Woonsocket to keep memorial, defend any lawsuit from Wisconsin organization that wants it removed

By Mark Reynolds

WOONSOCKET, R.I. -- In a grand presentation, featuring a video tribute that he assembled himself, Mayor Leo T. Fontaine on Friday announced the city's plans for defending the Place Jolicoeur Memorial from a Wisconsin organization that says it could sue unless Woonsocket removes the stone monument adorned with a large cross.

The city will hold onto the memorial, rather than trying to turn it over to a private veterans' entity, and it has the both the necessary legal standing and finances to battle anyone who tries to make a constitutional argument in federal court, Fontaine said.

Just as crosses mark the graves of veterans in Arlington National Cemetery, the Woonsocket memorial's cross appropriately honors four individuals, each of them Woonsocket natives, who died fighting for their country, according to Fontaine and the city's lawyer.

The memorial's stone pedestal, large plaque and cross were privately financed in 1952, according to Joseph S. Larisa Jr., a lawyer who has volunteered to represent the city against any legal claim made by the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation.

A legal defense fund, holding more than $18,000 in privately donated money, will cover the legal bills, Larisa said.