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Police, Firefighters Memorial Park near completion in Amityville Village
That dream began to become a reality several years ago when Amityville Mayor Peter Imbert and then S.C. Leg. Dave Bishop worked to purchase a vacant parcel on Oak Street in Amityville. Since then the property has been transferred to the Village and the memorial is well underway. Fuller found support not only from Mayor Imbert but S.C. Leg. Elie Mystal and Village Trustee Peter Casserly. Mystal helped secure a $30,000 grant from Suffolk County, which helped purchase and clear the lot, install a flag pole, walkway, and grading. According to S.C. Leg. Elie Mystal the grant came from the Open Space and Greenway program. When he was approached by Fuller he wanted to help because he recognized the importance of Fuller's cause. "He was very zealous about build- ing the park to honor the lives of those who worked in the Village," said Mystal. "I believe, as he does, that we should memorialize the men and women who serve the community." Amityville Village will install water and electric hook up to the property. Imbert was approached by Fuller to ask for his help to begin the process of buying the land and producing a memorial park. "This will bring together the people who served the Village. It will unite the fire and police departments, and Village employees," said Imbert. "It should be nice when it is done. The otherwise underdeveloped land will be a beautiful park." Bishop said interest in building the memorial began in 1999. Then, with the terrorist attacks in September, 2001, the Village's attention was appropriately turned to building a memorial for the victims of that tragedy. He said he's happy to hear that the fruits of his work "way back then," are reaching fruition. "I think it is important to highlight the actions of the police and firemen," said Bishop. "Any time we can give them recognition, we ensure that people continue to serve, particularly in Amityville where the Police and the Fire Department are so much of an essential part of life in the Village." In addition, local businesses donated materials for the project. Nicoloc Paving Stones in Lindenhurst will donate all the bricksand, Batz Landscaping completed the grading and will design and install the planting. Bedrock Landscaping of West Babylon donated the sand and concrete to build a memorial wall. Fuller, a customer of Bedrock, appoached the company to solicit their support for the project. "We think it's important to support the communities that we serve and always donate whatever we can," said Joe Debarro, a representative of Bedrock. J. Gosline and Dave Annunziato of Gosline Landscaping installed the walkway and memorial wall at minimal charge. The memorial wall gives the families of these public servants and volunteers an opportunity to have the name of their loved one engraved on a brick. The park also includes two large rocks, one red rock with a fireman's prayer and one blue with the policeman's prayer. Both were donated by Fuller and his wife Linda. The memorial is also served by a committee which includes Ken Lang (retired Village fire chief), Alan Fesser (retired Village police officer), James Smith (retired police officer), and Amityville Village Police Officer Pam Slack . Eddie Batz of Batz Landscaping and local architect Peter Keller came up with the landscaping and architectural design chosen by committee. Fuller hopes this project will be completed by Grandparents Day, September 9th. In the meantime, he said he is proud of what has been accomplished so far "to honor those police officers and firemen," and has already seen the impact it will have within the community.
"I was standing there when the sign was first installed with Jerry's name name on it," said Fuller. "An elderly lady walked by, saw the sign and said, 'I remember Jerry."
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