City accepts donation of soldiers monument

NORTH LITTLE ROCK — A bronze statue of a Desert Storm soldier that has stood at Military and MacArthur drives in North Little Rock now belongs to the city, to the joy of its previous owner.

The City Council unanimously voted last Monday in favor of a resolution to accept the donation of property at 5501 MacArthur Drive, including the “Salute the Troops” monument. The land described in the document is known as “a monument plaza” measuring 750 square feet.

“I respectfully support this resolution, and I think the monument will be a good asset to the city,” Joe Reynolds, a North Little Rock resident and former partner in the project, said at the meeting.

Bill Yeates, one of the originators of the monument idea and the owner of the property, said in a Thursday afternoon interview that he wanted to donate the monument to the city for two reasons.

“With all the violence toward statues that is in the world, I knew there was no way I could afford to replace it if it was torn down,” he said. “It also should have belonged to the people of North Little Rock to begin with.”

Yeates said he and some friends came up with the idea for the monument in 2006, but he faced many obstacles on the way to its completion in 2014.

“I wanted to build a soldiers monument because we didn’t have one in the whole city,” he said.

Yeates said he took his idea to then-Mayor Patrick Hays in 2007, but that it was constantly rejected by the city. He said he believes it was because Hays didn’t want the memorial next to a bar.

Hays recommended that the North Little Rock City Council form a commission to create a veterans memorial but was reticent to support the location outside Yeates’ bar and grill for a city project.

Yeates spearheaded the privately funded project, and Camp Robinson did not play a role in organizing the memorial and by policy could not endorse it.

The statue was created by the Randolph Rose Collection of Yonkers, N.Y. Its location is near the main entrance to Camp Robinson.

“I gave the city the land back then once it was completed, and they gave it back to me,” Yeates said.

Yeates’ project became the forerunner to the city-sponsored Veterans Memorial in Laman Plaza on the grounds of the William F. Laman Library, 2801 Orange St. Officials dedicated the memorial in November 2010.

Yeates said that when he approached current Mayor Joe Smith about the project, he was glad to hear that the city was ready to adopt the monument as its own.

“I am proud and honored to be able to do something to honor our troops and give back to our city,” he said. “Like I said, I always had the intention to give it back to the city.”

Parks and Recreation Director Terry Hartwick said the transfer of property to the city means his department will be in charge of taking care of the monument.

“More or less we need to replace some light bulbs, cut some grass and make some small repairs,” he said after going out to see the monument on Thursday.

Hartwick said adding the statue to the city’s lists of upkeep properties won’t make much of a difference.

“It’s a pretty easy fix, and we are glad to do it,” he said.