The following comments are from 9-11heroes.us.  I can’t verify these stories are true but if half of them are, Michael was something more than just amazing.  He was one helluva guy.

I never came to realize how much of an impact you had, not just on your own family, but on other peoples’ lives, too. My friend and I both go to your son’s school, and he’s a real great kid. We both are unfortunate not to have met a guy like you. You didn’t only leave us with something inside, but you also changed our lives in so many ways. It’s indescribable what a great man you are. We want to thank you again, just for EVERYTHING. A lot of love and thankfulness from:

Your friends,
Kalvin Simpson and Peter Quin
May God bless

I didn’t know know Michael, but I do have the pleasure of coaching a great kid, his son, Mick. Mick, I want you to know I feel your pain. I lost my mother 27 years ago. She was way too young also. Both your father and my mother are in a good place now. I believe that, and we will see them again someday. I’ll say a prayer for you, your family, and your father, and I’m always available if you need anything. One thing, Mick, I can promise you: your father is very proud of the way you are turning into a fine young man.

Coach Robin Waite

Both Todd and I have come to observe a very tenacious, hardworking, friendly person in Mick who also happens to have some fun in the hockey locker room which from reading about your dad, it seems he liked to joke around too! Your dad was a great hero to America Mick and he would be very proud of you today. Your dad and mom and dad Paul have done an outstanding job in raising a respectful young man. Let’s get some shots from the blue line! GO LITTLE FLYERS 1995!

Todd and Vonya Womack

I just met Mr. Horrocks’ son, Mick, this weekend during a hockey tournament; he is on the same team as my son for the coming season. While never having met Mr. Horrocks, I am sure he would be proud of his son who appears to be a very nice young man, which is a tribute not only to Mr. Horrocks but to Mick’s mom and stepdad as well.

Juliet Moritz

Aaron’s notes –

I can say that reading through the tributes and comments that Mr. Horrock was a good man. A great man even.  By all accounts his son Mick was brought up in a great manner so much so to bring people to comment over and over about his quality.  Mr. Horrock was just a few years younger than my father when he was lost.  I can’t imagine losing a father in the manner Mick did.  To have taken his father’s banner in such a way to honor his own dad.

Mr. Horrock may indeed be gone from this world but his legacy in life lives on in Mick in so many different ways.  To Mick I say congratulations.  You’ve shown true character, true honor and been true to your father each day.  I can only say that your father must be damn proud of you and what you’ve done in his shadow.  I am proud of you and I don’t even know you.

Never forget your father.  Never forget what he’s taught you.  And remember him.  Pass the story of his life onto those that come after you.  You’ve done a great job so far.

Writing for the ten year anniversary of the Columbine Massacre is without a doubt a tall order, as I am learning. To try and pull the last ten years together into one simple post is something I didn’t expect would be this hard, but it has become a great weight upon the heart and soul. I’ve completed about 684 words and it’s a very rough draft. As I wrote it I began to feel those old memories and feelings bubbling up again from the depths.

You know those feelings. Your stomach starts tying itself into the most complicated knot known to man. The heart sags heavy in your chest. Something pushes heavy on the top of your throat. Your mind bristles at each word typed, the powerful waves of emotions threatening to break free from your eyes.

Trying to pull everything together into a neat little package that has the necessary punch in prose is a challenge. I want to make this matter. I want to honor those we loser all those years ago. I want to bring something new to the table. Something each of us can take away for the future that seems without hope. If the last month has been any indication we’re doomed to relive Columbine over and over and over until the end of time.

Writing is my cathartic release but this particular assignment is pushing the boundaries. It threatens to be the symbolic harsh pull of the band aid from a long simmering wound. While I normally would welcome such opening of the rusty floodgates part me is nervously anticipating where this will take me. Will I open a dark dank door to the soul that will require a herculean effort to close? Am I prepared for the roller coaster ride that may come about?

