Fallen soldier's dream getting realized after 11 years of work, red tape

NEW LONDON, Minn. – Eleven years would seem a long time to put a parking lot next to a state trail, especially if it was the brainchild of an earnest Eagle Scout, especially if that Eagle Scout grew up to be a soldier who would give his life on a roadside in Afghanistan, and especially if his parents would not give up the fight to see it built as a legacy for their fallen son.

It's a small piece of land, no bigger than a football field. But the battle to get a parking lot built along a rural state trail has pitted slow-moving state bureaucracy against the unwavering determination of the parents of a fallen soldier. On Friday, Tracy and Ricky Clark will see the beginning of their dream realized. They will break ground along Riverview Lane a mile outside New London for the parking lot their son, Ryane, visualized as a 15-year-old Boy Scout.

The Clark family and neighbors long ago agreed to deed the land to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to install the parking lot along the Glacial Lakes State Trail in west-central Minnesota.

But as part of a bureaucratic maze no one seems able to explain, their efforts always seemed to stall, even as Ryane would call from his remote Army base in Afghanistan for progress reports.

They will celebrate four years to the day the Clark family and much of the surrounding community laid Ryane to rest in a cemetery a few miles away.

The Clarks have a binder full of documentation for their 11-year effort to get the parking lot built. About three-quarters of it would be filed under "frustration."

Ryane got the idea for the parking lot after a boyhood friend died in 1999 when he was hit by a car while riding his bike on the road. Cars and trucks speed around a bend on County Road 31, a shortcut between Hwy. 23 and town; bicyclists and hikers often park their cars on the side of the road to get access to the state trail, unloading equipment and kids.

"It was Ryane's dream, his vision," Tracy Clark said. "He was all about doing community projects."

As a boy, Ryane would often mow the stretch of ground a couple of times a summer so cars could park safely. Ricky Clark said the family was gently warned to leave state property alone, but Ryane did it anyway.

The parking lot plan grew in urgency after Ryane was killed in Afghanistan in 2010. As a testament of support, folks from nursing homes were wheeled out in Willmar and school kids waving flags were let out early to watch the procession in New London when his body was brought home.

The Clarks' home on a wooded hillside adjacent to the state trail has become a quiet memorial in itself. A large flag-adorned quilt featuring a picture of Ryane in uniform greets visitors as they step through the door. Supplies of black T-shirts that say "A True American Hero" with his picture beneath are piled on the living room couch.

After Ryane's death, Tracy did much of the work on the project. In 2011, she got a bid: $54,000. Later, when the state put out a request for proposals, the only bid came in at $90,000. When Tracy suggested to the DNR that she seek private donations, she was told that, by law, the state would have to pay for the project.

No one at the DNR ever dismissed the project or even criticized it. But it always seemed to take a back seat to bigger funding issues in one of the state's largest agencies.

"Everybody I've talked to, when I mention the DNR, they say, 'You are not going to get anywhere with them, ever,' " she said. "I did not know the DNR is that complicated to work with, but they are."

She said things seemed to move only after State Rep. Mary Sawatzky, who represents New London, arranged for the Clarks and four DNR officials to meet at the Capitol.

"I just made a phone call, and that was it," Sawatzky said.

Dennis Frederickson, the DNR's southern region director, said the agency likes the idea of the parking lot. But he said it must be cautious about accepting private lands, making sure the offers fit the DNR's "strategic land asset management" plan.

"The Department of Natural Resources goes through a pretty stringent evaluation process when an individual is going to give property to the department to see if it fits into our conservation goals," Frederickson said. "That was the case with this property. It was evaluated, and there was a need for this property. The Department of Parks and Trails said it would gladly accept the property."

Frederickson said the Clarks' tenacity is evidence of the concern Ryane showed about the safety of people using the trail even as he was on the battlefield in Afghanistan.

"He saw a real need and he saw a solution to that need and he wanted to see that solution carried through to completion," Frederickson said. "We are very much in support of this project."

The local fire department is scheduled to be at the ceremony, as well as the Patriot Guard. Gold Star and Blue Star moms will coordinate the festivities.

The plan is to have the parking lot built for a ceremony in September 2015. Preliminary sketches show some bur oak and red pine plantings, about a dozen parking spots and a small memorial area. Tracy also hopes to have a flagpole installed on their adjacent property to have a U.S. flag waving for arriving visitors.

The Clarks hope to raise about $25,000 for the memorial. They've set up a fund at the United Minnesota Bank, 105 Central Av. E., New London, Minn. 56273.

Preparing for the groundbreaking, Ricky and Tracy say they do not want to diminish the accomplishment, but the red tape marred what should have been a positive experience.

"If I'd have known what it was going to be like, I would have built the darn thing myself and just given it back to them," Ricky Clark says now.

Mark Brunswick • 612-673-4434