Rebuttal: Tribune editorial on SLO County veterans memorial ‘misleads the public’

Sunday’s editorial defending Board of Supervisors candidate Ellen Beraud’s opposition to building the Faces of Freedom Veterans Memorial in Atascadero misleads the public.

The Veterans Memorial Foundation (VMF), a compilation of four groups wishing to honor the memory of local residents who died in the nation’s service, endured an eight-month process of reviews prior to the March 27, 2007, City Council vote to approve the project.

The project was submitted to city staff in July, 2006 and then the council in August 2007. It was then reviewed by the Arts in Public Places Advisory Committee under the control of the city Parks and Recreation Department.

The arts committee review was politically hostile toward the project, the artist and the concept (they hated the statue because it was a soldier and worse, the soldier was carrying a gun.) The Parks and Recreation director passed their recommendation on to the full Parks Commission, which overrode the art committee’s recommendation and unanimously voted to approve the construction of the Faces of Freedom Memorial at Atascadero Lake Park as proposed by the VMF.

The project was placed on the City Council’s consent agenda and recommended for final approval as proposed at the March 27, 2007, meeting. Consent agenda items are considered routine with no further review required, and require only a yes or no vote. Councilwoman Ellen Beraud pulled the item and voted against building the memorial, nothing more nor less.

The council rejected Beraud’s arguments about the project design and they voted 4 to 1 for approval, (including two liberal council members) with Beraud voting against approving the memorial construction as proposed. If she truly supported the memorial but had philosophical objections so strong that she was unable to vote for the art represented in the project as a matter of conscience, she could have abstained. That would have officially registered her objections to the art without placing her name on the record in support of the project as proposed.

Finally, Beraud hurled a false accusation of intimidation at the Veterans Foundation for alleged use of “intimidation tactics,” which is false. So, too, is the allusion by The Tribune that my assertion during public comment that to “vote against the memorial was to vote against honoring local veterans” was an act of intimidation, is a ridiculous assertion.

Beraud had claimed at a previous public meeting that the very presence of American soldiers in uniform, quietly observing council proceedings, was somehow “intimidating.”

The memorial was constructed with private funds and has been steadfastly maintained by the Veterans Memorial Foundation and volunteers since its dedication in 2008.

All of the council was invited to the dedication ceremony and all came except Beraud. She received four more invitations to Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies while she served on the City Council and never attended, nor did she attend any ceremonies for the next 10 years until her political allies brought her to the 2019 Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies, prominently seating her in the reserved VIP sections to be seen, once she had declared her intent to run for the 5th District county supervisor seat.

Beraud has never attempted to express any regrets about her 2007 vote, nor her comments about the Veterans Foundation. Had she attempted to build bridges, this controversy would be moot. Instead she continues to fall back on claims of intimidation. I think such a fragile flower is psychologically ill-prepared for the political arena.

Al Fonzi is a retried military officer who lives in Atascadero. He was a founding member of the Atascadero Veterans Memorial Foundation.

This viewpoint has been updated to correct the date the project was submitted to the city.

This story was originally published February 25, 2020 at 5:00 AM.