Veterans offer $600 reward for memorial vandalism

Bonners Ferry Korean War Veteran Elden Koon felt sick to his stomach when he saw the desecration of the memorial at Veteran’s Memorial Park in front of Boundary County Library.

“The veterans fought in all the wars to give the people their rights,” said Koon, a member of the Bonners Ferry Veterans of Foreign Wars. “To have someone desecrate a memorial is unceremonious as far as I’m concerned.”

Koon belongs to one of three veteran groups who are offering a combined $600 reward in hopes of nabbing the culprit.

“Someone will rat them out for sure,” Bonners Ferry Police Chief Rick Alonzo said about the reward. “$600 is 150 gallons of gas.”

Alonzo believes this incident related to the vandalism at Boundary County Middle School, which was recently repainted at a cost of $21,800, and a vacant house on Solomon Street. All three were spray painted with the initials MBD.

Alonzo had no explanation for the meaning of MBD.

Getting the most reaction to the vandalism was the monument, including from veteran Mike Ashby.

“This strikes at the soul of Boundary County,” said Ashby, a member of the American Legion. “This goes beyond the realm of vandalism. This is a desecration to an American moment.”

Oz Osborn, commander of American Legion, said he felt disgusted when he heard about the vandalism.

“It is pretty pathetic that they have to desecrate a memorial like that to veterans,” he said.

The monument was paid for by donations from Boundary County residents and is maintained by the City of Bonners Ferry.

“We get this every once in a while,” Alonzo said about the vandalism. “All we can do is what we have been doing. We usually end up catching them eventually.”

“They will be caught, they will not get away with this,” said Ashby. “It is my personal opinion that when they are caught that they be made to do community service and clean every veterans’ stone in the cemetery.”

“They won’t get away because of the professionalism of our investigative police agencies of Boundary County,” he continued. “This community will prosecute them and I will be in court the day they are sentenced.”