Connoquenessing Township supervisors voted to decline a historical roadside marker that would have commemorated the July 13 assassination attempt of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Supervisors said there were no immediate benefits to the community after first being offered the marker as a gift in mid-November from representatives of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation.

“Honestly, it was a tragic event that took place in our township,” said Supervisor Angela Fleeger during a meeting Monday, Jan. 6. “I just don’t know that highlighting that tragedy was the right thing for our township at this time, so we politely declined the gift.”

Jerry Klinger, the president of the society, reached out to township officials in an email Nov. 14, stating that his organization would handle the customization and cover any costs associated with the marker.

He reached out again Dec. 6 after supervisors tabled consideration of the gift at a Dec. 4 meeting. At that meeting, Butler Farm Show president Ken Laughlin rejected the notion that the marker would be placed on farm show grounds.

“I can assure you it won’t be on farm show property,” Laughlin said during public discussion of the matter.

In that email, Klinger proposed what the marker would include, which was about 200 words of text, a memorable photo of Trump with his fist raised in the air and the option to incorporate a photo of Corey Comperatore, the Buffalo Township firefighter who was killed while protecting his family during the event.

He noted that the society has completed historical interpretive marker projects in 44 states and nine countries.

His desire to gift the marker revolved around remembering the event for what it was, rather than pretending it didn’t happen.

“I wish that the assassination attempt had never occurred,” Klinger wrote in an email to the Butler Eagle. “Assassination as a solution to the ballot box is an assassination of the ballot box. But it did, almost, happen. It is precisely because it did almost happen that the site, the history, the reality of bigotry, ignorance and hatred must be confronted. Evil is never stopped by pretending it never happened or removing the site from the eye of history.”

Klinger said he respects the decision.

“I understand and respect and sincerely appreciate and thank the township for their serious consideration,” he wrote. “The marker was never intended to give them further distress. The story of American history and the experience of American history and the lessons from American history should not be denied from the present or the future.”

Despite the rejection, Fleeger said she wouldn’t rule out the possibility of the township considering a commemorative display in the future.

“I don’t know that we’re going to be closed to any further discussion in the future, but at this time we are going to decline it,” she said.