MEMORIAL -- Just part of the crowd is shown at the vigil program Wednesday marking two years since the deaths of teens in a tragic shooting incident in Crandon. The gazebo has been constructed at the site of the home where the killings occurred and a fountain will be installed and gardens planted in 2010. The young woman at the left is wearing a shirt with the names of the victims listed. |
Memorial at Crandon seen as a site for light and youth instead of tragedy Oct. 8, 2009 Rev. William Farr, who has been a clergyman linked closely with the tragic morning of Oct. 7, 2007 in Crandon, offered hope Wednesday evening at a new memorial to the young people who lost their lives two years ago.
There was a candlelight vigil at the site of a residence where Jordanne Murray, Katrina McCorkle, Aaron “Chunk” Smith, Lindsay Stahl, Bradley Schultz and LiAnna Thomas were killed by Tyler Peterson, an off-duty Forest County sheriff’s deputy as the six friends were attending a party marking the Crandon High School homecoming. Peterson took his own life later in the day as law enforcement officers closed in.
Charles Neitzel, who was also at the deadly gathering, was shot but survived by feigning his death.
Farr noted during his address to the crowd that numbered well into the hundreds, that the community had come together after the killings, the home where the tragedy occurred had been razed and the building at the site has been taking shape, known as the Fountain of Youth Memorial.
“This was once a tragic place,” Farr said, stressing the role of the memorial and fountain as a center of hope for the Crandon and Forest County community.
The memorial is a stunning site with walkways and areas for flower gardens. They ring a stone gazebo that will eventually be the site of a fountain.
There were a number of Antigo natives in the crowd as one of the victims was Aaron “Chunk” Smith, the son of Ed and Lee Smith, who moved from Antigo and have resided in Crandon for a number of years. Members of their family gathered to the left of the gazebo for the services.
The Smiths said that funding is still needed to complete the memorial and to create a reserve to maintain the facility in the future. The group they are connected to is also discussing plans for a scholarship in the memory of the victims.
There is a website for information and donations to the foundation facility at CrandonMemorial.org.
An account is being maintained at the Laona State Bank where donations and checks can be sent to the Foundation of Youth Memorial to the bank at Post Office Box 395, Crandon, WI., 54520.
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