Controversy brews over proposed Los Gatos veterans memorial

LOS GATOS, Calif. (KGO) -- A debate is brewing in Los Gatos over what a proposed veterans memorial should look like.

The Veterans Memorial and Support Foundation will pay for the memorial. The organization provided a sketch of the monument which features five soldiers in combat fatigues, but a lot of residents don't like the idea. By 11 p.m. the meeting stretched into its fourth hour of debate.

"I don't believe memorials, personally, need to be muscular and loud," Los Gatos resident Mary Ellen Kaschub said.

"There is a privileged class here that I think is taking for granted their freedom," Veteran Clyde Horn said.

Tuesday's Los Gatos town council meeting got heated. At issue was the kind of veterans memorial that should go in the Civic Center Plaza outside the town hall and the new museum.

The Veterans Memorial and Support Foundation first proposed a statue of a single soldier. They've since revised the plan and now want a 10-by-9 foot memorial featuring five soldiers.

"The veterans deserve to have a place here and they deserve to be recognized and celebrated," Rex Naden of the Veterans Memorial and Support Foundation said.

Even the city's Arts and Cultural Commission isn't on board with the foundation's vision.

"To have people here in uniform, and in their fatigues, it seemed maybe a little over the top for some people," Brian Bernasconi of the Arts and Cultural Commission said.

The commission Tuesday recommended the council instead support a memorial with benches, plaques, and trellises and not a statue. It's a concept many residents feel reflect Los Gatos better.

"I do not agree with the symbology being military figures," Los Gatos resident Michael Silva said.

"It's over the top, to quote a phrase, 'It's old school,'" Len Pachaeco said.

Some veterans found the comments offensive.

"There is a cultural denial that is going on that makes people feel elitist," Horn said.

In the end, the town council rejected the monument featuring five soldiers.

The Veterans Memorial and Support Foundation plan to regroup next week to figure out where they want to go from here.