NORTH TONAWANDA – A small group of North Tonawanda men, proud members of the United States Naval Construction Battalion, known commonly as the Seabees, has for a dozen years or more maintained the Seabee Monument in Raymond Klimek Veterans Park.
But most of the work was being done by men who are in their late 80s.
Tuesday night, the North Tonawanda Common Council agreed to take over the Dorothy C. Darlak Fund Grant ,which is administered by the Community Foundation of Greater Buffalo, and will use these grant funds for city crews to continue the future upkeep of the memorial. The grant is in memory of Joseph E. Darlak, a North Tonawanda resident who served in the NCB.
Arthur Lee and other members of the Island X Seabees were at the meeting to thank the Common Council.
“Four of us take care of the monument, and I’m the youngest of them all, and I’m 86,” said Lee. “We are getting to the point that we want to make sure this is taken care of when we are gone.” He said the group built it and took care of it.
When Joseph Darlak died in 1991, his wife, Dorothy, knew her husband had been a proud member of the Seabees and wanted to honor his memory. A Seabee memorial had been built in 1986, and after her death in 1999, her will established a fund for the upkeep and care of the memorial for future generations. A bronze sculpture was dedicated in 2008 in memorial of Joseph Darlak, and a stainless steel fighting Seabee donated by Skrlin Coating and Blasting was added in 2010. The City of North Tonawanda will now take the future upkeep of the memorial.
“For the city this is at no cost, and for the NCB veterans it’s the comfort to know that monument will be well taken care of,” said Alderman-at-Large Robert Clark. “It’s a win-win.”
Mayor Robert G. Ortt said after the meeting, “They really are a superb group of guys. I told them I hope we can take care of it as good as they did.”
Ortt said the matter has also prompted them to begin looking at a volunteer board – a monument maintenance group that would be responsible for all the monuments in the city.
“Sometimes there’s not someone over there all the time, and you don’t know if there’s a crack, then all of sudden there’s a huge problem. This (board) would not just be for the Seabees, but all the monuments, to take care of the little things so any structural issues can be identified early,” said Ortt.
In another matter, residents on Moll Street, off Ruie Road, reported high water and flooded sidewalks. Gerald Morgan, of Moll Street, said that after drains were added, the flooding got worse and water was taking too long to go down.
City Engineer Dale Marshall told the Common Council that the solution would be a dedicated storm sewer on Ruie Road, which could cost $1 million.
Third Ward Alderman Eric Zadzilka said: “The worst rain was last year when we had 4 inches of rain in two hours. That’s a month’s worth of rain, and a lot of streets the rain had nowhere to go. At this point, the system is inundated. We are aware of it. We have things we are going to try to do. We are going to try to blow out the lines so we open them and put in bigger lines for better drainage.”
email: nfischer@buffnews.com
But most of the work was being done by men who are in their late 80s.
Tuesday night, the North Tonawanda Common Council agreed to take over the Dorothy C. Darlak Fund Grant ,which is administered by the Community Foundation of Greater Buffalo, and will use these grant funds for city crews to continue the future upkeep of the memorial. The grant is in memory of Joseph E. Darlak, a North Tonawanda resident who served in the NCB.
Arthur Lee and other members of the Island X Seabees were at the meeting to thank the Common Council.
“Four of us take care of the monument, and I’m the youngest of them all, and I’m 86,” said Lee. “We are getting to the point that we want to make sure this is taken care of when we are gone.” He said the group built it and took care of it.
When Joseph Darlak died in 1991, his wife, Dorothy, knew her husband had been a proud member of the Seabees and wanted to honor his memory. A Seabee memorial had been built in 1986, and after her death in 1999, her will established a fund for the upkeep and care of the memorial for future generations. A bronze sculpture was dedicated in 2008 in memorial of Joseph Darlak, and a stainless steel fighting Seabee donated by Skrlin Coating and Blasting was added in 2010. The City of North Tonawanda will now take the future upkeep of the memorial.
“For the city this is at no cost, and for the NCB veterans it’s the comfort to know that monument will be well taken care of,” said Alderman-at-Large Robert Clark. “It’s a win-win.”
Mayor Robert G. Ortt said after the meeting, “They really are a superb group of guys. I told them I hope we can take care of it as good as they did.”
Ortt said the matter has also prompted them to begin looking at a volunteer board – a monument maintenance group that would be responsible for all the monuments in the city.
“Sometimes there’s not someone over there all the time, and you don’t know if there’s a crack, then all of sudden there’s a huge problem. This (board) would not just be for the Seabees, but all the monuments, to take care of the little things so any structural issues can be identified early,” said Ortt.
In another matter, residents on Moll Street, off Ruie Road, reported high water and flooded sidewalks. Gerald Morgan, of Moll Street, said that after drains were added, the flooding got worse and water was taking too long to go down.
City Engineer Dale Marshall told the Common Council that the solution would be a dedicated storm sewer on Ruie Road, which could cost $1 million.
Third Ward Alderman Eric Zadzilka said: “The worst rain was last year when we had 4 inches of rain in two hours. That’s a month’s worth of rain, and a lot of streets the rain had nowhere to go. At this point, the system is inundated. We are aware of it. We have things we are going to try to do. We are going to try to blow out the lines so we open them and put in bigger lines for better drainage.”
email: nfischer@buffnews.com