Monumental Changes?
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Updated: 4:20 AM Nov 12, 2009
Monumental Changes?
Powning Veterans Memorial Park in downtown Reno is the site of our Veteran’s Monuments. One monument is dedicated solely to those who lost their lives in “The War On Terror.” While on city property, it is maintained by a private party. But because of questions asked--by us- that's about to change.
Posted: 9:44 PM Nov 11, 2009
Reporter: Terri Russell


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This isn’t the first time we’ve asked questions about the “War on Terror Memorial.”

The father of a fallen soldier Roger Varela, brought to our attention that his son's name was spelled wrong on the monument, and the day he died was one day off.

The mistake was corrected but one woman who stopped by the memorial today said it was still confusing.

“And its Varela not Varelo? Yea that's very hard to see. Can't tell,” says Sparks Resident Amanda Stewart.

Like many who attended today's Veterans' Day Parade, Amanda Stewart came to the War on Terror Monument to pay her respects. Particularly, she says, to pay respects to her friend, Thomas John Casey, who died in January of 2008. She says his wife and children live here, but his name is not on the monument. That, along with what she calls an inadequate repair job has her discouraged.

“It's lacking,” said Amanda.

“People come up to me and ask me, we know who you are. You are so and so from Fernley, Nevada and we thank your son for his service and we especially thank you,” said Roger Varela when we spoke to him about his son’s death which occurred in May 2007.

Last February after seeing his son's name on the monument for the first time, Roger felt like Amanda when he discovered Alejandro's last name was misspelled and the day of Alejandro's death was one day off on the monument. Instead of May 18---the actual day was May 19th.

Bill Manders from KOH helped spearhead the monument and, according to the radio station, is responsible for it.

In a statement Wednesday he said, quote: "That is a non-story. It has been repaired, even to the approval of Roger Varela's father. We did the best that we could under the circumstances. If there's a name missing, all we need to know is who it is -- if they qualify, they have to be a Nevadan when they were killed."

“I believe that panel needs to be replaced,” said Reno City Council Member Jessica Sferrazza today.

Sferrazza says she's not going to wait, and instead she says will make a motion next Wednesday at City Council to take the monument out of private hands, and put it into the city's.

“We need to get our Veterans involved in this. We had 3 of them that really came down to the council and spear headed this effort. Really they deserve a lot of credit for doing so. I believe that they would want our fallen soldiers to be here with dignity,” said Sferrazza.

We were unable to get through to Roger Varela today. But we'll keep trying to see if he has any opinion on the developments concerning the War on Terror Monument here in downtown Reno.

If you'd like to help out with the War on Terror Memorial, the city of Reno will be setting up a way to do that on its website.

As soon as that occurs, we'll let you know.

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