CBS 21 Community

everyone should have the right to have memorials and if you know mikey you would now that he would want something different than everyone else he loved life and lived it to the fullest mikey touched people in more ways than you know. i perfer to have my son back since this is not possible that means the memorial stays.

my son lost his soul on this spot  god wanted him. he took his last breath on that spot and took his first breath in heaven at that spot so this is were it belongs.

if everyone had a cemetary spot there would not be enough room for homes to be built.

we went through the right channels before we put it up noone stated it had to be smaller so it will be put in the ground again.

may god punish anyone who touches it again.

by the way my husband came up on the car on fire a few years ago and someone was in the car yes very heart breaking and it did take him a while to get the image out of his head and had to go by the memorial everyday not once did he say he could not take it they need to take it down to me this is heartless and only thinking of themselves. people need to mind there own bussiness.

 

 

 

 

 my heart goes out to the Labes on this matter. as a friend of mikeys i think it was a horrible thing to take down the memorial. When someone you care about is gone the only thing you can do is remember them and the cross symbolizes that. to take it down is an atrocity.

Perfectlylegal, you hit the nail on the head.  I wonder if the property owner could sue Swatara Township for inverse condemnation of their land?  The right of way is for public roads and utilities, not religious monuments.  As an Atheist the last thing that I would want or allow on my property would be a Christian Cross (especially such an outlandish one).  As an act of Atheist courtesy, I would probably allow it for a few days, but after that I insist on its removal.

While this is a very sad and regrettable situation, if an atheist driver had died, and the family wanted to put up a huge statue of Madalyn Murray O'Hair or Richard Dawkins, you can bet that Swatara Township would have supported the landowners' removal of that statue.

I would encourage the landowners to sue Swatara Township.  The gall of that government agency to sanction the taking of private land for a religious monument.  They need to be taught a lesson.

I wonder if the township would have sided with this family if they had placed any other religious symbol at the site?   hmmm.  I bet if it had been a Muslim who had been killed THAT family wouldn't be getting a memorial.

I hope the land owner sues the township and the other family for violating their rights to not have a religious symbol forced on them.

And if someone else crashes due to being distracted by the memorial I think THAT family should sue the township/family as well.

I think the whole idea of roadside memorials is insane.  If your father has a heart attack at the city park you don't get to put up a memorial.  If your grandmother falls down the steps at city hall and breaks her neck you don't get to put up a memorial.  Why do car crash victims get so much favorable treatment after death???

I fail to see how the family is going to have any less grief if they don't have a roadside memorial.

"...any other religious symbol"?  How about *any* picture or object?  Perhaps a picture of Hitler, or a noose, or, basically anything but a cross.  If someone has a right to put up a non-official construct in the public right-of-way, then others have a right to take it down.

There is a simple solution:  Chainsaw!  Everytime that horrible symbol is placed in that yard, the sweet chime of a chainsaw would be humming.

To the family of the youth;  A symbol is not going to relieve your grief.  Seek a therapist if you are having trouble dealing with this issue.  Trust me, you will feel much better.

I'm against roadside memorials.  I'm sorry that someone died, but please put it on your own property.  Please don't annex someone else's property.  What happens when the owner is of a different religion?  Now they have to look at someone else's religious symbols all the time.

People somehow got through these tragedies before roadside memorials became common.  There are funerals, graves if you choose burial, home memorials if you choose cremation. 

In a dangerous area, a property owner might be required to allow a whole array of competing memorials.  I don't see how a car crash suddenly gives someone building rights.

