Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 8, 1994 TAG: 9409080052
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-11 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
The county Board of Supervisors will have to decide whether to do that, or build the memorial with the changes required by the town's Architectural Review Board. The review board was created several years ago when part of downtown Pulaski was designated as a historic preservation district. The board had told the supervisors informally that there would need to be some changes in the memorial if it were to fit in with the architecture of the old courthouse. The supervisors declined to make those changes.
Pulaski Town Council voted 5-2 Tuesday to uphold the review board's decision, which would eliminate the Old Courthouse bell as part of the memorial, use two traditional flagpoles instead of one T-shaped pole, and drop some connecting sidewalks.
Veterans packed the meeting, leaving standing room only in council chambers. ``We the veterans want this memorial and we want all this bickering to stop. We're trying to honor some people here,'' said Bill Manning, spokesman for Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1184 .
Others, including retired Army Lt. Col. Donald Glenn, urged council to accept the review board's recommendations. ``I think 99 percent of this has been settled,'' he said.
Councilman Roy D'Ardenne called for an end to the ``hateful discontent'' which he said has overshadowed the memorial's purpose.
No one has been opposed to the memorial, he said. Debate centered around where it should be placed, and the Architectural Review Board's few modifications ``are again being made to appear so large that we are sending signals to the outside world that major discontent threatens our ability to progressively move the town and county forward in harmony.''
He moved approval of the memorial with the review board stipulations. Councilman John Stone offered an amended motion to approve the project without the stipulations.
``I was in the Navy. I kind of like the yardarm,'' he said of the T-shaped flagpole. But his amendment was defeated 5-2. Only Alma Holston supported it.
``Things have been said. Feelings have been hurt that never should have been,'' Holston said. She said the 3-foot marble memorials bearing the names of Pulaski County veterans killed in wars, held prisoner or missing in action and most of the rest of the exhibit would be below the level of the fence in front of the courthouse.
D'Ardenne's motion passed by the same 5-2 margin, although it was re-worded to make sure the county could proceed with all aspects of the memorial except the three items singled out by the review board. ``I want the memorial to be built, whatever wording it takes to get there,'' D'Ardenne said.
Mayor Andy Graham did not have a vote, but apparently favored allowing the project without stipulations.
``The property is owned by the county, it's maintained by the county, it's their responsibility,'' he said. ``So it's very minor things that we're making an issue out of.''
Councilman John Johnston noted that council appointed the review board to preserve the historic district, and should support it when it does its job.
Council accepted the apparent low bid of $728,112 from Aaron J. Conner, general contractor, for a sewer line rehabilitation program, with the proviso that the county and Public Service Authority share in the cost.
It approved $1,500 to help fund the Count Pulaski Day event Oct. 15 by a 5-2 vote, with Junior Black and Bettye Steger voting no.
In other business, council members expressed disappointment over a farm group from Tazewell County that asked permission to hold a farmers' market at the Pulaski Train Station last Saturday, then didn't show up. Holston said some would-be customers did show up and were irate over the situation.
``I would like this not to happen again,'' she said.
by CNB