VFW will bring The Moving Wall to town

By Stuart Hedstrom
Staff Writer

DEXTER — In May 2017 Shirley B. Carter VFW Post 4298 will be hosting The Moving Wall at Ellms Field. The wall is a half-sized replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. and is inscribed with the names of more than 58,000 Americans who lost their lives during the Vietnam War. During a town council meeting on Sept. 8 VFW Post 4298 Quartermaster Rick Batchelder provided an update on the project.

“There is a couple of things we feel are imperative to get done before winter,” Batchelder said, saying post officials are meeting every other week to plan as well as serving public suppers on Friday evenings and conducting other fundraisers to cover the costs to host The Moving Wall. “One of the things to get done this fall is the grading of this area where the wall will be,” he said.

The Moving Wall will be placed beyond the ball field’s centerfield fence. Batchelder said two-by-fours stakes need to be driven into the ground every four feet along the length of the 250-plus foot Moving Wall. “I can’t see doing this in April, the ground could still be frozen,” he said.

Batchelder said a Boy Scout, who is a Dexter Regional High School student, is looking at the two-by-four stake work as a possibility for his Eagle Scout Service Project. “We want to incorporate this young person into this project,” Batchelder said, with the stakes potentially being constructed by Tri-County Technical Center students.

The VFW quartermaster said he has noticed there is no flagpole at Ellms Field. “If we are going to put something up temporarily why not put something up permanently?” he said. He said the post and Frank Spizuoco of Maine Military Supply plan to donate a flag and pole to the town, which will be placed between two power poles in order for the flag to be illuminated.

“It’s going to be six days and six nights,” Batchelder said about the display in Dexter. “We are doing to do a dedication ceremony and we want to dedicate that flagpole to the town of Dexter because that flagpole is going to be there long after we and the wall are gone.”

In other business, the council accepted the resignation of Councilor Alan Wintle as of Aug. 31.

“The person who was eligible for this declined so we are going to go with six councilors until the November election,” Council Chair Michael Blake said. Peter Haskell could have been appointed to fill Wintle’s seat through Nov. 8 as a result of having received the most votes among those not elected to council seats at the most recent ballot.

The council also approved amendments to the traffic ordinance to allow for ATV access on a pair of public ways. ATV traffic is now permitted on the Goff Road over 900 feet from Route 23 to the Sangerville town line and also on the Silvers Mills Road nearly 1.3 miles from Route 7 to the Sangerville line.

ATV riders are to follow the posted 25 mph speed limit on the two roads and ATV access is permitted from April 15 to Dec. 1 from 7 a.m. to dusk. ATV clubs in Sangerville and Garland will work with the Dexter Highway Department to post signage.

The idea of opening other roads in town to ATV and snowmobile traffic was brought up, and possibilities could be looked at during future meetings. “I understand the concerns, really I do, but ATVers bring in a lot of money,” Blake said.