Request for veterans memorial stalled

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
Talks with the city of Newcastle over the placement of a proposed veterans memorial by the American Legion have not progressed since City Clerk-Treasurer Greg James reported on Dec. 16 that the organization wanted to use land adjacent to Washington Park for the memorial, according to city engineer Mike Moore. 
Local veteran Duke Ottema, with the help of the George Monroe Post No. 3, announced in April of last year that the group was working toward establishing a memorial for veterans after Ottema saw several memorials on a trip, according to articles previously written by the News Letter Journal. 
Ottema told that paper that he served three years in Germany beginning in 1975 when he joined the U.S. Army. About four years ago, he joined the local American Legion, becoming more involved with it and the VFW over the years. The veterans memorial is his latest project. He began working on it earlier last year to determine a location and raise funds. 
Ottema later formed a committee and established the Newcastle Wyoming Veterans Memorial Fund as a nonprofit 501(c)3 with the help of other veterans in the community. 
According to both Moore and James, neither the council nor a committee have discussed the matter since the Dec. 16 discussion. 
Following the release of the minutes from that meeting, Moore said in an email that he was “very disappointed” that the matter was not discussed by a committee before coming to the entire council. 
“This group needs to submit a special projects form and define what they are proposing to do, and there needs to be discussion about location,” Moore said in the email. “I feel it is premature to begin discussing relocating skate equipment.” 
Moore later told the News Letter Journal that the process for considering Washington Park for the location should begin with a special project form submitted by the veterans group and not by James presenting the request to the council. 
“It needs to be viewed by a committee, and at that meeting, we need to not limit the discussion to one location,” Moore said. “We then go to the council with that information before any decision is made about where it is located and what is put up.”
He said that he has no information on what is being proposed for the memorial and what it is to consist of. 
“The council also discussed moving that skate park, and I am concerned about that,” Moore said. “By doing that, we are picking one group over another and there should be concern about the skateboarders and kids that use that park, I think.” 
Moore said that he is not going to stand in the way of the veterans memorial committee creating the memorial, and he supports the city working with the group. But, he said, every option needs to be considered. 
“I want that to be recognized. That when we start talking about relocating existing infrastructure for someone else, that is not necessarily fair,” Moore said.