Gurnee memorial fight may end tonight

Gurnee village board members tonight are expected to vote on a proposed agreement that would end a squabble over a memorial for military personnel who served in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Village Trustee Kirk Morris heads a private foundation that's been trying to build Heroes of Freedom Memorial Park for nearly five years. The group is named for Morris' son, a U.S. Marine who died in 2004 while serving in Iraq.

But Mayor Kristina Kovarik and Morris began butting heads in October over the memorial pegged for the village's former police headquarters site on Old Grand Avenue.

Kovarik had claimed Morris' group was incapable of finishing the project and said she wanted to appoint a village committee to take over. Morris at one point threatened to sue Gurnee if his foundation were pushed aside.

On the table at tonight's meeting will be a formal development agreement for the memorial between the village and Pfc. Geoffrey Morris Memorial Foundation.

Although village board members agreed to establish a memorial park in remembrance of U.S. military personnel who died in Iraq and Afghanistan in March 2005, Morris' foundation never was named in any documents.

Morris wasn't a trustee when he started the effort with encouragement from village officials. He's been trying to raise funds for the memorial through the foundation.

Tonight's meeting will begin at 7:30 at Gurnee village hall, 325 N. O'Plaine Road.

So far, Heroes of Freedom Memorial Park has nine flag poles representing every military branch and lights. A planned walkway, sculptures and a garden have yet to be built.

About 75 Morris supporters, including war veterans, attended a village board meeting Oct. 5 when the controversy erupted. He drew a standing ovation when he stepped to a village hall microphone typically used by visitors and told Kovarik he'd fight her "with everything I've got" to keep his foundation in charge of the memorial.