roadside memorials

[Dukester]

I mostly don't care about them. If it makes a grieving family feel better tan so be it. I do think some go a bit too far and look like piles of garbage on the side of the road. Maybe there should be some self restraint.

 

[Neanderthal]

Y'alls just a buncha haters. Next thing you know, you'll be saying people have no right to take their guns in other people's establishments or on their property 'n stuff.

If lil Jimmy hits a tree while chasing a squirrel out front of my place, I'll let Mrs. Robinson put up a cross in his honor. Maybe a whistle and plastic frog too. It's because I care and I'm a whole lot better person than you. Y'all are just heartless souls who undoubtedly voted for Obama.

Here's a pic that I took at Colcord, Oklahoma. There was a house that apparently caught on fire years ago. Nobody had ever got around to cleaning up the mess and it was highly visible, right on the main road through town. Someone took it upon themselves to leave the landowner a message - I got a chuckle every time I passed. Eventually the message sunk it, because it's all gone now.

 

[BadgeBunny]

the poor girl at 23 and Rockwell...
Carina Saunders... sad story

Yep. It was a sad story, although I think that if she'd made just a little bit better choices she might not have wound up in pieces in that duffel bag ... As much as I'd like the animals that did that to her to pay for what they did, she does have some personal responsibility in her own demise, I believe ...The trash pile her family put up and then left is sadder. They haven't even kept it clean, neat and tidy. It's a faded, torn-up mess ... The saddest part of all is her "place" is about to be the parking lot of a Family Dollar store. How's that for a "memory"?

Like Grandpa said, get over it. The memories you want to hang onto are not the ones of her body parts rotting in a duffel bag, within walking distance of a school. (Or how they got there ...) Or, I dunno ... maybe they are ... Some people just like to feel that gut-wrenching pain, I guess ... (Not directed at you, specifically, just a general observation ...)

 

[elwoodtrix]

They haven't even kept it clean, neat and tidy. It's a faded, torn-up mess ... The saddest part of all is her "place" is about to be the parking lot of a Family Dollar store. How's that for a "memory"?

Homeland owns that land not Family Dollar

 

[cmhbob]

The shrines here are quite different from what I saw in Thailand. Those are small, almost birdhouse-sized places that are designed to hold candles and incense. Much less obtrusive.

I don't mind the shrines much, as long as they're basically kept up. There's one in Columbus, OH where an OHP trooper was rear-ended by a drunk driver. His widow has remarried, but she still mows the place. If the responsible driver survives, I wouldn't be totally against requiring them to keep up the memorial for a year after they're done with jail. Make it a probation requirement, or call it community service.

I've noticed too the way people idolize crash victims. There was a fatal crash on a county road just down from our old house in Ohio. 17-yo girl let her 15-yo boyfriend drive her car. His graduated license was already suspended for either speed or reckless op. He drifted off the right into a tree at 65+ (35 zone), and marijuana was in both of their systems. But the signs and stuff posted at the site made him out to be a perfect little angle. Go figure.

And I've occasionally toyed with the idea of a website for sites like that, similar to Officer Down Memorial Page, where people can post an image or two, and some comments about the crash, etc. But I can't come up with a way to make money off of it, so I keep dropping the idea.

 

[Hoov]

BB is right. It's a waaaaa my vjj hurts and look at me. You wanna do a webpage, go ahead. As someone previously said here, there are enough bad drivers on the road that enable these shrines.

 

[captfd]

I hardly never talk on here like some that are so much smarter than every one else, Just look at all there posts. This kind of struck a nerve. I use to not care for the markers ether, But on July 1st me and the wife was woke up early that morning by a OHP knocking on our front door. When I opened it he was looking at me holding my youngest sons billfold and phone, I looked at the driveway and seen hiss jeep was not at his house. He had ran of the road coming from work and flipped the jeep. No seat belt was being worn. I am a retired Firefighter of 28 years and he was a volunteer , so he has went with me on many calls to extract people from accidents. He always knew to wear a belt, Why he didn't I don't know but he was pined for hours before some came down our country road and discovered the accident. Any way I did not put any thing up at the seen, however I do stop and place my hands on the ground where he took his last breath and Hell I can't explain it but I feel like I am connecting is some way to him. I pray none of you ever loose a child or loved one, But those that have, may not think like we use to so try and understand what they may be going threw. I visit my son's grave every week at the cemetery and miss him so much. I have a different feeling about the road markers than I use to, But still chose not to put one up. Any way I will shut up for the next 5 years. LOL

 

[Neanderthal]

I hardly never talk on here like some that are so much smarter than every one else, Just look at all there posts. This kind of struck a nerve. I use to not care for the markers ether, But on July 1st me and the wife was woke up early that morning by a OHP knocking on our front door. When I opened it he was looking at me holding my youngest sons billfold and phone, I looked at the driveway and seen hiss jeep was not at his house. He had ran of the road coming from work and flipped the jeep. No seat belt was being worn. I am a retired Firefighter of 28 years and he was a volunteer , so he has went with me on many calls to extract people from accidents. He always knew to wear a belt, Why he didn't I don't know but he was pined for hours before some came down our country road and discovered the accident. Any way I did not put any thing up at the seen, however I do stop and place my hands on the ground where he took his last breath and Hell I can't explain it but I feel like I am connecting is some way to him. I pray none of you ever loose a child or loved one, But those that have, may not think like we use to so try and understand what they may be going threw. I visit my son's grave every week at the cemetery and miss him so much. I have a different feeling about the road markers than I use to, But still chose not to put one up. Any way I will shut up for the next 5 years. LOL

I'm very sorry to hear of your loss. As a father myself, I can't fathom how hard something like that must be to deal with.

 

[criticalbass]

I don't remember seeing any of these until around 1980. They have steadily proliferated since then. The saddest one I know of is south of Snyder where a terrible school bus wreck occurred. It has a concrete cross back against the fence, and I think some other items, but it's been years since I looked at it.

I don't like them, but if they help people deal with their grief I wolud be the last person to want them gone. Wouldn't be for me. The one Dennis described is a little over the top.

 

[elwoodtrix]

I'm very sorry to hear of your loss. As a father myself, I can't fathom how hard something like that must be to deal with.

agree.. So Sorry for your loss...