Editor’s note: Wausau Pilot & Review gladly publishes commentary from readers, residents and candidates for local offices. The views of readers and columnists are independent of this newspaper and do not necessarily reflect the views of Wausau Pilot & Review. To submit, email [email protected] or mail to 500 N. Third St., Suite 208-8, Wausau, Wis. 54403.
To the editor
I was just informed the Board of Directors of the Monk Botanical Gardens has voted to retain the name of Wausau Botanic Gardens, thereby adding insult to injury to the memory of my father, their benefactor, Robert W. Monk III. These people on the garden board have no shame. They have no honor. They, and their professional leadership, need to be replaced.
To justify much of their actions, they offer excuses. One example, they claim they have not maintained or replaced the bridge to my parent’s memorial site because it was too expensive. They do not mention my family’s offer of a $15,000 gift to install a new bridge. They say my brother was involved in the planning process for the garden’s development. What they didn’t say is that while my brother Tom was on the board, and volunteered to help with the visitor center, his offer was declined.
This garden board, along with its leadership, is completely lost. Not one of them has an understanding of what my father’s dream was in its entirety. So, they fabricate and adopt their own vision and ignore my father’s wishes. They have no moral compass. It was not enough to alter my father’s original vision for the garden, but they found it necessary to eradicate his name and ignore his legacy. They are moving forward without a family mandate, and without a community mandate. They must be made to listen to the community.
This action cannot stand. Maybe the garden board will listen to the community when the community ceases their funding. I’m sad to say, I suspect it is now time for that to happen.
Please know my gratitude goes to the Wausau Community for their gracious and encouraging support of my father’s dream, the Monk Botanical Gardens. This is a community struggle, and this struggle will continue until the Monk name, in honor of my father, is restored.
Robert W. Monk IV
