Foundation to Gurnee mayor: Give us a chance to build memorial

A retired Marine Corps colonel has been selected to head a private foundation that was removed from leading an effort to build a memorial in Gurnee for Iraq and Afghanistan troops.

Curt Ames is the new chairman for the Pfc. Geoffrey Morris Memorial Foundation. Ames, a McHenry County resident, was stationed at the Marine Corps' Pentagon headquarters when he retired from his 27-year career in February.

Backers of the foundation launched by Trustee Kirk Morris say they hope Ames' appointment and a new board of directors will lead to it regaining control of the Heroes of Freedom Memorial Park and end a feud with Mayor Kristina Kovarik.

However, Kovarik said she would not work with Ames or the foundation as long as a lawsuit filed by Kirk Morris against the village and mayor is active.

Controversy over Heroes of Freedom erupted in October, but it boiled over Jan. 25 when village trustees voted 3-2 against overriding Kovarik's veto of an agreement that officially named the foundation to raise private cash and develop the project.

Morris responded to Kovarik's effort to remove the foundation from planning the memorial by filing a the lawsuit in February.

Gurnee activist Peter Karlovics said he hopes the changes in the foundation's structure will lead Kovarik to "set aside any hard feelings she has had against Kirk Morris" and allow the group to direct the memorial's construction.

"This new board of directors is a break from the past," Karlovics said, "and deserves a shot at getting the job done. Litigation is not a good way to build a memorial, and I hope she (Kovarik) gives Colonel Ames a chance."

Kovarik said her push to replace the foundation has been about protecting the best interest of village residents because the issue involves village-owned land on Old Grand Avenue.

"This has never been a personal issue with Kirk Morris," she said.

Morris, who named the foundation for his Marine son who died in the Iraq war in 2004, was not a trustee when he began the memorial effort. He said he took on the project at the request of village officials in 2005.

Kovarik criticized the foundation of not doing more than installing nine flag poles representing every military branch and temporary lights in nearly five years. A garden, bronze statues projected to cost $250,000, a walkway and benches had not been built.

Ames, who at one time served at Great Lakes Naval Station, said in a statement he plans to assemble a finance committee including decorated veterans and military brass charged with raising $50,000 for the memorial by August. He said he hopes Kovarik will release building permits allowing the foundation to work on the former Gurnee police headquarters site.

"We need to work together to get this project completed," Ames said. "Our heroes in uniform deserve no less."

Other new board members for the foundation include Marine Sgt. Jason Jerik of Gurnee, who served two tours in Iraq.