The first steps have been taken toward construction of a Gold Star families memorial monument on the Capitol west side mall.
On Thursday morning a subcommittee of the Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission was presented with tentative renderings and blueprints of a raised semicircle plaza tucked just beside the Capitol's rear steps leading to the western mall. Erected in the center of the plaza would be stone slabs with a cutout of a saluting U.S. soldier.
"On a fall or spring evening the way the sun sets here, setting through the cutout is going to be very stunning if this goes in. It'll be pretty amazing to see that," said Kelly Boyd, chief deputy secretary of state.
The Marine Corps League's Little Rock chapter, as well as the Arkansas Run for the Fallen organization and the Arkansas Gold Star Mothers, are sponsoring the proposed memorial. State Sen. Eddie Joe Williams, R-Cabot, expects the passage of legislation that would authorize the memorial's creation.
Williams plans to file the bill today, and all 35 senators have signed on as co-sponsors, he said. State Rep. Trevor Drown, R-Dover, has sponsored its sister bill in the House.
"It's a small gesture to the families to say thank you, but I think it's important to the families that have lost loved ones," Williams said, adding that he had lost a cousin in Vietnam.
Preliminary costs of the project range from $500,000 to $732,000. Several details are still up in the air, including lighting features, landscaping, and whether concrete or granite materials will be used -- what could be a roughly $100,000 difference.
"It all depends on how much money they can raise," said Gary Clements of the architecture firm Clements & Associates hired to draft and conceptualize the project. Clements also constructed the Little Rock Nine Memorial, has done stonework on several county courthouses, and has worked on the state Capitol building for over 30 years.
Fundraising for the memorial is expected to begin after the passage of its enabling bill. Sponsors will then present the project to the Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission again for final consideration. Construction of the project is estimated to take about five months.
"You have to prove to this commission that you have the ability to pay for this monument before construction starts," Boyd said.
Sponsors are also required by state law to provide the state with an amount equal to 10 percent of the cost of the monument and 10 percent of the cost of construction, which would go into a fund used to permanently maintain the monument.
"My belief is that all these groups -- starting with World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf -- we've all had monuments built for the soldiers, the fighters, the warriors, which is great. But the families that have lost members have sacrificed as much as anyone, and we don't have that everywhere," said Marine Corps League member Paul Garrett, a Vietnam combat veteran.
Gold Star families memorials have proliferated around the country as the Hershel Woody Williams Medal of Honor Education Foundation, established in 2010 as a nonprofit, encourages and helps fund monuments. It is its mission to get one placed in every state.
According to the foundation's website, 17 monuments to Gold Star families have been dedicated around the country, and 39 additional monuments are in progress across 24 states.
The Capitol's monument to Gold Star families would be the first in Arkansas.
"We're a long way from it, but we're determined," Garrett said. "Some of us are Marines."
Metro on 01/30/2017