News
Local veterans move forward
Scott Wagar
11/15/2011
During the week of Veteran’s Day, the Bottineau veterans spent their time moving forward with preparations for the future site of the Bottineau County Memorial Building and Park when they moved the two monuments in front of the former Memorial Building to their new site on the north end of town.
On Monday morning, local veteran Al Wondrasek, along with the man who created and constructed the two monuments, Joe Whetter, went to task with a number of community volunteers and veterans to move the monuments to their new home.
Assisting Wondrasek and Whetter was Larry Tooke of Tooke Enterprises and four of his employees, along with the Otter Tail Power Company and Nodak Supplies.
“It was the smoothest ride I have ever seen. Everything went like clock work. Larry Tooke and his men where superior when they strapped up the memorials and with Joe supervising the lift, the operation was completed in less than three hours,” Wondrasek said. “That’s lifting and delivering the monuments to the new Veterans Memorial Park location.”
The mission on hand was no easy task, especially when one considers the largest monument weighs 13,000 pounds and the smaller one is 8,000 pounds. However, Tooke donated his crane, Otter Tail granted the vets its 100,000 pound lift straps and Nodak provided the use of railroad ties to get the project completed.
After juggling around electrical wires, traffic and icy roads from a storm the evening before, the group of volunteers transported the monuments about a quarter of a mile with little difficulty thanks to those who donated their time, equipment and effort.
On Veteran’s Day, Whetter, with assistance from Wondrasek, prepared the monuments’ foundations and permanently placed them in the ground at the new site, marking it a special occasion on a day dedicated to veterans who sacrificed their own freedoms for the freedom of others.
The Bottineau County Veterans Memorial Building and Park has been in process for one year and has a completion date of 2012.
“To date, the land has been filled in preparation of the construction of the new building, and the sewer line has been placed” Wondrasek said. “This was a combined effort between the Bottineau Farmers Elevator, the veterans and the Bottineau County Museum.”
When the Bottineau County Veterans Memorial Building is completed, the structure will house the Bottineau County’s Veterans Office, the County’s VSO Office, and library with internet service to assists all county veterans with nation and statewide veterans’ programs.
It will also hold an open hall with a kitchen for veteran activities such as meetings, suppers and social events.
“The building will have space set aside for every American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and AmVets organizations in Bottineau County to display any veteran memorial items they would like to donate and place in the new hall,” Wondrasek stated.
The veterans are leasing the land for its memorial building from the city of Bottineau, while the county has passed a mill levy for the financial cost of the memorial park.
On the eve of Veteran’s Day, Wondrasek stated the Bottineau County Veterans Memorial Building and Park is an edifice in honor of all county veterans and their service to their country.
“The whole project is a Bottineau County Veterans Memorial which is dedicated to all past veterans of Bottineau County, along with the present day veterans and future veterans,” Wondrasek said. “This will be a memorial park that Bottineau County can be proud of in recognition of all its veterans.”