Council to decide on drunk driving memorial near city hall

The idea of a prominent memorial for victims of drunk driving is getting closer to reality in Saskatoon.

City council’s planning, development and community services committee will consider a report Monday about a potential location for the memorial.

The monument, proposed by two Saskatoon-area families and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), would involve benches, a flower bed and stone walls with the names of people who have been killed by drunk drivers in Saskatchewan.

Councillors will consider an administration recommendation to place the memorial on City Hall’s north lawn near the intersection of 24th Street and 4th Avenue.

Lou Van De Vorst and Alan Kerpan had asked council for a more public location last July, when they were offered a memorial in Woodlawn Cemetery.

Van De Vorst’s son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren were killed after drunk driver Catherine McKay crashed into the family’s van in January 2016.

Kerpan’s 25-year-old daughter, Danille, was killed in a crash in October 2014.

John Koch, 50, was drunk and driving on the wrong side of Highway 11, near Bladworth, when his truck collided head-on with Danille’s car.

The new, larger, memorial will replace the bench and stone already dedicated by MADD to victims of impaired driving at Spadina Avenue and 17th Street.

If council doesn’t approve the north lawn location, the city will continue to work with MADD on an appropriate spot.

MADD will cover all costs of making, installing and maintaining the memorial.