The ill-advised move of the statue of a distinguished officer of the American Revolution is turning out the way some critics predicted.
The statue of the Marquis de Lafayette, who led troops and fought in battles in that war, is being vandalized in its spot next to a sidewalk in Lafayette Square, which was named after him.
The vandals with their spray-paint cans did not, and could not, bother the statue while it was in the middle of a traffic circle in Lafayette Square, because it was difficult to reach and in plain sight 24 hours a day.
Now it has been shoved aside, tucked next to a sidewalk near an auto parts store and a 24-hour convenience store. As noted in a story in The Eagle-Tribune last week, the base of the statue has been subjected to the indignity of being attacked by people with cans of spray paint.
This isn't new. There have been reports for several months of people doing bad deeds at night around the city.
The day the story about the painted base of the Lafayette statue appeared on the front page of The Eagle-Tribune, there was another example of senseless and mindless vandalism. Barrels placed along Merrimack Street to help keep it clean and attractive were overturned and the contents were strewn along the street and the sidewalks.
City crews and workers from various buildings and stores picked up most of the trash that morning, but the damage had already been done.
One of the ironies of the Lafayette damage in Haverhill was that it was done while people in France and of French descent were celebrating Bastille Day, when France started on its path to democracy.
The French residents of Haverhill did not come here directly from France, for the most part, but through Canada — but that did not lessen their admiration for the service of Lafayette to this country in its birth struggle.
Lafayette was a special leader in several ways, but most notable to me was his work as a guerrilla fighter, harassing the British troops all the way along the Atlantic seaboard from New York to Yorktown, Va., where he took part in the day-to-day action that led to the British surrender.
Yorktown now has a statue of Lafayette standing with George Washington near the battlefield where the American forces prevailed and hastened the defeat of the English army.
I still think, as I have said often, the state highway people who were responsible for moving Lafayette from the center of the square should be making a strong attempt to put his statue back into some place of prominence, as is due a major figure in our history.
He should be admired and honored, as should the memory of the people of this city who raised the money for this statue.
For 70 years, Lafayette had a place of honor in Haverhill. Now he has been dishonored, and it is a black mark against the city and the state, just because some traffic engineers wanted a change in traffic patterns.
It is their obligation now to return Lafayette to his proper place in the city and in the minds and hearts of our people.
Remember, when Gen. Pershing led American troops into France to help that country during World War I, the first place he stopped was at Lafayette's tomb, and he uttered a famous phrase, "Lafayette, we are here."
Let's correct the mistake of which we were reminded this week by vandals, and return Lafayette to a prominent place in Haverhill.
Then we can say, again, "Lafayette, you are here, where you belong."
Barney Gallagher has covered Haverhill since 1936 as a reporter, editor and columnist.
