A new Shawano County Courthouse is still a couple of years away from opening, but discussions are now taking place regarding the veterans memorial that currently rests on the front lawn of the courthouse.
Plans as they are drawn up now will turn the site of the current building and memorial into a parking lot.
County Board Chairman Tom Kautza had the issue placed on the agenda of the Sept. 3 public property committee meeting, but he noted several times it was for discussion only and no decision has yet been made.
Current plans for new courthouse don’t show the memorial, because no one has decided where it will be located.
Kautza said the decision should be up to county veterans groups. Kautza said he should not decide, because he is not a veteran.
“We’re still at the formation stage of just asking the veteran service organizations,” said Zach Zuehlsdorf, county veterans service officer. “There’s 15 in the county, and I’ve reached out to maybe four so far.”
He said a unanimous decision will be very hard to get, so a majority vote of the groups will be recommended.
“Hopefully, they could get that done sometime yet this year,” Kautza said.
The memorial was dedicated in October 1993.
Ground was broken in April 1993 with construction beginning three months later.
The marker is made of 43,000 pounds of granite that was quarried in Pennsylvania and shipped to Georgia for polishing. When it was shipped to Shawano, staff at Schneider Monument completed the etchings and inscriptions.
The marker features the emblems of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and Merchant Marines, as well as etchings of some of the life-threatening activities of those who served.
The Samuels Group and Venture Architects, which are working with the county on the new courthouse and jail plans, will devise a few drawings of what the memorial will look like in various locations to give veterans something to view when they hold discussions.
Kautza said there has been talk about moving it closer to the main entrance of the new courthouse. Because there will only be one place for the public to enter the new courthouse, everyone will see the memorial if it is placed there.
“In the 2½ weeks, three weeks I’ve been working with this, I think that’s the best recommendation,” Zuehlsdorf said. “The courthouse is the symbol for veterans that were drafted. This was a reporting place, and to remove that outside of the courthouse … you’re kind of taking away that spot where a lot of draftees (went).”
There was talk about four years ago of moving the memorial to the city of Shawano’s Franklin Park.
Veteran Dennis Bohm opposed the idea then and opposes it now. He said the memorial does not belong in a park or even a cemetery.
Bohm said he discussed the issue with community members Sept. 2 during the opening night of the Shawano County Fair. “Ninety percent of the people I talked to at the fairgrounds said, ‘Do not move that memorial,’” he said. “It’s a Shawano County veterans memorial.”
Bohm said the memorial should be left where it is and sit at the edge of the new parking lot near North Main Street. If it is placed by the main doors, people driving by will not see it as they will have to look past the parking lot, he said.
Kautza reiterated it’s important to keep the discussion in front of veterans so a decision can be made soon.
“We’re not trying to do anything behind anybody’s back in any way, shape or form,” he said. “We want input from all of them.”
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
