See the slide show below
The rock that will be painted as Greene County’s Freedom Rock was placed Friday morning at its forever location on the Greene County Fairgrounds, just north of the former Milligan grain elevator.
Other counties have paid thousands of dollars for their bare rocks. That’s not the case in Greene County. The rock was donated by Craig Flack of Flack Excavating and River Farm Recreation.
As Flack tells the story, county engineer Wade Weiss knew of the large rock at Flack’s River Farm, the former Hallett Materials gravel pit in Jackson Township. “Wade called and asked if I’d sell the rock for the Freedom Rock. I thought about it for about 10 seconds and told him ‘no.’ I told him I wouldn’t sell it, but I’d donate it. I didn’t have to think twice about it,” Flack said.
“It’s a neat deal and I’m super happy to be involved with it. It’s a small thing I can do for the veterans, and I’m really glad I could do it,” he said.
He had thought at one time of trying to sell the rock, but it weighs between 25 and 30 tons. The process of getting the rock moved backed him away from the idea.
Now, though, as Flack works to develop River Farm Recreation, which includes motocross tracks, a 200-foot slip-n-slide, a 500-foot zipline, kayaking, fishing and more, it was a good time to have the rock relocated.
Tanner Stauffer and a county secondary roads crew moved the rock into Jefferson Friday morning. Once it was hauled in, the crew spent more than an hour setting it in place, first getting it upright, and then moving it “a few feet here and a few feet there,” according to Don Van Gilder of the secondary roads department.
(Click on the first photo to start the slide show. Photos by Greene County secondary roads department.)
The secondary roads department is participating as an in-kind donation to the project.
Artist Bubba Sorenson will be in Jefferson in mid-October to paint the rock. He’ll paint from ideas and photos provided to him by the Freedom Rock committee, but passersby won’t be able to watch his progress. He’ll be painting inside a tent, and the Freedom Rock will be kept “under wraps” until a dedication ceremony.
The Freedom Rock committee, composed of veterans Don Ihnken, Jim Andrew and Kenneth Arbuckle, Greene County supervisor Dawn Rudolph, and Bob Allen and Gary Schiltz of the Greene County Fair Association, is working to raise between $15,000 and $20,000 for the project. An account has been established at Peoples Trust & Savings Bank.
