Cities, Groups Plan Tributes for U.S. Gulf Troops

With the Persian Gulf War just over a week old, cities and private groups throughout Ventura County already are planning tributes to Americans serving in the region, including a war memorial in Oxnard and yellow ribbons around trees and lampposts in Camarillo.

The County Board of Supervisors and council members in Camarillo have begun observing a moment of silence at every meeting for the men and women serving in the war-torn region.

About two weeks ago, members of the Oxnard War Memorial Committee began considering a proposal to redesign a memorial for the casualties of previous wars to include a tribute to Oxnard residents killed in the Middle East conflict.

So far, authorities know of no Ventura County residents killed in the Persian Gulf.

But Councilman Manuel Lopez, chairman and organizer of the committee, said there has been serious thought given to redesigning the memorial, scheduled to be completed this year in Plaza Park in downtown Oxnard.

“We will have to recognize the war in some way,” he said.

For two years, Lopez has led a committee of activists in raising money and designing a memorial to Oxnard residents killed in World Wars I and II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. The committee has already identified 117 residents killed in those four wars.

In May, a memorial design that featured four black marble pyramids, ranging from 10 to 20 feet high, was chosen over 28 other entries. Lopez said the committee hopes to complete the project by Memorial Day, May 27.

The committee, which includes business leaders, neighborhood activists and representatives of a local veterans’ organization, has discussed adding a fifth pyramid to the memorial, representing Oxnard residents who might be killed in the Persian Gulf.

“It’s still at a stage where we could add another one,” he said. “There are a lot of unknowns on a fifth pyramid, but certainly there is a possibility.”

The group will discuss the matter again next week, he added.

Interest in the Oxnard memorial has increased substantially since the outbreak of hostilities last week, said Michelle Izay, an Oxnard employee who has handled inquiries about and donations to the project.

Several donors have suggested that the committee include a fifth pyramid for casualties of the Persian Gulf War, Izay said.

The committee hopes to raise $50,000 to $75,000 to build the memorial. The group has received about $10,000 in private donations to date, she said.

Lopez said he doesn’t know how much more a fifth pyramid would cost, but he hopes that donations of building material and labor will offset the additional expense.

In other efforts throughout the county, the city of Ventura is planning to put up yellow ribbons in City Hall next week to wish the safe return of the men and women on duty in the Persian Gulf, Carol Green, city information officer, said.

“It’s just a matter of finding a place to buy yellow ribbons,” she said. “These days they’re hard to come by.”

County supervisors decided Tuesday to pause for a moment of silence at the end of every board meeting until the war ends. “It’s to recognize our forces in the armed services,” said Marty Shaw-Halloway, county special projects manager.

In Oxnard, the City Council has instructed its staff to prepare a report suggesting ways of showing support for the war effort.

“We could put out flags, like we do on the Fourth of July, or yellow ribbons, or we could adopt a proclamation,” City Manager Vernon Hazen said. He said the report would be completed by Feb. 5.

Three months ago, when President Bush announced the deployment of troops to the Persian Gulf, the Camarillo City Council began to observe a moment of silence at each meeting, City Clerk Marilyn Thiel said.

And this week the city approved a request from Camarillo High School and the Pleasant Valley Elementary School District to tie yellow ribbons around city trees and light posts.

“When people come out here,” she said, “they’ll see a lot of yellow ribbons.”

Representatives of Simi Valley, Moorpark, Thousand Oaks and Ojai said their cities have not taken steps to make a statement on the war. But they said that their city councils have not met since the war began Jan. 16 and that some kind of symbolic support for the troops may be forthcoming.

“The council is meeting tonight, and I would imagine there will be some discussion,” Moorpark Asst. City Manager Susan Cauldwell said.

Post 1679 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars will meet tonight at the group’s Ventura office to write messages to soldiers on a huge roll of butcher paper, a spokeswoman said. The roll will be divided into sections and sent to several different divisions of the armed forces in the Persian Gulf, she said.

VFW Post 3935 in Port Hueneme will donate 144 American flags to demonstrators who are planning to gather Saturday at the Ventura County Government Center at a rally to show support for troops in the Middle East, said Post Cmdr. Art Freel.