Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 27, 1994 TAG: 9408290029
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The county Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Monday night to reject suggestions for changes by the review board, and seek approval for the project as originally designed. The supervisors will appeal the review board's decision to Pulaski Town Council.
About 20 people attended Friday's 8 a.m. meeting, including nine members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1184 in uniform. VFW spokesman Bill Manning and American Legion Post 7 Service Officer Tom Hawley said they were in agreement with the county plan for the memorial with no changes.
Lawyer Tom McCarthy also called for keeping the plan intact, and said he hoped the review board was not trying to keep the memorial from being placed on Main Street. There had been some objection to that location, but a clear majority at a supervisors' public hearing favored it.
Dr. Rick Mansell, review board chairman, said the board was in favor of the memorial, had no problem with the location and was concerned only with its mission of maintaining historical integrity in the town's historic district.
He said the changes sought by the town agency are aimed at keeping the historical integrity of the courthouse intact. The county rebuilt the courthouse after a fire which gutted it at the end of 1989.
Mansell said the review board felt that placing the courthouse bell, which survived the fire, on display as part of the memorial would detract from the memorial itself. He also expressed concern that its protective plexiglass cover would be easily scratched and damaged by weather to the point where it could become an eyesore.
The board also suggested two uniform flagpoles, instead of using one nautical-style pole from which flags hang down, and doing away with planned sidewalks through the memorial to conserve greenery.
County Administrator Joe Morgan told the town board that a lot of people had expressed interest in the old bell, which now is stored in the courthouse attic and not readily available for viewing.
As for the walkways, he said, "there has been some interest downtown in having the courthouse front yard as a place for people to take a break, have lunch, sit and do some thinking." Benches will be placed around the memorials naming county residents killed during wartime or missing in action.
Dallas Cox, a retired Army colonel who headed the five-year planning that went into the memorial, said the nautical flagpole would lend itself better to displaying various kinds of flags on various occasions.
Morgan said he regretted that the review board was presented with a finished plan instead of having been consulted while planning was still going on.
by CNB