Battle Born Memorial repairs under way at Capitol

Demolition and removal of the damaged marble surface at the Battle Born Memorial is under way and the contractor expects to finish installing the new marble by the end of next week.

That would meet Gov. Brian Sandoval’s desire to have the repairs made before he leaves office.

David Merrill of Premier Tile and Stone said the entire surface has to be replaced because there’s no way to match the color and pattern of the existing surface.

Merrill said he and his crew are the ones who installed the now damaged surface just a couple of months ago.

But the black marble surface was damaged just three days after the memorial was dedicated by four teens riding their BMX bicycles and Razor Scooters across the surface. That cracked three of the slabs that make up the platform stretching the length of the memorial and caused chips along the edges.

The juvenile suspects were identified by recordings on video cameras located between the memorial and the Supreme Court building.

Since all of the slabs have to be replaced, the estimated cost was $45,000.

Merrill said the new marble and a crew of four will arrive Sunday to help prepare the surface and install the slabs.

But he said he hopes designers come up with a plan to fence off the surface and keep anyone from trying to use it as a skateboard track or it will just get damaged all over again.

“I don’t want to do it again,” he said as he and four buildings and grounds employees loaded up some of the old slabs of granite.

What will be done to protect the new marble hasn’t yet been completely figured out.

The vandals, in the meantime, have been identified. Their names are being withheld because they’re juveniles.

The memorial features the names of fallen Nevada soldiers pierced through brass slats mounted so the sun shines through them. It cost a total of $450,000, two thirds of which was provided by settlement funds from the Attorney General’s Office.