Evans City mayor honors veterans with banners
EVANS CITY — When he began working on a project in the autumn of 2014 to hang military banners on the borough's utility poles, Mayor Dean Zinkhann had no idea he was planting a seed that would continue to sprout to this day in and around Butler County.
Zinkhann started his mission to honor veterans with the 2-foot by 3-foot banners by having one created for Army Staff Sgt. Eric Holman, 39, of Evans City, who was killed in August 2012 in Afghanistan.
Those who spend the $80 to have an active military or veteran friend or loved one, living or deceased, placed on a banner to be hung in the borough also receive two smaller banners for their personal use. The $80 paid for each banner is used up in printing the banners and buying the equipment to hang them, Zinkhann said.
Zinkhann invited Wayne Perry, who is now the junior vice-commander for the Pennsylvania State VFW, to the December 2014 borough council meeting to present David and Jan Holman with the smaller banners that pictured Sgt. Holman.
The entire council and all those attending that meeting immediately rose and applauded as the stricken Holmans accepted the banners.
The military banner program then took flight in Evans City. Today, 260 banners hang on Main Street and eight other streets in the small borough.
Zinkhann and two other borough residents put the banners up on Memorial Day and take them down on Veterans Day.
After Zinkhann began the program in Evans City, Butler and Chicora in Butler County and Rimersburg in nearby Clarion County instituted military banner programs.
“It's just amazing, really,” Zinkhann said of the program's popularity. “I just set a goal to honor our vets.”
John Cyprian, the director of Butler County Veterans Services, appreciates the military banner program and hopes it expands to other municipalities.
“I commend Dean for taking that initiative on,” Cyprian said. “What better way to pay tribute to our veterans?”
Asked why he took on the project four years ago, Zinkhann pointed to the sacrifices made by U.S. military personnel every day.
“We wouldn't be standing here if not for our vets,” he said. “That's why I love it.”
A full report will appear in the Butler Eagle.
