'It belongs to the soldiers'

The veterans' memorial on the northeast corner of the Square has been in place for more than 50 years, and veterans want it to stay there. The Nevada Parks and Recreation Board was exploring the idea of moving it to Earp Park, where a new memorial is planned, but has no desire to do so if it's not best for everyone and won't pursue that option further now that veterans have indicated they don't want the existing memorial to move, parks board president Jim Novak said. --file photo

Local veterans have no problem at all with the city of Nevada parks board's proposal to build a comprehensive veterans memorial in Earp Park -- so long as the existing memorial on the northeast corner of the Square stays put.

Nevada Parks and Recreation Department administrative assistant Ryan Renwick brought the proposal to the Vernon County Commission on Wednesday, charged with the task of presenting the notion of moving the existing memorial to the Earp Park site as part of a proposal to construct a memorial to veterans through the ages, to be lighted and adorned with eight flags, also lighted, with the Vernon County Valor mural as a backdrop. The parks board also proposes accessible restroom facilities on site and proposes parking behind the site, in the lot formerly serving Charter Communications.

But representatives of local chapters of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, Vietnam Veterans of America and the Elks all gathered at the meeting to express their collective desire that the existing memorial remain on the Square.

The memorial has been on the Courthouse lawn for many years. Representatives of the VFW said it had originally been the VFW's project and was later donated to the county.

Legally speaking, it belongs to the county, but commissioners adamantly agreed with the representatives of veterans organizations, saying it belongs to veterans.

"It belongs to the Vernon County soldiers," said Eugene Webb. "I commend the people who placed it there in the first place. It's the ideal place for it. People can walk by it, and say to their children 'these are the people who died' in the service."

Lawrence Daniels noted that the Earp Park location also would not offer adequate parking and space for annual Memorial Day ceremonies, which draw large crowds, including many people in wheelchairs. "There's just not adequate parking there."

Webb added, "Have you ever been to one of those ceremonies?" To those who answer no, he said, "You're missing something. We don't think it should go anywhere."

"Certainly something could be included for these people (in Earp Park), but not that monument," said Northern Commissioner Neal Gerster.

Parks board president Jim Novak said in an interview later that the board's intent in going to the commission was to determine whether there was interest in putting all the memorials in a centralized place. "It was just something we were wondering about. What we want is to make sure everybody has the best thing we can. The question was, 'would it be better for all concerned if we did it this way.' The veterans were pretty clear about what they thought, so we're not going any further with that."

The parks board will continue to pursue a separate comprehensive veteran's memorial for Earp Park, but the notion of moving the memorial on the Square is no longer an option at all.

"When you're trying to figure out what do do, it's a process" involving many steps. The first step they took was to see if it was possible from the county's standpoint. The next step would have been to see how the veterans organizations felt, find out if it could be moved safely, then seek input from the public and so on.

"If we found out people were opposed to this, we weren't going to do it," Novak said.

As it turned out, the first two steps took place at once, and Novak is glad the veterans spoke their minds, because now the parks board has clear direction about what people want them to do.

"We really try to encourage public comment. We need to know what the people want and how they feel about things. Now, we'll go on with the new memorial and make a nice park everyone can be proud of."