A Roadside Cross?
Whaddya think FReepers? If this was in YOUR neighborhood?
Posted on 04/16/2019 12:21:32 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
PALM BAY, Fla. - A family is fighting to keep a memorial built to remember a teenager who died in a car accident in place.
Zach Caufield's grandparents stand where the teenager's family placed a roadside cross at the scene of his accident.
On the night of Jan. 1, the 19-year-old drove off Hoffer Avenue crashing into the Melbourne Tillman Canal system.
His family believes the Heritage High School graduate failed to judge the turn in the road due to darkness and poor lighting and signage.
"He was just an all-around good kid. He had a hug for everybody," Frank Caufield, Zach's grandfather, said.
Friends and neighbors in Palm Bay also contributed to building the memorial which includes a large cross, photographs and ornaments like a fishing rod and Florida Gators sign.
"It just brings us comfort. You know, talk to Zach and talk to God and do what we need to do," Caufield said about his grandson's memorial.
Now, there's an emotional outpouring from a different side Albert Messenger who lives in the neighborhood calls the memorial an eyesore.
"They can grieve, but you know we have cemeteries for that," Messenger said.
The water control district took Messenger's complaint and now authorities are giving the Caufield's one month to take it down.
More than 500 people have signed petitions in support of keeping the memorial standing.
"Apparently, he hasn't suffered as families have suffered," Caufield said in response to Messenger.
"There's no way to explain the pain families feel with that, none at all."
Messenger said he believes there are also people who feel how he does.
"I could probably get a petition going also. I'm not going to waste my time with it," Messenger said. "I just don't see the need to have something like that there," he said.
The family plans to meet with the canal authorities at a board meeting Tuesday, April 23, to discuss their options.
A Roadside Cross?
Whaddya think FReepers? If this was in YOUR neighborhood?
so if people complain, anything on the roadside that isn’t state owned can be removed? Or is it just crosses?
There are roadside crosses all over Upstate NY. I see them all the time. They commemorate fatal accidents.
Personally I don’t like these roadside memorials. Why does the memorial have to be at the spot they died?
In my area idiots have put up a cross to remember two girls who died in a car accident in the median of a busy highway. I don’t know how they maintain it without stopping on the left side of the road (illegally), or on the side and running across live 55 mph traffic lanes to get to it. And if another car goes off there it could end up through someone’s windshield.
“Albert Messenger who lives in the neighborhood calls the memorial an eyesore. “
May no one show up when Mr. Messenger passes.
That’s a bit much in my opinion. I wouldn’t want it in my neighborhood.
Listen, if they allow roadside crosses, they’re going to have to allow roadside shrines to allah. And we’re paying an army of welfare families who have nothing to do, and will be glad to spend every waking minute putting them on every square inch of roadside.
Them looks like some drankin’ chairs
Sorry for their loss. Sorry for your losses and mine, too.
All over the place in WY, without the chairs.
That’s my mother-in-law’s neighborhood.
Looks like it right around the corner from her house.................
It looks to be high maintenance. Weeds will grow up around the flowers/chairs unless it’s mowed 2 or 3 times a month. -As far as me complaining about it, I wouldn’t.
After a few years, the family will probably go with something simpler.
Just checked the map. It is in my MIL’s neighborhood.............
If you’re OK with a shrine on the road, then why not hold the funeral service there as well.
There’s a time and a place for expressing your grief. The side of the highway is not the place.
“May no one show up when Mr. Messenger passes.”
What’s that, some kind of incantation? LOL!!
The best bet is to speak with local religious leaders. They often carry weight with the local authorities.
A potential bargaining position might be to replace the simple cross with a more formal one. It would be less prone to decay over time and not look trashy.
Meh. A little tacky. Call me heartless.
Them looks like some drankin’ chairs
____________________________________________
Perhaps the family spends many happy hours drankin’ in them chairs as they sit and think about their dead son.
When I was down in Fl. it looked to me that any personal memorial eventually got replaced by a round white sign saying “in memory of” and the person’s name?
Maybe that was just the area I was in?
“Whaddya think FReepers? If this was in YOUR neighborhood?”
There are 3 within a mile of us. 2 are for cops killed in the line of duty. We are fine with it.
L
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