Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/190797
A REVIVED MEMORIAL Dan Peck (right) with the City of Sarasota and Jeff Sampsell with Sampsell Stucco, which assisted with repairs, set up the plaques in order before mounting them on the history wall in Fredd Atkins Park. Photo by Stan Zimmerman NEWTOWN'S HISTORY WALL ONCE AGAIN PAYS TRIBUTE TO COMMUNITY PIONEERS By Stan Zimmerman City Editor Last winter, some residents of Newtown were in a tizzy about the disappearance of a row of historical plaques from Fredd Atkins Park at the corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Way and Washington Boulevard. sell, so there were fears the plaques were headed for a literal meltdown. The mystery was solved when Todd Kucharski, general manager of landscape, parks and environment for the City of Sarasota, reported that The plaques, which were mounted on a his crew had taken them down before repairing the wall. Beige tiles kept falling off the wall, commemorated a number of Africanstructure, and Kucharski decided to replace American pioneers in Sarasota. But around them with stucco. Christmas 2012, residents noticed the memoThat started another community converrials were gone. sation. Did people want the wall to remain At the time, metal thieves were stripping ele- beige or see it transformed with a more ments out of air conditioners and grabbing vibrant color? The decision ultimately was water meters and anything else they could to go instead with a reddish-orange shade