouse lawn site and additional financial support to put the project at the finish line.
    The memorial planning committee has already raised $20,000 toward the project. Their work started nearly three years ago after the Vietnam Memorial Traveling Wall set up in Imperial for several days. They will continue to sell memorial bricks and committee members have a number of other fundraisers in the works for this year.
    This project doesn’t need to be a long drawn-out affair. With the city’s donation Monday night, they are already two-thirds of the way there. The county should also commit some direct funds to the project, adding to the valuable donation of a memorial site they will likely act on next week at the commissioners’ meeting.
    As one council member emphasized Monday, “This needs to get done.” I totally agree with that statement, adding “this year” at the end.
    But I think a comment during the meeting from veteran Bob Mendenhall says even more. After the council had discussed other funding options that didn’t fully fund the project, Mendenhall, a veteran of the Vietnam War, said, “Let’s have the city and county split the bill; the veterans have already paid their price.”
    Who can argue with that?

 

The Imperial Republican

308-882-4453 (Phone)

622 Broadway St

PO Box 727

Imperial, NE 69033