Headlines on PNJ.com: This is the news from Wednesday, August 28
Old, abandoned state hospital in N. Palafox listed for $2 million, Santa Rosa explores interest in a water sports center and Four Winds Fine Foods remodels
The damaged portions of the 9/11 memorial in downtown Pensacola are safe and being repaired.
William Howell contacted the News Journal after it published the article about the damage to the monument on Monday and said he has the pieces of the sculpture and is awaiting the artist’s return to Pensacola, which he hopes will happen later this year.
Howell said he notified the city of the damage and was allowed to store the parts.
Pensacola spokesman Jason Wheeler confirmed to the News Journal that Deputy City Manager Amy Miller gave Howells permission to take custody of the broken pieces.
“We were pleased that the pieces were secured by a friend of the artist who had already approached him about repairs,” Wheeler said. “We are grateful for his quick action in gathering the pieces of the sculpture and look forward to Mr. King restoring them to his sculpture.”
Wheeler said Parks and Recreation Director Ben Heistein was also involved in communications about the repair plan, but was not in the office when the News Journal asked about the damage.
The ceramic arch labeled “9-11 Homage to America” in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza is located near the prominent intersection of Palafox and Garden Street.
The memorial arch has stood on the square for 20 years as a public memorial to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
The 12-foot-tall ceramic arch was created by artist couple Peter King and Xinia Marin after the attack. The work was briefly on display in art museums before being donated to the city by the artist.
Howell, a local photographer and multimedia specialist at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, had photographed King to document the creation of the Gulf Breeze Arch, which was unveiled in 2013 to celebrate the city’s 50th anniversary.
Howell said he was stopping his car at a red light on Palafox Street in March when he noticed the damage to the sculpture.
“I parked, walked over, looked at all the pieces and stacked them to the point where I thought, ‘Okay, cool. They’re all here,'” Howell said.
Howell was then faced with a problem: what should he do with the pieces to save the sculpture?
“I realized I couldn’t just accept this,” Howell said.
Howell had to leave the pieces in the park and contacted City Councilwoman Allison Patton.
Patton contacted Deputy City Manager Amy Miller.
“We agreed that we should remove and preserve the pieces and then develop a plan to repair the sculpture,” Patton said.
Patton said she was not surprised that the city was apparently unaware of the damage to the monument when contacted by the News Journal last week, as the problem was quickly resolved.
Howell said they have tried to contact King, who lives in a remote location in Costa Rica, but have also been working with Jon Waldrop of Fluid Metalworks on a backup plan in case they cannot get King back to repair the sculpture.
Howell said he tried to contact them through a colleague at IHMC whose cousin was close friends with King and Marin in Costa Rica, but they were unable to reach King. Then Howell managed to reach King’s nephew, who lives in Pensacola, and inform him of the damage to the sculpture.
Howell said King had already planned to return to Pensacola in the fall and thought he could repair the sculpture then.
Howell said King “wrote the book” on architectural ceramics and he was glad that people cared about the monument.
“It means something to Pensacola,” Howells said. “At least it’s being noticed now, and that’s cool because it really is a piece of history.”
