BANGOR – Twenty-three years after his death at the hands of three local teenagers, Charlie Howard finally is getting a permanent memorial.

Howard, an openly gay man, was 23 when he died. He was walking along State Street in the late evening of July 7, 1984, when three high school students attacked him.

They beat him and threw him off a downtown bridge into the water below. Howard, who could not swim, had an asthma attack and drowned. The ensuing investigation suggested that he was attacked because he was gay. His death was one of Bangor’s most infamous hate crimes.

The Charles O. Howard Memorial Foundation has been working for four years to erect a monument in his memory. The monument would be installed in a small open area along State Street, near the small bridge that spans the Kenduskeag Stream.

The spot sits among the concrete walkways reached by a set of steps that runs down from the street to the streamside. The site now has a flag pole and perennial plantings.

After several iterations, foundation representatives and the city’s cultural development commission have come up with a design for a simple gray granite memorial consisting of a bench for quiet reflection and an oval planter seated on a square base, according to the foundations’ written proposal to the city.

Howard’s full name and the dates of his birth and death will be inscribed on the side of the planter, which will be filled with flowers in warm weather and possibly with greenery in wintertime. The planter will be separated from the bench by a curving crushed gravel path. The planter’s base will bear the following engraved tribute:

“May we, the citizens of Bangor, continue to change the world around us until hatred becomes peacemaking and ignorance becomes understanding. Charlie Howard, an openly gay man, died here at the hands of hatred and ignorance on July 7, 1984.”

John Rohman, a former council chairman and current chairman of the cultural commission, said Wednesday that the monument was “not an easy project” to develop, given the strong feelings surrounding Howard’s death.

On one hand, some wanted the monument to show what hatred and prejudice can do. Others “wanted this to be almost a Kumbaya session,” focusing on how far the city has since come in terms of acceptance and understanding, Rohman said, adding that he thinks the resulting design and wording accomplish both objectives.

“I’m very, very pleased with the end result,” he said during a meeting of the City Council’s business and economic development committee. The panel voted to recommend that the full council accept the monument during its next regular meeting, set for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14.