Mourners are urged to strive for ideal sense of community
By JOHN F. MULLER Special to the Daily Press
DOWNTOWN — The silence was deafening at 1:47 p.m. in First Presbyterian Church on Friday — one year to the day since an elderly Santa Monica man drove through the bustling downtown Farmers’ Market, killing 10 people and injuring 63 others.
A crowd of about 60 participated in an interfaith service held by the community worship council to remember those who lost their lives that fateful day, when Russell Weller, 87, plowed through the market and triggered one of the worst tragedies in the city’s history.
Weller is currently awaiting trial.
The Second Street church was a cool, shady refuge from a hot and sunny downtown that proceeded with business as usual. Mourners wrote messages to those lost and shared their feelings of loss with the others present amidst tears and contemplation.
“It’s really hard to lose somebody so quick when life is so short and unpredictable,” remarked Maria Martinez, whose sister-inlaw, Gloria Olivera Gonzalez, was killed at the market. Martinez, 23, brought Gonzalez’s two children along with her. “You never know when it’s going to hit you. You have your family and your job and then everything goes ‘bang.’ You don’t believe it....
“She was a hard-working mom with three jobs, getting up every morning to give her kids a better future,” she said. “And I think one of the best things we can do as a family is to give her kids the knowledge of what she was.”
Rev. Janet Bregar of the Santa Monica Bay Interfaith Council called on mourners to continue growing from their experiences and strengthening their ties to the community. She told them to strive for the Buddhist ideal in which every member of a community is connected to each other as one.
“In order to go on, we must honor our lives and the lives of everyone in the community by asking ourselves how we can more fully respond to one another,” she said, “and how we can more fully live a quality of life as people whose lives are just as close to one.”
Even mourners with a less-direct connection to the tragedy expressed deep-seeded remorse and remained somber throughout the service.
“If I’ve learned anything from all that, it’s been patience and forgiveness, because for me it’s been very difficult to forgive right now,” said Lori Thompson, 49, as she choked back tears. Thompson works on Arizona Avenue, where the Farmers’ Market is held twice a week. “Be good to each other. We only have each other for a short while. And continue going to the Farmers’ Market. I’m having a hard time even stepping out and going there.”
Thompson said she came because she still thinks about the tragedy every day. She wondered why the city has continued to refuse to guard the entrance to the markets with ballasts.
“Why are we covering up the scars instead of adding ballasts?” she said. “I can’t believe the city still hasn’t done what it needs to do to make the market safe. They say the ballasts are too heavy to pick up and move.
“Ballasts are a bit easier to lift up than a dead body that never saw it coming.”
One man said he hadn’t had any idea Friday was the anniversary until the day before, but that he had to come and confront his feelings. Another implored the group to reconsider driving automobiles.
Chuck Siegal, 49, called on the group to love one another.
“People might say there’s a small turnout, but there’s a lot of love in this building,” said Siegal, 49. “I don’t care how many people were here. What matters is that there was a lot of love under this roof.”
Mayor Richard Bloom, Councilmember Kevin McKeown and Nat Trives, chairman of the chamber of commerce board, were all on hand to express their feelings and applaud the city for its ability to react so cohesively in response to the catastrophe.
A pair of flower pots and religious candles sat at the intersection of the Third Street Promenade and Arizona Avenue on Friday afternoon, a tiny memorial one anonymous mourner erected in remembrance.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 17, 2004. Read the original PDF.