Valley veterans remain unhappy about move of Veterans Wall of Honor

PALMER — The Mat-Su Borough Assembly did not have any regularly scheduled business to discuss the removal of the Veterans Wall of Honor from Tract B on the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center land. However, veterans from the Mat-Su Valley came to voice their opinions to the assembly during its meeting Tuesday in Palmer, hoping to have some of the remaining questions answered.

Those questions remain unanswered.

“I was raised in a time when God, honor and country stood for something. Now the political correctness that we have in the country, well this is equated to the NFL on their knee for the National Anthem...I’m very ashamed of what transpired here, the disrespect that was put out by whoever wrote this ordinance that eliminated the wall of honor on that properly,” Chris Fowler said during the meeting. “It’s more than just a bunch of names on a wall, it’s a memorial.”

Fowler was one of a handful of veterans who came forward to voice their displeasure on the removal of the Wall of Honor, which was given permission to be on the property in 1992. The land was sold to Spring Creek, which then sold it to Maple Springs, which then sold it to the Mat-Su Health Foundation, who had planned to put a senior care facility on the property. Veterans remain inquisitive, as they report that they were told they had to move the wall off the property. The assembly maintains that it fought to keep the wall there, but was unable after they sold the land for $1,215,000.

Veterans asked who wrote the ordinance to take the restriction off of Tract B, where the $1,215,000 went, and when was the contract awarded to move the wall?

Keith Lipse had previously made a suggestion for an amendment on Ordinance 18-086 to establish a Commercial Outdoor Shooting Facility Working Group. His amendment was not put into the legislation.

“Therefore it tells me you guys are going to do what you want to do anyway, it doesn’t make a difference what the people want. My name was on that wall, my father’s name was on that wall. I put my fathers ashes below his name. That’s hallowed ground. How can you guys do that?” Lipse asked. “I vote and I will be really vocal come this election to all of you people that voted that have those plaques removed and that wall and that ground…. sh-- upon basically. Thank you.”

Wasilla Mayor Bert Cottle was called forward to give testimony. Cottle helped provide the land for the new location of the wall. Cottle had met with representatives from five veterans groups to help come to a consensus on where to move the wall. Some members of the assembly chose to address the concerns of the veterans during their comments at the end of the meeting.

“I think there’s still some unanswered questions. We all have different pieces of information. One of my native friends who had some trouble being sworn in court to tell only ‘the truth and nothing but the truth’ said well, I can only tell you my truth,” assembly member Jim Sykes said. “Even though it was on Mat-Su Borough property, the wall of honor, we didn’t own the wall. It was the intent of the Assembly at the time that it stay there unless the people who did own the wall want to move it … I really do think people have tried to deal with this issue as respectfully as possible. In terms of finding out where the money went, we can find that out, I don’t know.”

Sykes provided copies of a timeline of how the removal of the wall came to be, which stated that the belief from the assembly was that if the veterans groups wanted to relocate elsewhere, that was their choice.

Gary Hoskins followed Eugene Haberman during public comment.

“I am on the board of directors and we were told that we could not stay on that property so we had to move on. We couldn’t afford to sue the Borough to stop it. All of us are upset that it’s being moved but we have to move on. You guys failed,” Hoskins said.

Members of the audience applauded Hoskins’ words.

“So where did the money go? If you don’t mind,” a member of the crowd asked.

“We’re not going to address that at this time,” Mat-Su Borough Mayor Vern Halter said.

“I would say the budget is public information and is posted online,” Deputy Mayor Matthew Beck said.

“Online! Psh” rebutted a member of the audience.

Mount POW/MIA and Gold Star Peak were both named in honor of fallen veterans and their families. Both are visible from the old site on Tract B, and not visible from the new site.

“We initially made a provision in the land sale that the wall was to be preserved,” assembly member Dan Mayfield said. Mayfield also said that the outcry over the wall would have been more effective if it had been given earlier.

“The piece of land that dedicated to that to honoring our vets is gorgeous, it’s a good place. The phase planned build on that piece of property is excellent. I think it’s going to be something that every citizen of the Mat-Su Valley and every citizen of our nation can be proud of to go to and honor veterans,” Mayfield said.

The first phase of the construction of the new wall of honor is set to be finished prior to Veterans Day.

“I, too, understand the confusion and feel a little badly about the fact that the discussion is so confusing related to the veterans wall ...There was more than one transfer of title and our involvement was the first effort with that and clearly said it’s up to the veterans whether it’s moved or not,” Assembly member Barb Doty said. “The discussion was about a critically needed skilled nursing facility and how can we build that. Turns out that’s not going to go up there now at all….There obviously was some miscommunication.”

More information on the Veterans Wall of Honor can be found here

https://www.frontiersman.com/news/move-of-veteran-s-wall-of-honor-continues-to-draw/article_f2607a24-a975-11e8-b886-6f8686a8cb6f.html

https://www.frontiersman.com/news/officials-commemorate-new-location-of-veterans-wall-of-honor/article_bb8131c4-a45c-11e8-9352-93c31896430f.html

https://www.frontiersman.com/news/assembly-votes-to-move-veterans-wall-of-honor/article_c2a10402-75b3-11e8-a3a0-cb55312279e0.html