When I originally thought of the idea of doing this for the blog I said I did this because I never wanted the word “Columbine” to fade from the memories of this generation and the next. What I didn’t expect was how it would effect myself in the here and now. Perhaps this is for the best. Somehow through writing this, pursuing the answers of my heart and finding the point there will be some kind of redemption.

I suppose that’s the power of the written word. It can change, it can open minds and to a point even heal the heart and soul.

April 20, 1999 holds many a memory. I’ve been asked by LFCNEWS.com to put together a column for the ten year (and final) edition of the Lullaby For Columbine Project News. I’ll be leading up to it over the next few weeks as I explore this memory for me and others through this blog. If you’re interested in doing video or writing to be included in this project, please feel free to @aarondelay on twitter or simply comment on this post.

I may take some flack for taking this and running with it.  As I said on twitter, my point is not to get something for myself out of this.  If you know me, that’s far from what it is that I do.  I simply wish to never let the world forget the word, “Columbine” and the events that now surround it.  Through conversations, through video blogs, through written posts I hope to continue to deal with at times raw emotion that follows the very word.

There are people out there that haven’t fully dealt with the turmoil from ten years ago.  There are others that believe they’ve recovered.  And there’s me, still struggling to understand and move beyond the powerful emotions that have left indelible scars on my heart.

This is why I do this.  I do it to deal.  I do it to help recover and through that hopefully reach out to those around me who may be in the same boat.  You’re welcome to disagree with me.

More to come in future posts.

Written September, 2006

by aaron delay

2996: We Will Never Forget

Mary Trentini’s Tribute is here.

also see: aarondelay.com archives “remember” a section I did back in 2006.

By all accounts James Trentini was a good man. Browsing through his information that is spread all over the internet I’ve come to the conclusion he was greater than just a good man. He was someone who lived life as strongly as he could and spread that strength to those around him.

James Trentini was sixty five years old and married to Mary Trentini. They lived in Everett, Massachusetts and were proud parents of four children. They family had grown in the last ten years to include four grandchildren. James Trentini (and in turn, his wife) was by all rights someone who loved his family very much. On American Airlines Flight 11 the two proud grandparents were carrying a bag full of toys and hand made clothing to deliver to their daughter�s children ages two, three and seven. Mary was skilled seamstress and took great joy in creating new clothes for her family.

They traveled a year before September 11^th to visit their daughter Patti in California. During that time they also toured the United States exploring the lay of the land. They spent winters on the coast with their son James in Florida. Even in retirement the two never really stopped moving around and exploring the world around them. They seemed to take every chance they could to see their family.

Jim was a retired high school teacher, administrator and coach. Both had retired three years previous to 2001 but were still well known in communities. Jim was a long serving coach in his school known and loved by everyone. He also was a dedicated sports fan who had a special place in his heart for football. Fishing was a close second on the list of favorites. Even after retirement Jim Trentini didn�t slow down. He constantly exercised and refused to allow age to slow him down.

The funeral for James and Mary Trentini was packed with 1,000 people in the town of Rowley, Mass. Population? 1,100. The crowd stood outside listening through windows and mourning the loss of two amazing and generous people.

James Trentini was an ordinary man by all respects. A simple father. A loving grandfather. Yet his impact on those around him is not ordinary. He left a lasting image on those that were coached through his words of wisdom. He was cheered as a respectful man full of honor. He was not ordinary. No, James Trentini showed us what it means to be someone beyond that simple little word. We honor James Trentini today because of his life, his imprint on each of us and the simple way his life changed others.

You are so much more than ordinary James Trentini. You are missed. I may have never known you. I may have never met you. But after reading what I could find about your life I feel as if you�ve given me something.

May we never forget you.

