By Marvin G. Cortner
Editor

The Osceola County Commission Monday renamed the 33.6-acre Walk-N-Sticks Park in Buenaventura Lakes as the 65th Infantry Veterans Park, honoring an all-volunteer U.S. Army regiment comprised of Puerto Ricans.

The regiment, called the “Borinqueneers,” fought in World War 1, World War II and the Korean War. The group, which saw extensive combat during the Korean War, was started in 1899; it disbanded after the Korean War. A number of veterans who served in the regiment in the Korean War – or their descendants – live in Osceola County.

“The approval of this resolution and the renaming of the Walk-N-Sticks to the 65th Infantry Veterans Park commemorates the efforts of Americans who have fought to preserve our liberty, and we are honored that many of them make Osceola County their home,” Commissioner John Quiñones, who is of Puerto Rican descent, said.

Quiñones pointed out that a number of people gathered in the commission chambers in support of the resolution renaming the park have close connections to the 65th Infantry: Julius Melendez, an Osceola County School Board member who recently returned from active military duty in Iraq, has a grandfather who is a 65th Infantry veteran; another veteran served with the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry, which fought with the 65th Infantry in Korea; and another veteran served on a transport ship that took the infantry unit to Korea.

According to information provided by the county, more than 700 Americans of Puerto Rican descent lost their lives in Korea, meaning that one in every 42 casualties in the conflict was a Puerto Rican.

Dennis O. Freytes, of Windermere, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army who refers to himself as a community servant and activist on Hispanic/Puerto Rican issues, said the renaming of the park “did a great service to those unsung heroes who fought under the American flag for all Americans.”

“There are thousands of people in Osceola County of Puerto Rican heritage and roots,” Freytes said, adding that his father was in the Infantry as well. “There also are some actual 65th Infantry veterans living there.”

What is unique about the regiment, Freytes said, is that the unit was the only segregated Hispanic unit in the U.S. Army and that while these veterans fought and died for the United States, they could not vote for its president – a situation that still exists today.

Freytes, who is vice president of the National Association for Uniformed Services, said the county renaming the park comes at a time when the status of Puerto Rico as a territory is gaining more attention and that a presidential report on the issue is due out soon. He added that Puerto Ricans should be allowed to vote either to become the 51st state or to become an independent nation – an improvement over the second-class U.S. citizenship they now have.

The county and residents of the Buenaventura Lakes community will mark the grand re-opening of the recently renovated park, which formerly was the Walk-N-Sticks Executive Golf Course, with a ribbon cutting at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 24.

No commercial airboat use of county ramps or docks

Commissioners on a unanimous vote Monday also decided to cease pursuing vendor agreements for commercial airboat use of two county boat ramps, one at Whaley's Landing on Lake Tohopekaliga, the second at Lake Marian.

The commission Jan. 28 reviewed five sites recommended by staff on county lakes to determine whether any of them would be appropriate from which commercial airboat businesses promoting eco-tourism could operate, for a fee. Only two sites were recommended as having the potential to accommodate such operations.

“Since Jan. 28, I've heard from many people,” Commissioner Fred Hawkins Jr. said, adding that he spoke with Kenansville residents in the Lake Marian area and those in the area living around Whaley's Landing. “I kept hearing that maybe we shouldn't be in this (leasing of public facilities for commercial use). I don't want to put anyone out of business, but airboat operators can have private ventures. I'm going to join with Commissioners (Frank) Attkisson and (Michael) Harford, and say this isn't a business we should be in.”

Harford said he stands by his original stance that county boat docks and ramps are intended for public, not commercial use.

“We don't need to be in that business,” he said.

The commission agreed to pursue the commercial airboat vendor agreements after passing an ordinance in December banning all such operations from public facilities unless vendor agreements were in place. The commission at the time suggested that smaller operators band together to bid on a site. The fees charged would have gone toward improvements at the ramps, such as restrooms or parking lots.