Military veterans, politicians, motorcyclists, elementary school children and a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps drill team were all part of the city of Kent’s ceremony Friday to rename South 231st Way as Veterans Drive.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Kent resident Marcus Shelton asked the city to rename the street as a way to honor veterans for their dedication and service to the U.S., especially his father, the late Thomas E. Shelton, who retired after 26 years in the U.S. Air Force.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was a great idea and a fitting tribute to have a street in Kent that honors all branches of service,\u201d Mayor Suzette Cooke said. \u201cWe should always remember those veterans who sacrifice in order to protect and defend the freedoms we enjoy and cherish.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
South 231st Way is now Veterans Drive where it intersects at the north end of Russell Road, and continues west over the Colonel Joe M. Jackson Bridge and ends at Military Road.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Motorcycle clubs kicked off the event with a ride from downtown to Veterans Drive. The motorcyclists also were the first to drive on the newly named street.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The list of those who were part of the street-naming ceremony included:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u2022 Kent Elementary First Grade Singers<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u2022 A flyover by Cascade Warbirds aircraft<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u2022 National Anthem, performed by Petty Officer Sarah Reasner, U.S. Navy Band Northwest<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u2022 Representative Adam Smith, U.S. Congressman, 9th District<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u2022 Tim Peters, Vice President and General Manager of Mobility, Surveillance and Engagement, Boeing Military Aircraft<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u2022 Col. Hugh Bair, Commander, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Joint Base Lewis McCord<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u2022 Cmdr. Chris Sutherland, Executive Officer, Navy Recruiting District Seattle<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u2022 Rifle Salute by Veterans of Foreign Wars, Kent Meridian Post 6785<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u2022 Unveiling of new Veterans Drive street signs, Kent City Council<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u2022 Performance by Kentwood High School JROTC Drill Team<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u2022 Motorcycle and military vehicle procession<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Military veterans, politicians, motorcyclists, elementary school children and a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps drill team were all part of the city of Kent’s ceremony Friday to rename South 231st Way as Veterans Drive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":212,"featured_media":7932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-7931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7931"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/212"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7931"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=7931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}