Committee approves contract for development of veterans statue

A contract for the development of the centerpiece bronze statue was approved Tuesday of last week by the Veterans Memorial Park Committee.

The committee authorized chairman George Barker to enter into the contract with a Colorado sculptor to produce a statue of a World War II combat soldier for the park. The statue will be the main focus of the park, which will be located on Main Street just south of the restored historic jail-waterworks.

The statue will be flanked by the flags of all five branches of services and, of course, the American flag.

Another major feature of the memorial will be recognition of Rector-area soldiers who gave their life in service to the nation.

The committee also approved a name for the memorial's website, which will be developed by Brad Holland. Rectorheroes.com is the name of the new website, which will provide details of the memorial and the fund-raising effort. It is anticipated the memorial park will cost about $100,000 to develop.

A special founders wall will list the names of those helping significantly on the initial development. Barker is working on details of the fund-raising effort.

Also discussed at the meeting were the memorial bricks which can be purchased to honor veterans. Barker currently is developing a brochure to provide information for those who wish to contribute.

Working on the general layout of the park are two Rector natives -- artist Paul Frets and architect John Mack. With that in mind, a survey recently was completed of the property. The property was donated by George and Robert Jernigan, Pauline Crockett and Sherland Hamilton (who was present at the meeting).

A special informational table will be set up at the Rector Community Center on Labor Day Weekend. That project is being organized by committee member Sarah Burdin.

All members of the committee were present at the meeting -- Barker, Frets, Burdin, Glenn Leach, Barbara Hamilton, Wheeler Williams, Danny Ford, Richard Simmons and Melvin Bridges. Also present were Holland and ex-officio committee members Ron Kemp, Betty Benson and Jacinda Welch.