Roadside memorial grows to new heights
by Dave Preston
A roadside memorial for two young people killed Thursday night has grown by far more than the usual bouquets of flowers.
Friends of Mike Baxter, 20, and Delanie Smith, 17, worked over the weekend to remember their friends in a big way.
The two were killed when Baxter’s 4×4 pickup truck swerved and rolled over on a gravel section of Princeton Avenue. A 16-year-old female passenger remains in hospital, while a 19-year-old Peachland male passenger has been released from hospital.
A collection of flower bouquets and photos that began Friday morning has grown substantially. A cross bearing the names of Smith and Baxter has been added, as has a sizable amount of graffiti on a rock wall above the collection of flowers. The graffiti contains the initials of the deceased, as well as initials of, and messages from, friends.
Above it all, on a large tree overlooking the memorial and the accident scene, friends have attached a snowboard and, above it, an entire dirt bike. The tree is about 50 or 60 feet above the roadway below.
According to messages on Facebook, Baxter had a love of dirt biking and snowboarding.
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- A rock wall sports the initials of those lost and friends who remember.
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- A dirt bike and a snowboard mounted on a tree pay tribute to Mike Baxter.
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- Flowers, balloons and other items mark the spot of Thursday night’s accident.
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- A cross holds the names of Delanie Smith and Mike Baxter at the site of a fatal accident in October. (PeachlandNews.com file photo/Dave Preston)
- Excited
- Informed
- Amused
- Bored
- Sad
- Angry
I thought “they” were going to place a time limit on roadside memorials, like 6 months, before it needed to be removed. There is a memorial at 97 and Daimler where a Peachland motorcyclist died in a traffic accident that has been there for years. Someone appears to be maintaining it somewhat, which is nice.
I support roadside memorials but I agree there is a management issue that needs to be addressed. On busier roadways these markers can be distracting. Also, when driving by, there is no safe way to read the signage or determine who lost their life, and under what circumstances – unless you had previous knowledge or take the time to research it somehow after the fact.
I have an idea, not sure if it is politically correct but, perhaps by the time the six months is up, a small marker with a QR code could be placed near the location so that people could scan the code with their phone which takes them to the memorial website, facebook page, obits, etc.
just a thought
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Where do you draw a line between memorial items and garbage.
Similar problems were found just up the road from the same group at Spring Lake earlier this year.
Remembering is one thing but I feel it’s gone to far.