Wednesday, October 20, 1999
Gathering in Butler County remembers victims of crime
BY MARK SCHMETZER
Enquirer Contributor
HAMILTON — Respectful silence filled the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church gymnasium during Jim Frierdich's five-minute reading of the names of 102 victims of fatal accidents and slayings.
Mr. Frierdich was standing before a crowd that nearly filled the 180 folding chairs and lined the back wall of the gym in the downtown Hamilton church.
They were on hand Tuesday night for the annual Victims United candlelight vigil.
“We do this to remember and honor the victims of crimes,” said Madge Burton, Victims United organizer and president.
Said Rebecca Blanton, the organization's secretary: “People don't like to talk about murders. This is something to bring people together in a nice way.
“It gives us a sense of camaraderie.”
The first candlelight vigil was in 1993, nine years after Mrs. Burton's daughters, Teresa Jones, 27, and Elizabeth Burton, 12, and her granddaughter, Aubrey Jones, 7, were slain near Oxford.
The victims also were related to Mrs. Blanton, whose life was marred again when her brother, Douglas Barger, 40, was killed in 1993. Mr. Barger also was a member of Victims United.
Mrs. Burton formed the organization in 1986 as a support group for family members and friends of homicide victims.
They recently started offering support to survivors of accident victims.
Tuesday's vigil opened with the spiritual “Goin' Home” played by the Butler County Sheriff's Office Fife and Drum Corps.
Displayed in one corner was a yellow quilt covered with 49 101/2-inch white squares, each a tribute to a victim.
Ceremonies included awards for retired sheriff's detectives Rick Sizemore and Charlie Profitt, and for Melbaleen Bruce, who helped get the quilt ready for this year's vigil.
“I did this because Teresa Jones used to play on my front porch,” Ms. Bruce said.
The group also heard from Pam Schmidt, the grandmother of Erica Nicole Baker, the Kettering, Ohio, child who has been missing since February.
Before the group proceeded with a candlelight walk to the county courthouse, Butler County Commissioner Mike Fox announced the county next week would approve a $30,000 grant for Victims United.
“It's not much, I know,” Mr. Fox said.
“But hopefully it will help you do more to help more people get through the tragedies of the losses they've suffered.”
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