Assembly votes to move Veterans Wall of Honor

PALMER — The Mat-Su Borough Assembly voted to move the Veterans Wall of Honor.

The assembly voted 4-1, with only member Randall Kowalke opposed, to move the memorial from the property next to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center to donated land next to the new Wasilla Police Department. There was some discussion and deliberation about who exactly owned the memorial on the land.

“If the owners want it to move, do they get to vote? The answer is clearly yes,” said Borough Attorney Nick Spiropolous.

Heated debate came from members of the public who did not want to have to move the wall of honor..

Mike Sweeney recalled a proclamation read at the memorial earlier this year.

“I can’t quote the proclamation word for word but the basic message I got was ‘we thank you for your service.’ I do not believe anyone with the veterans wanted to move the wall. They were under the impression that they had to get out,” said Sweeney.

Assemblywoman Barb Doty recalled previous assembly discussion on the issue and described it as “sticky.”

“We trusted the veterans group to make a decision on behalf of the final resting place of the memorial. I don’t know whether there was a coercion in that decision,” said Doty.

According to Wasilla Mayor Bert Cottle, who testified on the subject, the sale of the property that the memorial sits on came with a condition that the memorial had to be moved. Five veterans groups including two AMVets, two American Legion groups and the VFW were consulted on how they wanted to proceed with the wall. Two representatives from each group voted to move the wall to the new location. Some members of those groups believe that was not an option but a mandate.

“When they built that wall was the first time I ever heard ‘thank you for your service’ and that meant a lot to me,” Vietnam veteran James Pettino said. “I was part of this group in some of these meetings and we were under the impression we had to move.”

The assembly also passed an ordinance allowing credit card purchases of parking at parks around the Valley, and discussed the merits of distributing election materials online following a formatting fiasco on mailed out materials previously.

“I don’t think our community is ready to just go to a website at this time,” Doty said.

The brochure itself costs $27,000 to produce and mail, according to the clerk. The motion to go to online election information failed.

“This could be your last voter brochure. What do you think about that?” Assemblyman Jim Sykes asked. “If you really want it to continue let us know by email, fax, snail mail, whatever, and use the opportunity to see people who actually do care about the brochure to weigh in on it.”

Contact Frontiersman reporter Tim Rockey at tim.rockey@frontiersman.com.