“We who build shrines and construct public altars or parade with photographs of the deceased will not allow you to write off victims as regrettable statistics…They are, I believe, the voice of the people.” –Jack Santino
Veterans Day #1: Lake Elsinore Veterans memorial proposed for Diamond Stadium
I will be sharing a series of articles from the Inland Empire-based newspaper The Press-Enterprise regarding a proposed Veterans memorial in Lake Elsinore, California and then writing a post about it in the context of spontaneous shrines. Here is the first article from PE on October 24th:
LAKE ELSINORE: Veterans memorial proposed for Diamond Stadium
The Lake Elsinore City Council will vote on the project at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The cost is put at $46,172
STAFF WRITERBY JOHN F. HILL
Published: 22 October 2012 04:16 PM
A black granite memorial to military veterans has been proposed for the main entrance to the Lake Elsinore Storm’s Diamond Stadium.
The City Council on Tuesday, Oct. 23, will consider approving the memorial’s final design and $50,000 price tag. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Lake Elsinore Cultural Arts Center, 183 N. Main St.
The six-foot-tall memorial will feature a set of polished black granite pedestals set on a raised concrete circle in front of the stadium entrance. Five small pedestals will be engraved with the emblems of each branch of the armed forces, surrounding a taller, central monument with text over an American Flag.
The base of the monument, under the silhouette of a soldier kneeling in front of a cross, will read: “Freedom is Never Free.”
The design was chosen by a committee of Mayor Brian Tisdale, Lake Elsinore Historical Society President Joyce Hohenadl and representatives from local veterans groups, according to a city report.
Hohenadl said the group wanted a prominent location, so they decided to put the memorial right where baseball fans walk in to buy their tickets for Storm games.
“We thought that would be the most visible place for it,” Hohenadl said.
The memorial will be built by Sun City Granite, a Perris company known for its work with the military. The engraving company produces headstones for all fallen troops buried at Riverside National Cemetery.
It also built the National Distinguished Flying Cross Memorial at March Air Force Base and the new veterans memorial in Canyon Lake said owner Teresa Herbers.
The company, which designed the Lake Elsinore memorial, has agreed to build it for $46,172. The city has $50,000 set aside for the project in its 2012-13 budget.
LAKE ELSINORE: Trial starts over proposed vets memorial
An updated design of the proposed veterans memorial Lake Elsinore city officials want to put at The Diamond stadium.
15 0 0 A Text Size
BY MICHAEL J. WILLIAMS October 01, 2013; 06:09 PM
The fate of Lake Elsinore’s proposed veterans memorial hinges on a trial that started Tuesday, Oct. 1, in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles.
Lake Elsinore City Councilman Brian Tisdale said the judge conducting the trial took testimony from witnesses, including current and former council members who voted for the monument. The trial is scheduled to continue Wednesday in the Central California division of the U.S. District Court.
Lake Elsinore residents John Larsen and Diane Hansen as well as the American Humanist Association sued the city May 30 to stop officials from going forward with the planned monument.
The plaintiffs contend the memorial would violate separation of church and state because the proposed design for the black granite display includes Christian crosses and Stars of David and it would be placed on public property.
City Council members approved the design late last year after several highly emotional public meetings over the design. They agreed to have the memorial erected in front of the city-owned minor league baseball stadium.
The Pacific Justice Institute, which is representing the city in the case, unsuccessfully tried to have the case dismissed. Institute attorneys contend the design, which features a soldier kneeling in a burial ground, is a historical representation and does not espouse religion.
Larsen said Tuesday that he expects the case to take at least two days.
Tisdale, a former U.S. Marine, was mayor when the council approved the memorial and he headed the design committee. He said he remains in full support of the memorial.
“We’re a city that’s 125 years old and … we don’t have any means whatsoever of honoring our vets,” he said. “I feel strongly that we need a monument to honor our vets and we believe the design that we did is a good design.”