| 12 weeks 19 hours 46 min ago Documentary film honors youngest victim of Station Nightclub fire
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(NECN) - This week marks the fifth anniversary of the Station Nightclub fire in Rhode Island.
Several services, tributes and vigils are being held in honor of the one hundred victims of the fire. Including 18 year old Nick O'Neill, the youngest victim of the fire who is being honored with a documentary film coming out on March 3rd.
To talk about the film is one of the directors, Christian De Rezendes.
More from the Associated Press.
WEST WARWICK, R.I. (AP) - Survivors and relatives of the 100
people killed in one of the nation's deadliest nightclub fires
marked the fifth anniversary of the disaster on Sunday with a
somber service at the fire site, where they received a first look
at design plans for a proposed permanent memorial.
Hundreds of people huddled next to a makeshift memorial of
crosses and photographs on the grounds of The Station nightclub,
with some wearing shirts bearing their loved one's picture and
crying softly as the name of each person killed was read aloud.
"It is still so difficult to imagine that that much time has
passed, since that night is so vivid in our hearts and minds,"
Jessica Garvey, whose sister, Dina DeMaio, died in the fire, told
the crowd, which included Gov. Don Carcieri and his wife, Sue.
The Feb. 20, 2003 fire began when the tour manager for the 1980s
rock band Great White set off pyrotechnics at the start of a
concert
at The Station. Sparks ignited flammable soundproofing foam
on the walls and ceiling, engulfing the one-story building in
flames and toxic smoke and trapping concertgoers inside.
Besides the 100 people killed, more than 200 were injured in the
fourth-deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history. The band's tour
manager and the club owners reached plea deals two years ago on
involuntary manslaughter charges.
"What happened here is something that changed so many lives in
our state forever," said Carcieri, who recalled visiting victims
in the hospital after the fire and meeting with their families.
"I'll never forget it for as long as I live, and I know all of you
are living with it in so many, many different ways."
On Sunday, in a service including prayer and music, a dozen
survivors and victims' relatives took turns reading the names of
the dead. Sarah Ballard, 23, read the last of the names, starting
with her mother, Sarah Jane Telgarsky, whom she described as "the
best mom a girl could have."
Rachel Henault, who was 12 when her mother, Jude, died, said she
was deprived of a normal childhood, though she said she still feels
her mother's presence.
"February 20 stole many innocent lives, but they haven't really
left us," she said. "They're everywhere we are."
After the fire, once the rubble was cleared, victims' relatives
began decorating the site with crosses and photographs of their
loved ones. They hold their annual memorial service on an asphalt
lot next to that makeshift memorial.
The Station Fire Memorial Foundation eventually commissioned
proposals for a permanent memorial at the fire site.
The winning design, unveiled Sunday, proposes a memorial park,
with a courtyard, a meeting house and memorial gardens honoring the
victims.
A 100-string Aeolian harp, a musical instrument played by the
wind, will be part of the memorial, creating soothing music and
contributing to the "natural healing landscape," said Stephen
Greenleaf, a Rhode Island architect and one of the designers.
"Five years ago, a great tragedy happened right here on this
cold and barren slab of asphalt," said Thomas Viall, another of
the designers. "Where will we stand five years from now? That was
a central question Stephen and I attempted to answer through our
design."
Garvey, the memorial foundation president, acknowledged
obstacles in creating the memorial.
The land itself is tied up in lawsuits stemming from the fire.
The foundation is still working on a cost estimate for the project
though it has so far raised $100,000 for the memorial.
"We are closer than ever to creating this permanent, lasting
memorial, but much hard work has yet to be done," Garvey said.
"We are absolutely committed to seeing this project through."
The service was held just weeks before Great White's former tour
manager, Daniel Biechele, is due to be released on parole from his
four-year prison sentence. Biechele was sentenced in May 2006 after
pleading guilty to lighting the pyrotechnics without the required
permit. He's scheduled to be freed in March.
Club owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian pleaded no contest in
September 2006 to involuntary manslaughter charges for illegally
installing the foam. Michael Derderian was sentenced to four years
in prison and is due out on parole in 2009. His brother was spared
jail time.
Several hundred survivors and victims' relatives sued dozens of
people and companies after the fire. They have reached tentative
settlements totaling more than $70 million with several defendants,
though no money has been distributed yet.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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