Current:Home > ScamsMaine family gives up on proposal to honor veterans with the world’s tallest flagpole-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
Maine family gives up on proposal to honor veterans with the world’s tallest flagpole
View Date:2024-12-23 23:00:50
COLUMBIA FALLS, Maine (AP) — The family behind an audacious plan to build the world’s tallest flagpole as the centerpiece of a billion-dollar development honoring veterans in rural Down East Maine is abandoning the idea, an attorney said Friday.
The Worcester family won’t pursue the flagpole project in Washington County or elsewhere for the time being and will look instead for other ways to commemorate those who have served, lawyer Timothy Pease said.
“They believed this project was a good project to honor veterans. But now they’re looking for new ways to honor veterans in the future,” Pease said.
The proposal unveiled two years ago has divided the town of Columbia Falls, population 485, and residents are preparing to vote next month on proposed zoning ordinances governing large-scale development. A flagpole stretching 1,461 feet (445 meters) skyward wouldn’t meet the height restrictions contained in the proposal, which came out of several public sessions after residents voted to put the brakes on the project, said Jeff Greene, a member of the Board of Selectmen.
“We didn’t create ordinances to take down the flagpole project. We created ordinances to give the community control of their community,” Greene said Friday evening after learning of the developers’ decision, which was first reported by the Maine Monitor.
The towering pole would’ve been taller than the Empire State Building, topped with an American flag bigger than a football field and visible on a clear day from miles (kilometers) away.
But the original proposal called for much more than just that. The developers envisioned a village with living history museums, a 4,000-seat auditorium, restaurants and a sprawling monument with the names of every veteran who has died since the American Revolution — about 24 million in all.
The plan also called for elevators to bring people to observation decks from where they would be able to see all the way to Canada.
“It’s like putting the Eiffel Tower in the Maine wilderness,” a resident once said.
The Worcester family — which is behind Worcester Wreath Co. and Wreaths Across America, which provide hundreds of thousands of wreaths to military cemeteries and gravesites around the world — touted the project as away to unite people and honor veterans.
The project also would’ve brought much-needed jobs to a region that’s long on natural beauty and short on economic development, they said.
Pease said the Worcesters remain committed to the original aims behind the project: “The family is absolutely devoted to honoring veterans, and they’ll find ways to do that in the future.”
veryGood! (8399)
Related
- Are Dancing with the Stars’ Jenn Tran and Sasha Farber Living Together? She Says…
- IOC awards 2034 Winter Games to Salt Lake City. Utah last hosted the Olympics in 2002
- Steve Bannon’s trial in border wall fundraising case set for December, after his ongoing prison term
- Haason Reddick continues to no-show Jets with training camp holdout, per reports
- IAT Community Introduce
- Steve Bannon’s trial in border wall fundraising case set for December, after his ongoing prison term
- Olympic gold-medal swimmers were strangers until living kidney donation made them family
- Patrick Dempsey's Daughter Talula Dempsey Reveals Major Career Move
- Democrat Cleo Fields wins re-drawn Louisiana congressional district, flipping red seat blue
- Coco Gauff to be female flag bearer for US team at Olympic opening ceremony, joining LeBron James
Ranking
- FBI raids New York City apartment of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan, reports say
- Keanu Reeves Shares Why He Thinks About Death All the Time
- Army Reserve punishes officers for dereliction of duty related to Maine shooting
- IOC awards 2034 Winter Games to Salt Lake City. Utah last hosted the Olympics in 2002
- The Office's Kate Flannery Defends John Krasinski's Sexiest Man Alive Win
- Team USA Women's Basketball Showcase: Highlights from big US win over Germany
- The Founder For Starry Sky Wealth Management Ltd
- How employers are taking steps to safeguard workers from extreme heat
Recommendation
-
Justine Bateman feels like she can breathe again in 'new era' after Trump win
-
Adidas apologizes to Bella Hadid following backlash over shoe ad linked to 1972 Munich Olympics
-
Knights of Columbus covers shrine’s mosaics by ex-Jesuit artist accused of abusing women
-
New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez set to resign on Aug. 20 after being convicted on federal bribery charges
-
Jake Paul's only loss led him to retool the team preparing him to face Mike Tyson
-
Scheana Shay Addresses Rumors She's Joining The Valley Amid Vanderpump Rules' Uncertain Future
-
Meet Leo, the fiery, confident lion of the Zodiac: The sign's personality traits, months
-
Adidas apologizes to Bella Hadid following backlash over shoe ad linked to 1972 Munich Olympics