Veterans mural continues after snag in approval
After a small hiccup, Highland’s veterans are getting another monument to their service in the form of a mural along the downtown’s busiest intersection.
Highland’s Hometown Heroes, the group that spearheaded the town’s program of hanging banners dedicated to veterans along town thoroughfares from Memorial Day through Veteran’s Day, is having a permanent mural painted on the west side of Growlers, 2816 Highway Ave. Workers have recently been seen painting the wall gray and stenciling the words “Hometown Heroes” across its top.
Work on the mural was paused briefly in the last two weeks because officials initially believed that the group had not received the proper permission to do it from the town’s Redevelopment and Building Departments. Redevelopment Director Kathy Deguilio-Fox said in an email that Building Commissioner Ken Mika stopped work on it until they could review a letter by the property owner
David Petersen giving the group permission as well as the mural’s design.
Hometown Heroes organizer Sandy McKnight declined to comment directly but though Highland Town Council President Bernie Zemen, D-1, said that she did ask Councilman-turned-Clerk-Treasurer Mark Herak for permission, which Herak confirmed.
“I reviewed the mural, which I felt was in good taste, and I received a letter from the building owner that said he was fine with it,” Herak said. “I bounced it off the council probably last September or October, but what I didn’t do was bounce it off Redevelopment or Building.”
Deguilio-Fox said she’s since given the mural — which she believes will depict each branch of the service — the go-ahead but asked that in the future, businesses and town officials need to take care to “notify (the Redevelopment and Building) departments before beginning a project such as this.”