I'm just going to paste in the letter I wrote to our county executive this week re the naming of the library:

The Honorable Isiah Leggett
County Executive
Montgomery County Maryland
ocemail@montgomerycountymd.gov

Dear Mr. Leggett:

As we approach Veterans’ Day of 2007, the issue of the naming of the Rockville public library remains unresolved.

Communities all over the world honor their dead in monuments and plaques devoted specifically to particular wars. The global war on terror, sadly, is likely to last for a very long time; we here in Montgomery County may suffer more losses as this conflict continues. By naming the library “Memorial” we would be able to acknowledge those deaths, remembering the loved ones already lost as well as those to come.

This Veteran’s Day will be the third anniversary of our son Thomas’s death in combat in Mosul, Iraq. He loved reading and books, and planned to become an English teacher when he got out of the Army. He was very modest and reserved, but we think that he would have liked knowing that his name would be associated with a memorial of this type. We can think of no more appropriate day to announce the name “Rockville Memorial Library” than Veterans’ Day. We hope you will consider resolving the issue the library’s name by announcing this decision on that day.

Sincerely,


Richard and Lee Ann DoerflingerParents of Army SPC Thomas K. Doerflinger, KIA 11/11/2004, Mosul, Iraq

Cc: Irwin Cohen
[another Gold Star family]