"Friendship Rock" in Saline Honors Sister City Relationships

The Saline City Council accepted the dedication of a special "Friendship Rock" honoring Saline's visitors and friends from Brecon, Wales and Lindenburg, Germany in a ceremony at Saline City Hall on October 20, 2008. The symbol of close ties between the communities presented to the city by the Saline Brecon Friendship Guild and the Saline Lindenberg Friendship Committee. The President of the Lindenberg group, Dick Nehring, and Secretary of the Brecon group, Kathy Chapin, spoke on behalf of their organizations at the dedication. The beautiful rock was funded by the committees and citizen donations.

Jim Roth, who spearheaded the citizen project, made the presentation at a ceremony prior to a City Council meeting at which the Council formally accepted the gift and approved its permanent placement in the courtyard at City Hall. Mayor Gretchen Driskell, who recently returned from a group visit to Brecon, thanked the organizations on behalf of the City and reminisced about the importance of the sister city relationships to the history and fabric of the Saline community. A group of visitng students from Lindenberg attended the ceremony and a representative spoke about what the exchange relationship had meant to her personally.
The Rock was unveiled by Circuit Judge Donald Shelton, former Mayor of Saline, who made a toast to the sister cities:   From the hilltops of the Brecon Beacons To the valley of Saline Our friendship admits of no ocean Only love spans between.   From Lindenberg's Alpine snows To where Saline's old river flows The friendship between our towns It only grows and grows   To Brecon To Lindenberg To Saline To Peace
On of the stalwarts of the Saline Brecon Friendship Guild, Barry Barkel, concluded the dedication by leading the assembly in a very moving rendition of Barrys's original composition, "A Song For Returning"