aimefisher
07-23-2003, 10:06 AM
West Warwick — More than 100 crosses stand side-by-side, arranged in a circle that outlines the perimeter of what once was The Station nightclub.
It has been more than five months after a terrible fire raced through the building killing friends, husbands, daughters and mothers, and the site has evolved into a place of remembrance.
A fence no longer keeps mourners at bay. A West Warwick police officer no longer guards the area. Private investigators combing the site for evidence no longer pick through charred debris that was hauled away weeks ago.
It's a sad place, where visitors kneel in front of the small wooden crosses, praying, pausing, leaving photographs and well-wishes. Several people come each day to pay their respects in a place that now resembles a cemetery — complete with candles, flowers, a “Welcome” mat marking the former entrance to the club and, of course, the crosses.
“Coming here keeps you close,” said Brenda Arnold, who lost two friends in the Feb. 20 fire.
Armed with a box of freezer-size Ziploc bags, Arnold sets out to protect from predicted rains the pictures, trinkets and notes placed in front of Skott Greene and Richard Cabral's crosses.
She begins to tell the stories of her two friends — how they arrived at The Station that Thursday night, how their deaths were “senseless.”
Greene, 35, was a tattoo artist. He was put on the guest list for the Great White show after the band's lead singer, Jack Russell, received a tattoo from Greene earlier that day. He invited Cabral, 37, of Attleboro, Mass., to the show.
“It's still a shock,” said Arnold, who lives in Warwick. “So many people taken so fast, so senselessly.”
The fire started mere seconds into Great White's first song, when a burst of pyrotechnics ignited highly flammable foam surrounding the club's stage. It engulfed the building in about 3 minutes, trapping concert goers as they tried to flee.
The blaze killed 100 people and injured nearly 200 others, and prompted the state to revamp its fire codes so more older buildings are required to have sprinklers and other safety precautions.
At the base of Cabral's cross, sit two garden gnomes, a nod to Cabral's love of the ceramic miniatures. Like the others, it was built with discarded shards of the club's floor and labeled with stickers and Magic Markers.
A few spaces down, John Lennon-style glasses rest on the cross of Great White guitarist Ty Longley. A guitar pick hangs in a plastic bag, near an inscription that has a drawing of a heart followed by, “Heidi + baby.”
The band is launching a 40-city tour Tuesday in Sterling, Colo., to raise money for victims' families and survivors.
“There's not a minute that goes by where this doesn't, you know, you don't think about this, how can you not?” Russell said Tuesday on CBS' “The Early Show.”
The band, along with the owners of the club, event promoters and product manufacturers have been named in civil lawsuits stemming from the blaze. A grand jury is investigating the possibility of criminal charges.
While the lawsuits are pending, the site at 211 Cowesett Ave. has been kept from becoming a permanent memorial, though the town, many survivors and the property owner, Triton Realty Inc., endorse the idea.
Triton said it is willing to donate the site to West Warwick, but plans have been put on hold because if Triton is held partly responsible for the deadly fire, the property could be part of any damages awarded from a lawsuit.
West Warwick Town Manager Wolfgang Bauer said a committee designing a memorial has met a couple of times but until the legal issues are resolved, work can't go forward.
So until then, family and friends maintain the site, which has been packed down with dirt.
Bead necklaces hang from the crosses, while cigarettes, flags, balloons and 16-ounce cans of Budweiser rest at their bases. Next to a couple of folding chairs is a note that says, “Dad: We are all going to sit and remember you.”
Inflatable guitars are tacked to Steven and Keith Mancini's crosses. The cousins played in the band, “Fathead,” which opened for Great White.
At night, the ring of crosses glow, lit up by solar-powered torches recently installed at the site.
