News from the

East Washingtonian

August 26, 1982

page 8

Commissioners consider Cosgrove statue placement

City and county officials discussed ways of prominently displaying the bust of Governor S. G. Cosgrove, which recently was donated to the city. Pomeroy mayor Wynne McCabe met with the county commissioners to explain how the city came to own the statue and to ask if the county could provide a suitable place to display it.

The bust, valued at $10,000 by the artist, was commissioned in the early 1950's by Judge E. V. Kuykendall. It was designed to sit on top of the monument on the courthouse lawn, where a statue of a civil war soldier was removed because it was decaying and dangerous.

Before it could be delivered to Pomeroy in the late 1950's, however, it was stolen, and only recently was rediscovered. The son of the artist, after being unable to sell it to any local groups or organizations, donated it to the city.

Cosgrove was a civil war veteran who became mayor of Pomeroy. He eventually went on to become Governor of the state of Washington. He died shortly after his inauguration, however.

The commissioners were in agreement with McCabe that the best location for the statue was the place it was designed for, on top of the monument. That created two problems, however, they said. The first was that the Kiwanis club had donated time and money to erect a flagpole on top of the monument as a public service project, and to take down the flag pole without the Kiwanis Club's approval would be unfair.

Secondly, was the problem of what to do about a flagpole if the present one was removed from the monument. It was pointed out to the commissioners that the Kiwanis Club decided to put up the flag pole as a way to fill the void on top of the monument, and that they would probably agree that the Cosgrove statue should replace the flagpole. It was also suggested that the Kiwanis Club members might even be willing to help with the project, and possibly suggest the location of a new flagpole. If that is the case, the commissioners said, the county would provide the money the project takes. McCabe said the city would also chip in.

It was decided to wait until commissioner Jim Scoggin returns from a trip to the east coast, and then have city and county officials approach the Kiwanis Club with the idea. The wait for Scoggin is because, as a member of Kiwanis Club, he was instrumental in the project of putting up the flagpole.

McCabe also discussed a joint city-county emergency services plan with commissioners. Both the city and county are required to come up with such a plan in case of an emergency, ranging from weather to a nuclear attack, and McCabe said that the smartest thing appeared to be to have a joint plan. The Commissioners agreed and told McCabe to have the city's representative Dennis Gillis, contact County emergency services director Edmund Taylor to get things going.

The commissioners also set a public hearing for Sept. 7, to allow a budget change for the county fair board. The fair board wants to allocate more funds for premium money, and raise the premium pay from 40 to 50 cents a point.

The Commissioners recommended Janet Ray to fill a vacancy on the Eastern Washington Health Systems Agency. The recommendation goes to the agency, who will fill the vacancy.

Revenue sharing will be a little more than it was last year, county auditor John Carlson said. Projected revenue sharing funds ot $41,517 are anticipated this year, up from last year's $35,012.