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Korean War Veterans Memorial
Association of Wisconsin
Report by Cliff Borden, Vice President for Public
Relations, KWVMAW
WELCOME
NEWS FOR WISCONSIN KOREAN WAR MEMORIAL
(Plover,
Wisconsin)— A $165,000 matching grant for major repairs needed at
the Wisconsin Korean War Veterans Memorial complex at Plover was
included in the final compromise biennial budget adopted by the
State Legislature and signed into law by Governor Jim Doyle.
Laveral Pieper of Green Bay, president of the non-profit association
which established and maintains the island memorial, had high praise
for State Senator Julie Lassa (D-Stevens Point) whose initiative,
submitted early in the budgeting process, made legislative aid a
reality. “We cannot thank Senator Lassa enough for leading the
effort in the Legislature to secure these funds,” Pieper said.
The Korean War Veterans Memorial Association of Wisconsin, the group
that established and maintains the island memorial, held its initial
dedication in 1994.
The $165,000 state grant must be matched by an equal amount raised
by the Association through donations before the Wisconsin Department
of Veterans Affairs will be allowed to disperse the Legislative
grant monies. Association Treasurer Dorothy Wenzel of Oak Creek
reported that the matching fund goal was recently reached thanks to
contributions made over the past four years by veterans groups,
corporations and individuals. Wenzel said the Village of Plover
contributed $30,000 to the reconstruction fund. However, additional
monies will be needed to cover such things as unanticipated cost
overruns.
The funding is needed because the memorial causeway and the island
shoreline have undergone unanticipated erosion problems caused by
wave action and the drought-caused drawdown of Lake Pacawa. These
adverse conditions, along with expansion and contraction resulting
from seasonal freezing and thawing, have caused deterioration of the
steel grid reinforced concrete. The shifting of panels has weakened
the structural integrity of the causeway.
A Stevens Point civil engineering firm was hired to study the
problem. Two temporary “fixes” were rejected by the board in favor
of a more expensive but permanent solution costing an estimated
$330,000. A new material, “Armorflex,” will be used in place of
concrete for permanency. Work on the causeway will begin during the
2008 construction season according to Plover Village Administrator
Dan Mahoney.
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