New Push for Memorial to Binghamton Firefighters

Nearly a decade after Binghamton city council approved a proposal to construct a memorial to three firefighters who drowned near the Rockbottom Dam, there's a renewed effort to have it built.

Lawmakers authorized the project in May 2006 but no decisions were made regarding the site for the memorial to the men who died in the Susquehanna River.

City council president Bill Berg said he's been told some relatives of the firefighters who drowned in 1975 did not want the memorial to be placed in an area that could be dangerous to those who visited it.

Berg said there has been discussion the memorial could be constructed at Confluence Park, a short distance west of the Rockbottom Dam.

Mayor Richard David said it is important to take into account the concerns of the family members of the firefighters who died in the river.

David said the city doesn't want to "direct people to an area that's unsafe." He said a park that already exists would be safer and more accessible to the community.

The mayor said now that there are conversations about the memorial, he wants to see to it that the project comes to fruition.

When the proposal was being discussed in 2006, it was estimated the memorial could cost about $3,000.

Fire Chief John Cox and Captain Donald McGeever drowned on September 29, 1975, the day after Firefighter John Russell died during a river rescue operation. Cox and McGeever had hoped to retrieve Russell's body.