Groups passing blame over dirty plaque

Tanith L. Balaban Arizona Daily Wildcat The veterans' memorial plaques in the Memorial Student Union are the topic of debate between the members of the Arnold Air Force Society, an honorary of the Air Force ROTC, and Epsilon Sigma Tau, a national veterans' fraternity. Both groups claim that the other organization left a green residue on the plaques after cleaning them.

Green residue from a cleaning powder left on the veterans' memorial in the Memorial Student Union has left some veterans upset and the two groups that may be responsible are pointing fingers at each other.

The plaque on the Union's first floor lists the names of University of Arizona students, alumni and faculty who died in World Wars I and II. For the past few weeks, it has been shielded by two white partitions placed in front of the memorial by Student Un ion employees.

The last group to receive official approval from the Union to clean the plaque consisted of cadet members of the Arnold Air Society, said Joe Sottosanti, assistant director of facility management and operations for the Memorial Student Union. The society is an honorary service group affiliated with Air Force ROTC.

Air Force ROTC cadets polished the memorial Feb. 1, as documented by an Arizona Daily Wildcat photo. But Cmdr. Terence Thompson said the cadets did not leave the plaque in its current condition.

"My boys did a fine job of cleaning the plaque and are not responsible for the current condition of the memorial," he said.

Thompson said that while the cadets were polishing the memorial, they were approached by a member of the national veteran fraternity, Epsilon Tau Sigma, who said that cleaning the memorial was a duty of that organization.

Thompson said the cadets finished cleaning the plaques and left them in a presentable condition. He said he thinks any residue on the memorial is a result of the fraternity's effort to clean the plaque after his cadets.

However, Sayda Gastelum, president of Epsilon Tau Sigma, said she does not know of any members of the fraternity who recently attempted to polish the memorial. She said Air Force ROTC was the last group she was aware of who cleaned the plaque.

Gastelum said after a conversation with Sottosanti, the fraternity agreed to clean the residue off the memorial this Sunday, but it did not admit responsibility for the plaque's current condition.

Yesterday, a custodial employee successfully removed some of the residue with Pledge cleaner.

Sottosanti said if the plaque was not clean on Monday, he would investigate the matter further and try to find the party responsible for leaving the memorial dirty.

"Come Monday, if the plaque is not cleaned, I'm going to start pointing fingers, and I'm from New York, so when I start pointing fingers, I might push you through a wall," Sottosanti said.

Gastelum said Epsilon Tau Sigma is involved in a fund-raising effort to have the memorial professionally refurbished. She said the estimated cost is about $2,000.