WA: Port Angeles Mayor receives Pushback over Attempt to alter War Memorial Gun Images

Image from listeners of the Dori Monson Show

The replica Liberty Bell in the Veterans Memorial Park, in Port Angeles,  Washington, was installed as a private initiative in the bicentennial year of 1976.

For several years, the replica and the park have been subject to vandalism.
From king5.com:

PORT ANGELES, Wash. — At Veterans Memorial Park in Port Angeles, a replica of the Liberty Bell is defaced with graffiti. The park is teeming with garbage. Nearby residents say they no longer feel safe.

"This can be a horrific mess of trash and human waste," said Karen Rogers. "We have needles, illicit sex acts. This is a school bus route, for crying out loud!"

Residents were appalled. They wanted a fence. They lobbied for a fence. They agreed to pay for it from their own funds. They raised the money.  A design was sought, selected, and approved of by the City. From mynorthwest.com:

To decorate the iron fence, Stokes and Lucier created 13 stars to represent the original 13 Colonies, along with silhouettes of two Revolutionary War soldiers holding muskets.

“If you go to the original Liberty Bell back in [Philadelphia], there’s a 24-hour armed guard standing guard over it, just like the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier,” he explained to KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson.

The city approved the design and the fence went up earlier this autumn.

Now, however, Port Angeles Mayor Sissi Bruch wants the city to remove the silhouettes from the fence because they depict guns.

Here is the memo from Mayor Sissi Bruch. Notice it objects to the mere symbolism of a gun. This is more than a political statement. It is an attempt to deny reality.  It is an attempt to deny the existence of guns in a historical context. It is a desire to erase the image of guns, because guns are hated, to avoid accepting the reality of the evil of human actions. From cityofpa.us:

Background / Analysis: The Parks and Beautification committee recommended to the Parks and Recreation Director to install an ornamental security fence around the Liberty Bell at Veterans Memorial Park. This fence was installed,and the decorative elements consists of two large outlines of a soldier with a gun and many small stars. There have been many complaints regarding the two large soldiers with guns being used as decorative elements to this fence.Given that our nation is experiencing an outbreak in gun violence in our schools and our communities, it is easy to see why these elements have caused such concern. There are many other symbols that can be used to celebrate our Veterans that will be embraced by our community. Flags, eagles, and anchors could be used. Modifying the soldiers so that the guns are not there would also be less objectionable.

Funding: Cost to remove the two outlines of the soldiers.

The majority of "gun violence" in the United States today is old white men committing suicide. Homicides, and homicides with guns, are at lows not seen since the 1960's. Fatal gun accidents are at all time record lows.  When those pushing for a disarmed population speak of increasing "gun violence", they are speaking of suicides. Most suicides with guns are committed by old white men.

What possible connection is there between the historical reality of the force of soldiers using guns to create the United States, and old white men committing suicide in today's society? There isn't any.

It is a bizarre attempt to create a narrative to remove guns from society.

Mayor Sissi Bruch, who was endorsed by the Sierra Club, is a strong champion of using "climate change" to reorder society.

She is getting pushback on the matter of the Liberty Bell fence at Veterans Park.  Veterans are saying the fence will not be altered. It is a war memorial.

There will be a City Council meeting on Wednesday, 6 November, 2019. Defenders of the memorial are going to show up. From peninsuladailynews.com:

“The council chambers is going to have a few people on Wednesday,” said Karen Rogers, former mayor, who with Gary W. Velie, president of the Clallam County Veterans Association, led the drive for the fence.

“My phone has not stopped ringing since 8 o’clock yesterday morning,” Rogers said Saturday.

Objecting to the iconic image of the silhouette of muskets, because of hoplophobia (fear of weapons), is not good governance.

©2019 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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