People left these comments on the website for September 11^th, 2001.Steve Harvey Jr. (and BHS football)
You coached my coach, MuGuire , who now coaches me at Burlington high. We all miss you there and there is a plaque there in honor of you, your wife, Robert Hayes, and Thomas McGuinness

Lois McCullen
In 1976, I met Jim Trentini when he came to Clinton NC to the funeral of his older brother, Tony Trentini, who was married to my sister in law, Jean McCullen Trentini. Jimmy and all the Trentini family came from Boston for that sad occasion. They were in our home much of the two days they were there. I remember him as a very outgoing and likable person. The unexpected death of his brother, Tony, who was an assistant coach at Temple University and only 45 years old then was a tragic event for the Trentini family. I believe that Tony and Jimmy had some sisters who survive them. My heart goes out to you always.

Ben Ray
Jim was my Health teacher at Burlington High School. He had an infectious, dry sense of humor that always left people feeling good when they left his class. He would often purposely call people by their wrong name. He used to call me Nicole (my sister’s name), to get a rise out of me. He taught my colleagues and I CPR and other first aid skills. More importantly though, he taught about the importance of living a clean, healthy lifestyle.

Even in his late 50′s, I often saw him jogging around the HS track or lifting weights in the gym early in the morning. He was a great guy. My heart goes out to his family.

Cathy Hofferty
As soon as I found out that Jim and Mary were on the first plane, I completely lost it. My father coached High School Football with Jim in Burlington, Massachusetts. Both of my sisters and my brother had him as their Health Teacher. He also taught my brother CPR (which my brother and a couple of his friends subsequently used to help save their supervisor’s life in a Summer Work Program offered by the Recreation Department).

Resources and Bibliography:

Tribute from MASS Retires Online

from living tributes…

from newsday…

Comments from September 11th Victims.com

*****************

I was so very wrong.

As most of you have already read the psychopathic (I would call him other names right now, but I’m trying to contain my rage) killer apparently recorded several videos, wrote several letters/essays and took more propaganda photos of himself and then put that all in the mail and sent it to NBC News. It arrived today and what is revealed is far more terrifying to me than the incident in question. It is a full on documentary expose on himself as told by himself. It sickens me and nearly had me in tears on the way home today as I heard the hateful and vile words he spoke in that petulant “you can’t blame me” voice.

I haven’t watched the videos and I saw the pictures and felt chills as it was. I’m sure I’ll have to watch them eventually, but it’s going to be very hard. This is much like the Harris and Klebold stuff that came out after Columbine and continues to haunt us today.

In fact, this punk of a man referenced the two killers in saying, “and then, in the written document he gave them, a reference to “martyrs like Eric and Dylan.”(hotair)

The full spectrum of this terrible tragedy has not fully been seen.  I fully expect there to be more moments where I simply sit and read while whispering, “It just gets worse…”.  I continue to pray and extend my heartfelt sympathies to those at VTech.  As I’ve said many times this path you have been forced onto by a murdering thug is a path we as a community here know very well.  I hope that you will find your strength and courage in these moments and not allow these words, videos and pictures to direct who you are.

You are Virginia Tech.  You are Hokies.  You are not what these scum says you are.  You are strong.  You are a community.  Do not allow these hollow and selfish statements to dictate who you are.  You are so much more and then some.

This young man has no power over you.  He tried to take something from you…but you must take that right back by drawing together and standing as one.  One campus.  One city.  One student body.  You are Hokies.  And today, much like eight years ago…we are all Hokies.

picture thanks to facebook group.

32 students and possible faculty members are dead after a terrifying rampage. I don’t have many words at this time only to express my heartfelt sorrow and deepest sympathies to those affected by this horrifying event. I understand what you are feeling and experiencing at this moment. I have cried those tears. I have asked the questions over and over again.

I know your pain. I have lived those moments of fear where you do not know what is happening. The unknown can be far more dangerous and fear inducing than the truth that is slow in coming. In these moments know that even so many hundred of miles away I stand here feeling those emotions from eight years ago when Littleton became known for such a tragedy as this.

I feel anger at the loss of life. I feel horror at the impact this will have on the school, the community and in the end the nation. I feel sadness in knowing this is not the last school shooting to scar our hearts. I feel empty at being helpless to run to those in need and help. All I can do is pray and watch as the events continue to unfold.