I don't understand what the big deal is.  Yes, granted its right by the homeowner's house, but they had no right to just tear it down, and then place it behind a shed, face down.  I believe that tearing down a cross should be against the law.  That hurt so many people, and mainly it angered those that helped to put it up as well as the ones signed the cross, expecting it to be placed at the scene so they know that he hasn't/won't ever be forgotten.  Its inside the township's right of way, which places it just outside of their property, which in my eyes means they can't do anything about it.  If they lost someone that close to my house, I would have no problem with them putting up a cross in memory of the one they lost, even if it would be outside of the township's right of way and on my property.  In fact, I would even help put it up.  So I believe that a grieving family should be allowed to place a memorial for a loved one alongside the road, in front of someone else's house, with or without their permission.

kheist89,

Oh, please place a religious symbol OR for that matter anything on my property and you will find it being taken down while YOU are trying to put it up.

Eminent Domain;  have you ever heard of it?  I pay taxes for my property.  Not you, not anyone's dead family, and certainly not the government.

And please read The Constitution of The United States.

I don't think putting up a memorial , where someone.   died along a road is anything we want to be remined of every day, we turn on the news and read the paper and all we see is another death. think of what the world would look loke if everone who died had a cross put up to show where they took there last breath. i think a person . who passes should be rememerd in our hearts. and not by a cross of where that person died

The cross is NOT on their property!!! They clearly said that these land owners own land "nearby." Some people are just saying "you have to side with the land owners, they pay taxes" and such, but they do not own the land where the cross was erected. You absolutely do not have to side with the land owners.

A teenager died and some 50 year old guy might have bad dreams about the accident so they should take the cross down?? Maybe the land owner needs to become a man and deal with it, not be a 14 year old girl and cry that he saw a car accident.

According to the LAW, the family is allowed to place the cross there and the people who own property NEAR BY are not allowed to touch it. If I was involved I would put the cross up and leave a hidden camera near by to record them taking it down and call the police on them. They are breaking the law if they touch the cross.

It is not as much about the cross as it is about the symbolic meaning behind it. His family and friends want to remember him, I would think these land owners have to be extremely selfish to try to take that away from his family and friends.

the memorial should be and will be on there prpoperty again i kno if someone passed away on my property i would do what the family would desire i would even help them with what ever they wanted i help make that cross along with many other caring friends and family members of mike and ill be damned if i see one of my best friends memorial cross go to waste like that so i guess u all kno im am with the labes 100%

I feel sorry for anyone who has lost someone, of any age.  It is a terrific grieving time.  If the owner of the property wants to give permission for a cross that is one thing.  But if not, where does it end?  As a property owner, the state has a right to use part of my property for road widening, but that is the only purpose.  Should people be allowed to put crosses in the rooms of nursing homes and hospitals where people die to remember them by?  Isn't that what we have graveyards for?  The grieving family can always erect a memorial on their own property to their family member.  But there are many people who have memories along highways, and not all of them are bad.  Why does someone have a right to put something up to remind someone of a death possibly where they remeber their first romance?  Again, the OWNER of the property should have the say whether a cross is erected or not.  I consider myself to be a good Christian, but I would not allow a cross to be erected on my property because someone had an accident there.  I would not want to see that every day and think about it every day.  It's bad enough that government can condemn property if they want it sold for another purpose.  Now we're supposed to let just anyone put markers on property if they want?  I say the family can ASK the OWNER, but not even the law should have a say if the owner declines.  And if the cross is permitted by the land owner, and later sold, the new owner of the land can take down the cross.  The person who died is not there.  There should be no need to point out the exact spot he died.  My condolences and prayers go out to the family in their loss.

i myself was very close to the victim, we had hugn out for a whole summer. and i know for a fact that this is a very hard subject to overcome.  i believe that everybody needs some closure and that putting up a memorial of the victim is a subtle way to end their pain.  the family has their own right to have something left of their child. he was taken from them and he deserves his own memorial no matter where it is. i would let anybody put up a memorial anywhere on my property even if it was in my very own back yard. the victim was a caring loving person who would've done anyting he could to help others and the family can't even give him one thing in return.  he treated all of his friends as if they were family. and i'm very sure that all he wants in return is a little love and a little hope.

sincerely,

seth buck