Cape Coral defends decision to take down veterans memorial

Reporter: Asha Patel Writer: Bryanna Sterzenbach
Published: Updated:

An idea to honor those who have put their lives on the line.

On Saturday, several trees throughout Jaycee Park were adorned with yellow ribbons designed to honor veterans, but by Monday, all had been removed.

“We had a concept of putting yellow ribbons on the tree and American flags and the name of a veteran service member or first responder,” said a local resident.

The City of Cape Coral sent WINK News a statement on Tuesday saying the ribbons were left at the park without prior communication with the Parks and Recreation Department and they had to be removed as part of their routine maintenance.

“Any assertion or accusation that this was a malicious act against our veterans doesn’t uphold to the values and acts that we have done in recognizing veterans,” said Parks and Recreation Director Joe Petrella.

Another resident upset about the decision was Kathleen Lopez, “I’m very happy we got them back now they can respectively be retired and given back because that was a poor taste for them to do that.”

The City Manager said there are many places and ways throughout Cape Coral where people can honor veterans or first responders.

Petrella said anything placed at parks without prior permission, be it a memorial or something of value, won’t be thrown away. Instead, they will remove it and try to contact who left it to give it back.

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