Politics & Government

Duluth, Gwinnett Officials Dedicate Monument

Ceremony on Duluth Festival Center Stage and Town Green recognizes military and public defenders with copies of 'Living Honorarium Day' proclamation and commemorative coins.

City of Duluth and Gwinnett County officials unveiled a Living Honorarium recognizing active military, veterans and public safety providers and dedicated the city’s first piece of public art Sunday afternoon on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

Duluth Mayor Pro Tem Greg Whitlock welcomed several hundred guests to the ceremony that began on the Duluth Festival Center Stage and moved to the Duluth Town Green for the unveiling of the monument. It was shrouded with a parachute to maintain the secrecy of its design.

The monument was envisioned by Gwinnett County Commissioner Shirley Lasseter when she was mayor of Duluth and later commissioned by the city following a design competition supervised by local artist Jennifer Freeman and the Duluth Fine Arts League. Atlanta sculptor Martin Dawe of CherryLion Studios was selected to create the monument. A fund-raising drive initiated by Lasseter in 2004 raised more than $50,000 for it.

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The “Front Line” donors, elected officials and the organizing committee for the unveiling lifted the edges of the parachute. Then a firefighter in the bucket of a Gwinnett County Fire Department truck lifted the cover off the monument revealing a granite obelisk held aloft by bronze figures representing all U.S. military service branches, police officers, firefighters, and emergency service providers. The four-sided stone base is engraved with words of appreciation to those who keep citizens safe every day. A circle of curved benches surrounds the monument, which faces Main Street.

Lasseter, Whitlock and Duluth City Council members placed a 9/11 Remembrance Wreath in front of the monument to the accompaniment of music by bagpiper John Mortison. A graceful interpretive dance performance by Jude Davis, a three-volley salute by the Gwinnett County Public Safety Honor Guard, the playing of “Taps” by bugler Brenda Ehly, and a prayer by Councilwoman Marsha Bomar concluded the ceremony.

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Lasseter recalled a conversation with a World War II veteran who inspired her idea for the monument. He wanted a white cross with his name on it like those of deceased military veterans that traditionally line the city’s streets for Memorial Day, she said. Lasseter finally had to tell him he couldn’t have one because he wasn’t dead yet.

“Then 9/11 happened,” Lasseter said, and it reminded her of the local public servants who work to keep citizens safe. “We are extremely happy and thankful for what all these men and women do,” she said. “We often forget to tell them.”

“It doesn’t matter if you’re in Duluth, Suwanee, Snellville or Atlanta or New York City or Birmingham AL,” she added. “If you’re in public service, you keep us safe.” With her arms outspread, Lasseter asked for a “big Thank You” from the crowd for them, and she got it.

Retired U.S. Air Force Col. Kelly Kelkenberg, whose military career and current position with the Federal Emergency Management Agency has involved him in working with first responders, spoke next. Military and public defenders share a bond, Kelkenberg said. “They have taken an oath to be willing to die to defend our communities and our country.”

Lasseter and Duluth city officials presented Duluth Police Chief Randy Belcher, Gwinnett County Police Chief Charles Walters, Maj. Mark Cook representing the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Department, and Gwinnett Fire/Emergency Services Chief Bill Myers and members of their departments with copies of a joint city/county “Living Honorarium Day” proclamation and commemorative coins.

Active military and veterans of all four U.S. service branches – the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard also were presented copies of the proclamation and the special coins.

Also participating in the ceremony were the Duluth High School Orchestra and Chorus, the Duluth High School Navy Junior ROTC, Primrose School of Christopher Robin students, and the Dance Fusion Inspirations Dance Group. Rev. C. K. Fuino led the opening prayer.

Front Line donors included AGCO Corp., American Legion Chattahoochee Post No. 251, American Legion Riders, Tom Anderson, Anderson, Tate & Carr; Atlanta Flooring Design Centers, State Rep. Brooks Coleman, R-Duluth; Gerald Davidson Jr., Attorney at Law; the City of Duluth, Duluth Merchants Association, Bill Gentry, Gwinnett Community Bank, Hill Foley Rossi and Associates; JWB Realty Services, Marty Kennedy, Korean Church of Atlanta, UMC; Korean Community Presbyterian Church, Joe McCart, the Mendenhall Family, Sunny K. Park, Precision Planning Inc., Russell Landscape Group, and George W. Thorndyke Jr.


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