News

Statue accidently damaged at the Bottineau County Veterans Hall

By Scott Wagar

08/13/2013

For the second time this summer one of the soldier statues that stand out front of Bottineau’s Memorial Building was damaged.

The incident this time was an unforeseen accident due to a child who accidentally broke off the end of the gun the soldier holds. However, the local veterans were at a lost for a short time in what had happened due to the fact the incident wasn’t reported by the parent attending the child.

The accident occurred on Tuesday, Aug. 6, at around 5:15 p.m., but the veterans didn’t discover how the statue was broken until they checked their surveillance cameras at a later date. What they discovered was a young lady pushing a baby stroller with her other children skipping down the sidewalk. When the child went by the statue he grabbed the end of the barrel and it busted off the statue. Unfortunately, the mother didn’t report the incident, leaving the veterans with a mystery to resolve.

“At first I was mad, but after watching the tape I had no problem with what happened considering it was a kid,” said Al Wondrasek, member of Bottineau’s veterans’ organization groups.
“Although, it would have been nice if the parent would have left us a note or something or come down to the hall the next morning during coffee and let us know.”

Wondrasek added that the damage that was done has been fixed at a small cost.

The two statues, along with a piece made up of a rifle, helmet and boots, were purchased by the veterans for a Veterans Memorial at Oak Creek Cemetery, which would signify the two soldiers positioned in a lookout stance guarding over the veterans in the cemetery who have passed away.  
The three pieces are temporarily being displayed by the front entrance of the Memorial Building on Fifth Street until the construction at the cemetery is completed.