caption:

Left: Ellis masonry students with Elliott Hayden (left) and Rob Challinor and Alan Joslin (right). Above: Putting in pavers. Below: Drilling holes for flag poles. Expanded photo array on our FB page Wed. night: Putnam Town Crier & Northeast Ledger.



Veterans Park is in the homestretch
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — The Veterans Park renaissance is closing in on its rededication Nov. 10.
More than 500 honor pavers are due this week, according to Veterans Advisory Committee Chair Robert Challinor. The company that makes the pavers is in Florida so the pavers were held up a bit.
Once they come in, Challinor and veteran Alan Joslin will put two coats of sealer on the bottom of the pavers and three coats on top. Then the masonry students from Ellis Tech will be back to install them.
Last week 18 masonry students, along with department head Elliott Hayden, made short work of about 150 pavers in the Court of Honor, installed five benches and two trash cans and drilled 12 holes for the Color Guards flags.
Three more granite monuments are due before the Nov 10 ceremony for the park. They will be for Desert Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) and Operation Iraqi Freedom. They will follow the same shape and style as the Korean war monument.
In addition, the bronze plaques for the WWII monuments will not be finished in time for the Nov. 10 event. Challinor said they will put banners on those two monuments.
He added he and Joslin will be touching up the bollards that surround the Court of Honor around the flagpole.
Asked if he has had other towns inquire about how to create a veterans park, he said yes. He tells them to make a plan and then execute it. He said the support is “grassroots.” It proves that “the community supports this – it’s not just veterans,” he said. He’s watched the face of the park change. It looks one way during the day and at dusk “it’s not the same park. It’s somber.” And almost any time he goes by, there’s someone visiting the Court of Honor.
“This has been an amazing community effort,” said veteran and mayor Barney Seney.

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