A large number of historical markers displayed at county buildings and parks are being altered and now contain a noticeable omission.
Typically when a new county facility is unveiled through a ribbon cutting or similar event, a plaque is shown displaying the year of its opening and the entire Board of Commissioners listed by district. For example, Fire Station 12 opened in 2001 in Ola and Leland Maddox was chairman at the time. He is named on the plaque, along with fellow commissioners Warren Holder, Jason Harper, Phil Crosby and Nita Spraggins.
Now that marker has a blank space next to “District 2.” That title was held at the time by Gary Freedman, who served eight years as a commissioner after twice winning election to office.
Freedman went to prison in June of 2017 after pleading guilty to child molestation charges on the day his trial was set to begin. He received a 40-year sentence with eight years to serve in the state prison system, as well as the stipulation that he register for life as a sex offender and have no contact with any of the victims.
A retired U.S. Army colonel and former police officer, Freedman was elected to the Board of Commissioners in 1996 to represent District II. He won a second term in 2000 and his 2004 bid for chairman ended in the Republican primary.
Assistant county manager Brad Johnson confirmed that all such plaques bearing Freedman’s name are being altered. He was in office during a busy time in the county’s history as far as capital projects are concerned, so the list is fairly lengthy. It includes the county administration building, Developmental Disabilities Services, Mt. Carmel Park, Hidden Valley Senior Center, one of the county’s judicial buildings, and four fire stations (3, 4, 11, 12).
County officials noted that there was some outcry from citizens when Freedman’s criminal case was in the news, particularly from parents who didn’t want a sex offender’s name displayed at a facility where their children played. Johnson said the actual work is just now being done because staff took the time to consider the best and most cost-efficient way to do it.
“There were a lot of calls during the trial from people,” said Johnson. “Commissioners were notified, and they told the administration, who directed staff to make the change.”
The call was ultimately made by county manager Cheri Hobson-Matthews and there was no official action by the Board of Commissioners. Similarly, as this type of situation has never come up in the past, there is no county policy in place for removing someone’s name from what is essentially a historical marker.
The county’s facilities maintenance team has been doing the actual work, which was planned after considerable research according to Johnson. Several possible methods, including the use of a laser, were discarded because of exorbitant cost. Workers use a special attachment to a grinding wheel to remove the name and smooth out the surface. Then a paint that matches the color of the plaque’s background is applied to make it look as much as possible like Freedman’s name was never there.
