Discussion of whether or not a memorial flagpole should be erected in Harbor Park in downtown Grand Marais was not on the Grand Marais City Council agenda on November 10 as expected. Grand Marais City Administrator Mike Roth contacted the Cook County News-Herald
to let the public know that the request has been withdrawn.
The idea of a flagpole at Harbor Park started with a circle of coffee klatchers at Blue Water Café and was being promoted by Gene Erickson and Park Johnson, in memory of their friend Richard “Dick” Joynes.
City Administrator Roth had reported to council in October that he finally had a response from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) about the placement of a memorial flagpole in Harbor Park, but the agency requested more information such as where exactly the pole would be placed, its height and general appearance, etc. “They said it could be okay, but want us to send a more detailed concept,” Roth told the council.
The council noted that it did not want to spend too much time on a plan since there was apparently some citizen opposition to a flagpole at Harbor Park. Mayor Sue Hakes said she had heard from the Garden Club—which did much of the design work and landscaping in the park—and it is opposed to the addition of a flagpole.
Councilor Jan Sivertson, too, voiced her opposition to the idea at the October meeting, citing the time and effort that were put into the park’s planning by a citizen design committee. “This opens up a whole new thing. There are a lot of people who want to put up memorials, and this has to be carefully, carefully considered,” she warned.
After Councilor Kay Costello also said she couldn’t support putting the flagpole in Harbor Park, Hakes asked if they should drop the Harbor Park option, and instead offer the group an appropriate flagpole site elsewhere, such as nearby “Compass Park,” along the sidewalk from Harbor Park toward Angry Trout Café. “We have to respect the public process,” Hakes said in reference to the committee that developed the Harbor Park guidelines.
Contacted by phone on November 9, Park Johnson confirmed that the group that proposed the flag had withdrawn their request due primarily to the controversy the idea caused. Johnson said, “Thiswas something we just wanted to do, quietly. It was never intended to be something other than a bunch of guys chipping in to remember Dick. We don’t want the powers-that-be to waste a lot of time and money on in-depth studies and so on.
“We will still do something, but it will be handled in a different way,” said Johnson. There is a means to have a memorial at Harbor Park, through donations for a plaque on a teak bench for $5,000 or a plaque on one of the concrete wall benches for $750. Since the creation of Harbor Park, five teak benches and more than a dozen concrete bench plaques have been sold.
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