Banners honoring individual local veterans to be placed around Glasgow square

By MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
for Glasgow News 1
Sixteen local veterans are to be honored in what some hope will be only a first round of banners to be placed around the Glasgow Public Square in coming weeks.
“This is a new thing that’s coming up that I want you all to be aware of,” Mayor Henry Royse told the Glasgow Common Council at its regular meeting Monday as he introduced Matt Mutter, chairman of the Barren County Veterans Association.
Mutter distributed copies to the council members and others of an example of the banner design – this one featuring the late Travis Lyle – at Monday’s regular meeting of the Glasgow Common Council.
“About May of this year, I approached the mayor with an idea I’ve had for a while,” he said. “I’ve seen it in other towns.”
He said he’s seen such banners, similar in size to those used for flags and the recent quasquibicentennial celebration, in several other locations, attached to light posts and such, and decided we should try it here.
“The mayor knew I needed help with this,” Mutter said, adding that Royse had asked Kevin Myatt, planning director for the Joint City-County Planning Commission of Barren County, and Councilwoman Marna Kirkpatrick to assist with the project.
“They, along with Debbie Reece – if you’re familiar with her, she is very active in the DAV Ladies Auxiliary – … have helped me immensely to come up with 16 names for the very first ones that we’re planning to put up,” he said.
They have been working with Gerald Printing and the Glasgow Renaissance-Main Street Committee, the latter of which has agreed to pay for the creation of the first 16 as well as the mounting hardware, the total cost of which is $1,780, Mutter said.
The banners are 18×36 inches.
He said their plan is to leave these first ones up through and a little while after Veterans Day, which is Nov. 11, and then the banners would be given to respective family members of the veterans. The cost of future banners would need to be sponsored by someone who wants to honor a particular veteran, he said.
“That’s the idea that I had. I’m always open to any other ideas that anybody has to make this better,” Mutter said.
He expressed thanks for those who have been involved.
“Hopefully, it will help show a little veteran pride in our community. We’re a very veteran rich community,” he said, with many veterans and much military history here.
With that, he announced that Councilman Joe Trigg, an Air Force veteran who was seated immediately to Mutter’s left, would be among the first 16. He told Trigg he could thank his wife for helping them keep the secret.
Councilman Max Marion asked whether they would wait until they had another 16 to put up the next round, and Mutter said he thought that would be the best approach.
Councilman Patrick Gaunce estimated that would make future sponsorships somewhere between $100 to $150 each for those future sponsors. The actual average based on the total price divided by 16 is $111.25, but Mutter said it would be a little less because once they have the mounting hardware, they would reuse that and not have to purchase it every time.
Gaunce asked who the other 15 in the initial round were, and Mutter read off the names: Willa Brown Chappell, John Wood, William Phalen, Harry Word, Charles Ross, Forrest McQuiston, Thomas “Tommy” Pendleton, Barney Tracy, Roger C. Thomas, Eugene Moore, Richard L. Wood, Russell Doughertry, Travis Lyle, William A. Cook and Elmer Lawrence.
“I think that covers a wide range of different military services, different time periods. We tried to cover as many areas as we could,” he said.
He said it wasn’t easy for them to come up with those names, and they wanted to get a decent picture to go on their banners. The branch(es) of service and years of service are to be included as well.
Mutter added that they hope to have some additional tiles to add to the Glasgow-Barren County Veterans Wall of Honor soon. He also serves on the committee that oversees that project. He said they try to do 30 at a time, and they don’t quite have 30 yet.
Applications are available via the city’s website, at Glasgow City Hall or by contacting Mutter directly. The cost is $40 each.