Vietnam Honor Roll SCOOP!!!

Your Atkinson Reporter has this story before traditional newspapers!

Viet Nam Memorial

So now I’m understanding that the Viet Nam war is still alive in Atkinson. A little more than a year ago, I was one of the 71 persons who petitioned the Rockingham County Superior Court, hoping they would order the Selectmen to place the Honor Roll panels on either side of the existing Viet Nam Memorial at Town Hall as mandated by an approved Warrant Article. The case was sent to mediation which resulted in no changes in attitudes. The Selectmen offered an alternative “map” stone if the panels were placed at the Library. The Petitioners refused the stone, not wanting the town to have to foot the bill.

The Selectmen have prepared, signed and delivered to the Petitioners a Stipulation saying that the petitioners agreed to place the panels in a different location. We have two options

Yes – we agree. No – we don’t

As one of the petitioners, I should vote NO! and I probably will. But I have to admit I’ve been thinking about it.

Do I want this issue to drag on forever? Nope, I’m disgusted, and very embarrassed that our Selectmen would refuse to honor a vote of their bosses – Town Meeting..

But, I have always felt, in part, that the panels belong up the hill, together with the panels showing the names of veterans of all other wars. Two reasons: That’s where the most of the ceremonies are held – the speeches, the band, and the crowds of people. Taps is played in the cemeteries where many of these veterans either are or will be interred. Why should these VietNam veterans be isolated? Secondly, I’m a genealogist, and I know very well that – in the future – it’s the panels which will receive the attention, not the map in front of Town Hall, as descendants search for the names of their ancestors. I watched my 5-year old granddaughter – not yet a reader – run her hand over the names of her Revolutionary War ancestors on a tablet in Maine as I pointed them out. It was important to her.

Now I have a third reason. Call it sheer unadulterated spite. If the panels go up the hill, the monument at Town Hall will forever be a symbol of the shame bestowed on Atkinson by the three Selectmen who chose to use revenge as their excuse. In a future re-write of Atkinson’s history, the names of Selectmen Childs, Consentino and Sapia will be labeled as the reprehensible three who chose to thumb their noses at the majority of voters. I can’t think of a more deserving trio.

I like to think I’m better than that; I hope I am, but I’m still thinking about it.