Break Ground For New Sikh Temple
KERMAN (Feb. 8) - Last month a groundbreaking ceremony for a new Sikh Temple Hall was performed after Sikh Faith prayers. "Panj Pyare" (five beloved ones) wearing saffron clothes, shovels in hand, broke the ground on the five acre site on Vineland purchased with the help of the city council a few years ago. This Hall is likely to the completed in May 2006.
Prominent Sikh dignitaries all over the Central Valley attended the event. Thirty thousand dollars were donated on spot by attendees. Kuldip Singh Kaleka, senior vice president of the managing board, appealed the Punjabi community to donate money liberally for the completion of Hall. Gurcharan Singh Rakkar, president of the managing board thanked all the attendees.
VFW POST DEDICATES VIET NAM MEMORIAL
On Saturday, Jan. 14, members of the Kerman Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 8470 held a dedication ceremony for a plaque commemorating the local soldiers who lost their lives in the Viet Nam conflict (1965-1975). The plaque is located in Kerman's Plaza Veterans Park, on Madera Ave. Between C St. and California Ave. Other memrials in the park remember local men lost in World War II and other conflicts.
Family and friends of the Viet Nam era military men were also on hand for the ceremony. Richard De Kneff spoke for the local veterans, and Post Chaplain Haig Mosesian led the invocation.
"We are assembled here to pay tribute to the men of our community ... our neighbors, who have fought in defense of this country," said De Kneef. "We express our pride and gratitude ... They were aware of the dangers, yet they responded without hesitation."
The VFW is planning further memorials honoring those who took part in Desert Storm, and in the Afghan/Iraq conflict, and hoping it won't be necessary to add more names to the lists of the fallen, in Veteran's Park.