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Construction to begin on veterans memorial

Courier-Tribune - 4/25/2017

April 25--LIBERTY -- After several false starts, construction will soon begin on the proposed Liberty Veterans Memorial and Gardens.

A groundbreaking ceremony will take place on Saturday, April 29, at 10 a.m. at Swannanoa Avenue, between the Liberty Police Department and ABC store, and across from the Food Lion shopping center.

The focus of building a memorial tribute began in 2011 for all military veterans who have served or continue to serve.

Former Liberty Mayor Terry Caviness started the wheels in motion to build the memorial. He began actively pursuing donations in late 2011. Since then, there have been several fund-raisers to help with construction of the site, including a 5K Color Run/Walk in 2016.

"The Liberty Veterans Memorial and Gardens has been an inspiration of mine for many years," Caviness said in 2013. "This memorial will be dedicated in honor of all veterans and their families for their military service to this country."

Originally the memorial was slated to be located between the historic Patterson Cottage and the Liberty Town Hall, with the entrance off of the town hall/library parking lot off South Fayetteville Street (N.C. 49).

After complications with the location arose, the memorial was moved to the Swannanoa Avenue site.

"The focus was to build a memorial tribute for all military veterans," Caviness added. "Individuals that have served or continue to serve our nation by protecting our freedoms on our homeland or abroad. Many fund-raisers have proved to be beneficial toward raising the needed funds for construction. Individuals and businesses have given generous contributions of needed dollars for something they believe in.

"Our board of directors and committee members have been the heart that has kept this fight moving forward by volunteering many hours of their personal time to prove we can do this."

A boost from then-Gov. Pat McCrory and N.C. Sen. Rick Gunn and other state representatives came in the form of a check of $25,000 in late 2016, allowing the group to move forward with construction of the memorial.

"This year in 2017 all the hours of dedication and hard work will prove to be worth while as the long-awaited construction begins!!" was posted on the group's Facebook page.

According to previous plans, construction is scheduled to take 90 days to complete.

For those who would like to honor a veteran, there is opportunity to do so.

All you have to do is submit an application, including proof of service for that person (or DD-214). The cost to have a name engraved in the granite memorial will be $150 through May 15, with $135 of that amount being tax-deductible. After May 15, the price will increase to $190 per engraving request.

"We encourage everyone to stop procrastinating with questions 'of' or 'if' we are going to build this memorial," Caviness said. "We promise you as we have always said 'it will be built somewhere' by a group of dedicated individuals not willing to give up."

* For more information, contact any board member or call 336-622-3850, leave your name and phone number, or visit the group's Facebook page at Liberty Veterans Memorial and Gardens, Inc. to download forms.

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(c)2017 The Courier-Tribune, Asheboro, N.C.

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