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Livingston Parish News
Albany gets $100,000 for vets memorial
By Alice Dowty
ALBANY - U.S. Rep. Richard
Baker presented nearly $100,000 to local
residents Saturday for a Veterans Memorial.
A 20-foot by 30-foot American flag will fly over
Albany High School on an 80-foot flagpole after
a dedication ceremony, tentatively scheduled for
October, Albany Alderman and former U.S. Marine
Lloyd "Gene" Glascock said.
Glascock is part of a
committee consisting of Donald Stilley, S.D.
Kinchen, Paul "Buddy" Farkas, George Stewart,
William "Billy" Prokop, Steve Ivanyisky, Johnny
Gill, Allen "Bootsie" Jones, Dillard Stewart,
Glennis Bennett, Johnny Stewart, Raymond
Bankston, Ivy "Buddy" Harper, Jr. and Keith Lott
who have been working on the memorial project
since 2003.
They sold 190 bricks at $60 per brick, each
inscribed with a serviceman's name, to be
incorporated into the memorial walls. They also
raised money for the memorial by selling
jambalaya dinners, mostly to veterans' groups.
The committee's plans for a $150,000 memorial
were greatly expanded after Parish President
Mike Grimmer became involved in 2005.
"I figured it would take about 50 years to raise
the money selling jambalaya," Grimmer said at
Saturday's ceremony, "so I talked to Congressman
Baker." Baker, R-Baton Rouge, who sits on the
Veterans Affairs Committee, saw the project's
potential and soon other Louisiana congressmen
were also helping to raise federal funds.
"The local fundraisers were doing well, though,"
Baker said. "I heard they were selling red beans
and rice one bean at a time."
"I can't
think of a more appropriate place than this,"
Baker said, indicating the high school campus.
"Young people will ask questions about those
whose names are written on the memorial."
The memorial will initially consist of a plaza
and five concave wall segments built out of
bricks bearing the names of servicemen and
servicewomen. Eleven 40-foot flagpoles will
flank the American flag, for the Army, Navy, Air
Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Merchant Marines,
POW/MIA, Louisiana State, the parish, AMVETS and
the American Legion. Phase One will have 10,000
bricks, and another 10,000 will be added later,
Glascock said.
Sid Kinchen, the School Board member for
District 9, and liaison with the memorial
committee, attended the presentation Saturday,
along with Rep. Mert Smiley, Parish Councilman
Eddie Wagner, Albany Mayor Thomas Stewart,
Alderman Ed Harris, former School Board member
Julius Prokop, Principal Bruce Chapin, Mike
Futrell, representing U.S. Senator David Vitter,
and grant writer Karla Cormier.
A federal voucher for $99,000 is
presented to members of the Veterans
Memorial Committee in Albany May 5.
Pictured are (from left) Lloyd “Gene”
Glascock, School Board member Sid
Kinchen, Paul “Buddy” Farkas, Donald
Stilley, U.S. Rep. Richard Baker,
Glennis Bennett, S.D. Kinchen, former
School Board member Julius Prokop and
Johnny Gill. The memorial will be built
on the Albany High School campus. (News
photo by Mike Dowty)
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