“It's a bit eerie,” said Arnold. “But it's beautiful, really. Families sit and connect. For such a small community, this was such a huge loss. We can't forget. We won't.”
http://www.theday.com/eng/web/newstand/re.aspx?reIDx=F54C2B38-26A8-4C45-B2DA-D2963A6B290F
It has been more than five months after a terrible fire raced through the building killing friends, husbands, daughters and mothers, and the site has evolved into a place of remembrance.
A fence no longer keeps mourners at bay. A West Warwick police officer no longer guards the area. Private investigators combing the site for evidence no longer pick through charred debris that was hauled away weeks ago.
It's a sad place, where visitors kneel in front of the small wooden crosses, praying, pausing, leaving photographs and well-wishes. Several people come each day to pay their respects in a place that now resembles a cemetery — complete with candles, flowers, a “Welcome” mat marking the former entrance to the club and, of course, the crosses.
“Coming here keeps you close,” said Brenda Arnold, who lost two friends in the Feb. 20 fire.
Armed with a box of freezer-size Ziploc bags, Arnold sets out to protect from predicted rains the pictures, trinkets and notes placed in front of Skott Greene and Richard Cabral's crosses.
She begins to tell the stories of her two friends — how they arrived at The Station that Thursday night, how their deaths were “senseless.”
Greene, 35, was a tattoo artist. He was put on the guest list for the Great White show after the band's lead singer, Jack Russell, received a tattoo from Greene earlier that day. He invited Cabral, 37, of Attleboro, Mass., to the show.
“It's still a shock,” said Arnold, who lives in Warwick. “So many people taken so fast, so senselessly.”
The fire started mere seconds into Great White's first song, when a burst of pyrotechnics ignited highly flammable foam surrounding the club's stage. It engulfed the building in about 3 minutes, trapping concert goers as they tried to flee.
The blaze killed 100 people and injured nearly 200 others, and prompted the state to revamp its fire codes so more older buildings are required to have sprinklers and other safety precautions.
At the base of Cabral's cross, sit two garden gnomes, a nod to Cabral's love of the ceramic miniatures. Like the others, it was built with discarded shards of the club's floor and labeled with stickers and Magic Markers.
A few spaces down, John Lennon-style glasses rest on the cross of Great White guitarist Ty Longley. A guitar pick hangs in a plastic bag, near an inscription that has a drawing of a heart followed by, “Heidi + baby.”
The band is launching a 40-city tour Tuesday in Sterling, Colo., to raise money for victims' families and survivors.
“There's not a minute that goes by where this doesn't, you know, you don't think about this, how can you not?” Russell said Tuesday on CBS' “The Early Show.”
The band, along with the owners of the club, event promoters and product manufacturers have been named in civil lawsuits stemming from the blaze. A grand jury is investigating the possibility of criminal charges.
While the lawsuits are pending, the site at 211 Cowesett Ave. has been kept from becoming a permanent memorial, though the town, many survivors and the property owner, Triton Realty Inc., endorse the idea.
Triton said it is willing to donate the site to West Warwick, but plans have been put on hold because if Triton is held partly responsible for the deadly fire, the property could be part of any damages awarded from a lawsuit.
West Warwick Town Manager Wolfgang Bauer said a committee designing a memorial has met a couple of times but until the legal issues are resolved, work can't go forward.
So until then, family and friends maintain the site, which has been packed down with dirt.
Bead necklaces hang from the crosses, while cigarettes, flags, balloons and 16-ounce cans of Budweiser rest at their bases. Next to a couple of folding chairs is a note that says, “Dad: We are all going to sit and remember you.”
Inflatable guitars are tacked to Steven and Keith Mancini's crosses. The cousins played in the band, “Fathead,” which opened for Great White.
At night, the ring of crosses glow, lit up by solar-powered torches recently installed at the site.
“It's a bit eerie,” said Arnold. “But it's beautiful, really. Families sit and connect. For such a small community, this was such a huge loss. We can't forget. We won't.”
http://www.theday.com/eng/web/newstand/re.aspx?reIDx=F54C2B38-26A8-4C45-B2DA-D2963A6B290F