Gurnee veterans memorial moving forward

A long-planned memorial to veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will move forward in Gurnee, even though the group that spearheaded the project no longer is involved, Mayor Kristina Kovarik said Tuesday.

What form the memorial takes hasn't been decided, Kovarik said.

Officials also may have to find a new name for the memorial planned for village-owned land on Old Grand Avenue. Trustee Kirk Morris, who pushed for the creation of a memorial before he was elected to the board, said his Pfc. Geoffrey Morris Foundation has trademarked the Heroes of Freedom name and won't let the village use the name for the memorial.

The foundation is named after Morris' son, a Marine killed in Iraq in 2004.

Morris' foundation and the village parted ways Monday night after trustees failed to override Kovarik's veto of a deal that would have let the foundation continue to lead the project's development.

After the meeting, Morris went to the memorial site and removed the nine flags displayed there. Morris said he also turned off the lights.

"Who's going to maintain the flags?" Morris said. "We're no longer allowed on the site."

Even though a deal with Morris' foundation collapsed, the village remains bound to the March 2005 resolution establishing the creation of a memorial, Kovarik said.

The village's attorney is looking into the trademark claim, Kovarik said. Mention of it at Monday's meeting "was the first I'd heard of it," she said.