Pratt Tribune Article 1/17/2012
By Conrad Easterday
editor@pratttribune.com
The City Commission was evenly divided Monday night on whether to allow the cremated remains of veterans to be placed at the B-29 All Veterans Memorial at the Pratt Regional Airport.
With Commissioner Bill Hlavachick absent, the five-member commission found itself unable to offer a recommendation to the Pratt Airport Authority, which would also have to give its permission for the project to go ahead.
By a loose consensus the Commission opted to leave the matter in the hands of the Airport Authority and amend city ordinances based upon the Authority’s decision.
The B-29 All Veterans Memorial Committee, a private non-profit organization, proposed the project after the family of a veteran who served at the former Pratt Army Air Field asked permission to scatter the ashes of the veteran and his wife at the airport.
When the committee offered to have the cremains inurned at the B-29 Memorial in a columbarium designed just for that purpose, the family enthusiastically agreed, said committee member Jack Mc-Cawley.
The committee’s proposal would create 40 spaces with stone markers flush with the surrounding concrete at the south side of the present memorial flanked by benches. Columbariums are often raised edifices above ground level, but the committee believes the inground inurnment will reduce maintenance and discourage vandalism.
McCawley said the project has been pre-funded with local donations.
Commissioners Vic Graf and Karen Detwiler both said a columbarium would be better suited for Greenlawn Cemetery.
Commissioner Gary Skaggs disagreed. Columbariums are becoming more popular, he said, even among members of his extended family.
Mayor Jeff Taylor supported the B-29 Committee’s proposal. In other business, the Commission: Re-appointed Rita Hitt and Tom Jones to new three-year terms on the Cemetery Board.
Refuted a rumor that the city has leased any public land for oil exploration. Developers have made inquiries, City Manager Dave Howard said, but the Commission would have to vote publicly before any such leases could be signed. The Commission is not actively considering the inquiries.
Named Gary Myers as chief of police, removing the term “acting” from his title, which has been in place for more than a year since former chief Steve Holmes resigned the position.
