No public memorial to mark anniversary of Newtown tragedy

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NEWTOWN, Connecticut (NEWS1130) – There will be no memorials or candlelight vigils this time.

Tomorrow marks one year since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School and the people of Newtown, Connecticut are not planning to publicly mark the deaths of 20 students and six educators, killed by gunman Adam Lanza.

News1130 spoke with Burt Busterna, program director at WLAD radio in Greater Danbury, which includes Newtown about why the townspeople wish to observe the anniversary in private.

Q: This is obviously a difficult time for many in Newtown, is there any sense of healing as people try to grieve in more personal ways?

BB: “I don’t know, exactly, if you can gauge healing in that short a span of time. One year is not really a long period of time when you consider the kind of tragedy that this was. You would say the area as a whole, the Greater Danbury area, is perhaps better than you might expect, but at the same time there are little reminders that all is not well, especially with the recent release of [the 9-1-1] tapes and with the Associated Press saying that they plan to cover the anniversary full bore with their team of journalists.”

Q: So is it fair to say most people don’t want their grief dragged out before the public again?

BB: “Well, they want to obviously observe the anniversary of a tragedy but they want to do it in private ways or, if it’s a proper term, in ‘town’ ways. They would rather not have these events become spectacles or be observed in any public way. Most news agencies have respected those requests but there will be others who will attempt to horn in.”

Q: Families of the victims have set up a website where people can leave messages and grieve– families have also left their own messages — is this a way to commemorate the tragedy in a more private way?

BB: “Yes, it’s a way to do that. Again, I think folks have done as good a job as they can to try and honour the victims and try to promote a healing process through various means. I believe Newtown and Greater Danbury as a whole have done their best to try to get the healing process going and get a learning process going so that perhaps in the future something like this can be avoided.”

Q: It is a difficult path forward for Newtown. How do you move on after a tragedy like this?

BB: “We cross our fingers. The worst thing that’s going to happen here — and this is the big fear in Newtown, as it in places like Aurora and Columbine —  that this will happen someplace else again and people will go back to those previous areas and start asking questions and referring to the area again. You become a piece of history and, at the same time, how do you keep your sense of self? Newtown has become part of a much bigger picture and it always will be part of it. You just cross your fingers that something like this won’t happen again but in the back of your mind you know that it’s going to at some point in time.”

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