Moment of silence scheduled for today throughout city
By PATRICK KINMARTIN Special to the Daily Press
Church bells will toll throughout Santa Monica today at 1:47 p.m. when the community is asked to participate in a moment of silence to remember the 10 people who lost their lives a week ago today after 86-year-old Russell Weller drove his car through the farmer’s market.
An observance will take place on Arizona Avenue at 1:47 p.m., the approximate time Weller’s 1992 Buick LeSabre sped through the farmer’s market last Wednesday at speeds as fast 60 mph while hitting dozens of people.
The ceremony will wrap up a day of remembrance for the city’s worst tragedy, which will begin with a procession down Arizona Avenue and continuing with several events throughout the day.
Although the moment of silence will officially be observed on Arizona Avenue only, everyone in Santa Monica is encouraged to pause and reflect, said Rev. Sandie Richards, one of the day’s organizers.
“This is the chance for everyone to collectively make a beautiful expression of grief,” Richards said. “This was a community tragedy and it shouldn’t be something we obsess over, but at the same time it shouldn’t be something we rush through.”
“This is the chance for everyone to collectively make a beautiful expression of grief.” — — REV. SANDIE RICHARDS Santa Monica Bay Interfaith Council
“This day is very poignant. It’s been one week now and that’s very important for the community to recognize that as it tries to move past such an unusual feeling.” — — KATHLEEN RAWSON Executive director, Bayside District Corp
Richards and other members of the Santa Monica Bay Interfaith Council, along with the Bayside District Corp., planned the day of remembrance.
It will start at 7:30 a.m. with a public gathering at Arizona and Ocean avenues. From there, a procession will move down Arizona Avenue for a consecration of parts on the street where many of the victims died.
“That is a very important and healthy part of the grieving process,” Richards said. “It is very important to go back to those places, acknowledge something awful and life-changing has happened and then move on after they have been acknowledged and blessed.”
The procession, which will be similar to the memorial put on at Saturday’s farmer’s market, will end at 8:15 a.m. From 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., there will be readings by interfaith leaders at the intersection of Third Street and Arizona Avenue that will be more personable, said Kathleen Rawson, executive director of the Bayside District Corp.
4B8,“It’s more of an individual thing where people can walk by and take what they want from it,” Rawson said. “It’s more about personal reflection than it is about symbolism.”
There also will be a tent set up at Third Street and Arizona Avenue by the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce that will accept donations for the Farmer’s Market Victims Assistance Fund. The tent will have albums and bulletin boards that can be signed with messages to families of the victims. In addition, the American Red Cross also will be on site with its bloodmobile.
Capping the day of observance will be the moment of silence at 1:47 p.m. and all of the city’s churches have agreed to ring their bells while everyone at the Wednesday market stops activity.
Ten memorial candles representing the victims will be lit and placed around a large message card. Veronica Reza and Rafael Godoy Palacios, the mother and father of 3-year-old victim Cindy Palacios Valladores, will join in the candle lighting memorial.
“This day is very poignant,” Rawson said. “It’s been one week now and that’s very important for the community to recognize that as it tries to move past such an unusual feeling.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 23, 2003. Read the original PDF.