Tonight we question, we theorize and we assume. We should question and search for the answers. But I believe we should not forget the lives lost and the pain that will be coming to surface in the next few hours, days and weeks.

Remember. …and pray. Pray for the families, the wounded, the lost and the community.

photo thanks to facebook group

Gunman kills 21 on Virginia Tech campus

See updates at HotAir, Yahoo.

This makes the Columbine Anniversary coming up on Friday even harder.  Old feelings come right back to the top.  I’ll have more reaction when I get home.  Dear Lord….

For most of you out there in the world, that time means little to you.  It’s just another pass of the minute hand through the doldrums of the days and nights.  For some of us, it means so much more.  At 11:21am Littleton Colorado and Columbine High School became forever seared into history and memory as two destructive boys derailed the day with the first shots that would echo even eight years later.

Every year I quietly make my way to the memorial where Rachel Scott and Corey Depooter are buried and 13 black stone crosses honor those the community lost those eight years ago.  Each year I hope the feelings and pain will fade.  This is a false hope.  The scars and wounds from that day in my sophomore year simply will not allow themselves to be buried.

The only way I’ve found to help my hurt is to talk about it when people ask.  It is the most cathartic thing to speak about the events of the day and the emotions we all experienced in Littleton.  People outside our city sometimes don’t understand or see what such an event has done to our hearts.  My goal in talking to those who ask is to simply do what I can to share what happened that day and somehow find healing through it.

It will be eight years on the 20th.  I know that day won’t be easy for me.  I cannot begin to imagine how much harder this day can be for those closest to the memories.  We all deal in different ways.  I just pray that as the years go on we all each find a way to process these feelings and scars in a positive light.

This year I will be doing a radio show that evening.  I’m still going back and forth on whether I want to seek out the families and friends closest to the tragedy.  I’ll update the Rocky Mountain post above when I have decided.

I’m sure I’ll have more to write as the days go on.

Please don’t forget Columbine.

Please, no. Not more of this! Yahoo Link.

MONTREAL – At least one gunman in a black trench coat opened fire Wednesday in the cafeteria of a Montreal college and wounded at least 12 people — six critically — before shooting himself, witnesses and authorities said.

Scores of panicked students at Dawson College near downtown fled into the surrounding streets after the shooting broke out in the school of about 10,000. Some had clothes stained with blood.

CBC-TV showed police with guns drawn standing behind a police cruiser as a SWAT team searched the 12-acre campus in case there was more than one gunman.

The Columbine comparisons are probably not far behind.  Please let no one lose their life in this.   Rest of the story below the jump.

Seeta Ramdass of Montreal General Hospital said 12 people, were admitted, including six who were in critical condition. Two were listed in serious condition and four were stable.

Martine Millette of the Montreal police said the gunman later shot himself. Constable Philippe Gouin said “in all probability, the suspect has committed suicide.”

Student Devansh Smri Vastava said he saw a man in military fatigues with “a big rifle” storm the cafeteria.

“He just started shooting at people,” Vastava said, adding that he heard about 20 shots fired. He also said teachers ran through the halls telling students to get out.

Other witnesses spoke of a gunman wearing a black trench coat.

“We all ran upstairs. There were cops firing. It was so crazy,” Vastava said. “I was terrified. The guy was shooting at people randomly. He didn’t care he was just shooting at everybody. I just got out.”

Derick Osei, 19, said he walking down the stairs when he saw a man with a gun.

“He … just started shooting up the place. I ran up to the third floor and I looked down and he was still shooting,” Osei said. “He was hiding behind the vending machines and he came out with a gun and started pointing and pointed at me. So I ran up the stairs. I saw a girl get shot in the leg.”

Osei said people in the cafeteria were all lying on the floor.

“I saw the gunman who was dressed in black and at that time he was shooting at people,” student Michel Boyer told CTV. “I immediately hit the floor. It was probably one of the most frightening moments of my life.”

“He was shooting randomly, I didn’t know what he was shooting at, but everyone was screaming get out of the building,” Boyer said. “Everybody was in tears. Everybody was so worried for their own safety for their own lives.”

