Long-distance dedication

Lesson in cooperation produces memorable gift for Point man

You usually don't consider using a bridge, a security company, a trophy shop, a family divided by hundreds of miles, a concrete company and the Internet together to make a birthday gift, but a local man recently got just that combination for his birthday.

Stevens Point resident Neil Romenesko received a chunk of the demolished Clark Street bridge for his birthday. It was mounted onto a plaque with the inscription “Brothers Bridging Love,” and the way the plaque went from being rubble from a bridge to a birthday gift is a lesson in ingenuity and cooperation.

Del Romenesko, Neil Romenesko's brother who lives in North Carolina, recently learned about the ongoing Clark Street construction. Neil admitted to his brother that he was upset at the demolition, since he enjoyed taking daily walks across the bridge with his dog.

Since Neil's birthday was coming up, Del Romenesko wanted to get him a unique gift. The men's father died on Super Bowl Sunday and Neil also recently got into a car accident. To lift Neil's spirits, Del hoped to find him something special for his birthday.

“When family dies, the kids have to keep together and cheer each other up,” Del said.

He discovered the Web site for Horgan Sales and Service, the company providing the security cameras for the bridge construction, and watched as the construction took place.

The construction pictures gave Del an idea - if he could find someone to pick up pieces of the bridge, he could give his brother a truly original gift. However, he had no idea what he could do with chunks of a destroyed bridge.

“My initial idea was to have someone drop a giant boulder on his front lawn as a joke,” he said, “I would have removed it right away, but I still thought it was pretty mean.” Instead, he contacted Horgan Sales and Service via e-mail and told them the whole story.

Jane Whitt, general manager of the Horgan, volunteered to go pick up pieces of the bridge. One thing led to another, and Del eventually settled on the idea - with help from Point Trophy and County Concrete - of mounting a piece of concrete onto a plaque bearing the inscription “Brothers Bridging Love.”

On the day before Neil's birthday, Whitt delivered the bridge plaque to him.

Neil was thrilled at the gift. He took it everywhere and showed it to many people he knew.

“I was totally shocked,” he said. “The people from Horgan Sales made a great community contribution.”

Del, who made contacts with Whitt, Point Trophy and County Concrete entirely over the phone and Internet, was amazed at what he accomplished.

“I think this speaks so well of Stevens Point,” he said. “It's wonderful how they all worked together to make his birthday memorable.”

(By Becky Lorenz, Stevens Point Journal -- June 2, 2000)

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