UNION CITY — A Union City man says he won’t claim any cash from a court judgment against the Union City Hometown Heroes Project.
The nonprofit organization honors more than 225 Union City veterans on banners mounted on utility poles in the town.
A Sept. 6 district court ruling required the organization to pay $6,677 to Lance L. Greer, who claimed that his motor home was damaged by one of the banners. But Greer and his wife said Monday that they would not seek any money from the judgment.
“They wanted it known that the intention wasn’t about money, that they never wanted to hurt Hometown Heroes or see banners come down, and that they would not be cashing in on the (judgment),” Union City Borough Council President Riley Cross said. Cross said that the Greers called him just before Monday night’s council meeting and asked him to share that information.
The Greers later said that they had submitted paperwork to the court essentially ending their claim, Cross said.
Community volunteers to help
The court judgment would have bankrupted the Union City Hometown Heroes Project.
The organization doesn’t have the money to pay the judgment and has no money to appeal the ruling, said Steve Tomcho, president of Union City’s Hometown Heroes Project.
The nonprofit began removing banners to avoid possible future claims but re-mounted the banners when community members offered to pay the court judgment.
“The community has been wonderful,” said Beverly Ballog, treasurer of Union City Hometown Heroes Project. “It seems like every business and the whole community has contacted me to say they’ll help pay the judgment.”
But the answer, Ballog said, is “No.”
That’s because Greer also contacted the organization to say that he will not seek the money awarded by the court and essentially will ask that the judgment be withdrawn, Ballog said.
It’s also because the nonprofit, with public help, will appeal the judgment if there’s no official notice that it’s been withdrawn.
“It’s not right,” Ballog said. “We think the case should be thrown out.”
The court case
Greer filed a civil complaint against the Union City Hometown Heroes Project on July 12, claiming a banner hung low over a street caused significant damage to his motor home in May.
Corry District Judge Denise Buell ruled in Greer’s favor.
“Based on Pictures and testimony, the sign extended out into the side of the roadway resulting in the damage to the motor home and this could have been prevented if the sign was higher than 9 feet (should take into consideration for that road the height of the highest vehicle that would pass by this area) or placed on the opposite side of the pole,” Buell said in comments on the case.
Union City Hometown Heroes Project has 30 days to appeal the ruling.
The appeal, if filed, will claim that canvass banners are mounted on utility poles at a height of 9 feet, 8 inches, and that there was no police report and no estimates provided to verify Greer’s damage claim, Ballog said.
The Hometown Heroes project
The Union City Hometown Heroes Project was organized by Union City Middle School teacher Stephanie Murphy, at her daughter’s suggestion, in 2022. Communities participating in the Hometown Heroes’ program collect money to order banners honoring individual servicemen and women and display the banners around town.
Families pay the $75 cost of the banner and the hardware needed to mount it.
Murphy worked with Union City American Legion Post 237 to launch the local program. The Legion, Union City VFW Post 6773 and the Union City Moose Club later organized the Union City Hometown Heroes Project nonprofit organization to oversee it.
Many of the banners are displayed in the neighborhoods where the veterans lived, said Tomcho, who also is American Legion Post 237 commander.
Volunteers hang the banners before Memorial Day each spring and remove them each fall.
“It’s a lot of work for retired guys donating our time and doing it all ourselves,” Tomcho said.
The Union City Community Foundation had offered to help the organization obtain funding for a bucket truck to make banner posting and removal easier, Tomcho said.
“That’s on hold along with everything else right now because of this ruling,” Tomcho said.
Also on hold are orders for about 40 more banners, Ballog said.
“If this all gets handled, we’ll start taking orders again,” she said.
YourErie first reported on the Union City Hometown Heroes Project legal challenge.
Opinion: Corry and Union City restored. Decades of hard work pay off in commerce, pride and charm
Contact Valerie Myers at vmyers@timesnews.com.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Hometown Heroes Project is on hold in Union City pending court action
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