A SWAT team and canine units were at the campus, going floor by floor to look for victims, Sgt. Giuseppe Boccardi told CNN.

“Most of the students have exited the college grounds,” he said.

People have also been evacuated from two nearby shopping centers.

Canada’s worst mass shooting also happened in Montreal. Gunman Marc Lepin killed 14 women at the Ecole Polytechnic on Dec. 6, 1989, before shooting himself.

The 25-year-old Lepine roamed the halls of the school firing a rifle, specifically targeting women whom he claimed in a suicide note had ruined his life. Nine other women and four men were wounded.

That shooting spurred efforts for tighter gun laws and greater awareness of societal violence — particularly domestic abuse. Canada’s tighter gun law was achieved mainly as the results of efforts by survivors and relatives of the victims.

Another shooting in Montreal occurred in 1992, when a Concordia University professor killed four colleagues.

Dawson College was the first English-language institution in Quebec’s network of university preparatory colleges when it was founded in 1969. It is the largest college of general and vocational education, known by its French acronym CEGEP, in the province.

My heart jumps and my soul cries everytime I hear something like this…it never goes away.

Yahoo News Reports: 

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. – A teenager accused of killing his father and then shooting two students at his former high school said Thursday that he had been obsessed for years with the mass killing at Columbine High School.

Alvaro Rafael Castillo mentioned that massacre as he arrived for an initial appearance in Orange County District Court. When asked why he fixated on the 1999 attack, Castillo said he didn’t know.

The 19-year-old was assigned a lawyer at his first court appearance and ordered held without bond. He didn’t speak during the brief hearing and only nodded when asked by Judge Charles Anderson if he understood the proceedings.

Castillo had pipe bombs and weapons in his van when he was arrested in front of Orange High School after the two students were wounded in the parking lot shooting Wednesday. One student was grazed by a bullet and other was injured by flying glass. It wasn’t clear what Castillo planned to do with the other weapons.

When he was taken into custody, he told deputies he had killed his father, Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass said.

Castillo was charged with murder after deputies forced their way into the family’s home and found the teenager’s father, Rafael Huezo Castillo, had been shot to death. It was unclear when the killing took place.

School district spokeswoman Anne D’Annunzio said an armed man “flew” past the school parking lot’s guard house in a gray minivan at 1 p.m. and fired about eight shots.

Courtney Long, a senior at the school, told The News & Observer the shooter, in a black hat, black trench coat and black sunglasses, jumped from the minivan, set off a line of firecrackers, shot at car tires and shot out a window in the school building.

Another senior, Scott Cook, was outside when he heard a blast and turned to see the man in the parking lot.

“He pulled out a gun. … He fired in the air, then he aimed it toward the school. At that time, I high-tailed it out of there,” Cook told the newspaper.

Tiffaney Utsman, a senior, was grazed on her right shoulder by a bullet. An unidentified male student was hurt by broken glass, D’Annunzio said. Utsman was treated at a hospital and released Wednesday evening.

“My feeling about Tiffaney is absolute relief that she really was not hurt at all,” said her mother, Champe Revis.

Students were temporarily barred from leaving both the high school and nearby C.W. Stanford Middle School for their safety, D’Annunzio said.

Denning Best, a high school freshman, was in the cafeteria. “I saw people running away and all the teachers were telling us it was a lockdown,” she said. “It was a little bit freaky.”

The school planned to hold a normal day Thursday, with extra security and a crisis team available.

The owner of the property on which the Castillo home is located refused to allow reporters access to the private road on Wednesday evening. The home is located amid a mix of horse farms, trailer parks and modest homes.

Tanya Horne, standing across the street from the road to the Castillo home, said she didn’t know either father or son but had lived in the area most of her life and described it as “very quiet.”

“We have fallen asleep with our door open,” she said. “Nobody bothers you.”

*****

We’ll see what comes of this story.  The only thing that bothers me is the last line.