On August 7th, the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners will be launching a specialized park pass program for veterans. The pass, which will be available to all Lincoln County residents with veterans status, will grant users one free night of camping at Jack Morgan Park, Elk City Park or Moonshine Park, or can be traded in for an annual day pass for Moonshine Park. Passes can be claimed at the Lincoln County Veterans Services offices, and are valid for use in that calendar year.
The idea for the park pass program originally came from Don Reed, an Eddyville resident who
wrote to Commissioners Claire Hall, Doug Hunt and Kaety Jacobson in March of 2019. Reed, a veteran who worked in the Lincoln County Road Department for 21 years before his retirement in May 2019, was referred to the Board of Commissioners after proposing the concept to Parks Operation Supervisor Keith Andresen. Over the next several months, Andresen, Jacobson, Veteran Services Officer Devin Whitaker planned and designed the physical pass and the overall program.
“This is a great concept that was brought directly to us from a veteran, and I think frankly many of us were surprised that a program like this didn’t already exist in Lincoln County,” said Jacobson. “Since it is new, though, we’ll spend the first few months seeing how it is received among the community, and then tweak it for the future if we need to.” The program is set to be unveiled at the Board of Commissioners’ weekly meeting on August 7th at 9:30 am, in the BOC Meeting Room at the Lincoln County Courthouse.
Jacobson, Andresen and Whitaker will present Reed with the first pass, as well as a larger honorary version. The remaining passes will be stored in the Veterans Service Offices at 1231 SE Bay Blvd, STE A in Newport and at 4157 NW U.S. 101, STE 250 in Lincoln City.