$15K raised for Woony Memorial fund

Posted: 5/15/2012 9:17:40 AM
Updated: 5/15/2012 9:21:37 AM

Two weeks after a rally to support a long-standing war memorial in Woonsocket, contributions –to finance the memorial’s legal defense- continue to arrive at City Hall.  “I had one gentleman who came in from Michigan and donated a thousand dollars,” Woonsocket Mayor Leo Fontaine told the WPRO Morning News With Tara Granahan and Andrew Gobeil.  “Just at the rally alone the firemen were out there and passed the boot and we collected about 58-hundred dollars.”   Since then, Fontaine says, some 10-thousand dollars have arrived either through internet donations, drop-offs at city hall, or via the mail.

Fonatine says it’s not enough.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin based organization whose website says the group is focused on  “promoting the constitutional principle of separation of church and state” complained about the World War Memorial -a prominent cross- on city property in Woonsocket.  The group, which has promised to file suit, has not done so.  “They have a war chest of about seven million dollars,” Mayor Fontaine points out, as he reiterates his call for more donations.  “This organization is enormous when it comes to resources, so we need to be prepared.”

Fontaine says the city has been preparing its legal strategy for the –as yet- unfiled suit.  “Our lawyers have been putting that together and in all likelihood will be releasing that probably sometime this week.”

Andrew Gobeil | WPRO Morning News