[StBernard] Shell Beach Katrina Memorial

[Westley Annis]

Cross and monument at Shell Beach to be Hurricane Katrina memorial to St.
Bernard victims; will be dedicated on Aug. 29 as part of day-long
remembrance of storm's first anniversary.

A 13-foot high by 7-foot wide stainless steel lighted cross and a stone
monument inscribed with the names of 129 St. Bernard Parish residents who
died in Hurricane Katrina will be dedicated at Shell Beach on Aug. 29 as a
memorial to victims as part of a day-long remembrance of the furious storm.
 
A 10 a.m. ceremony at Shell Beach in eastern St. Bernard, at the site of the
Mississippi River - Gulf Outlet which inundated so much of the parish, will
be held to mark the one-year anniversary of Katrina, which flooded nearly
all of the parish's 27,000 homes and resulted in the deaths of 129.
 
The cross will be mounted in the MR-GO, 4-6 feet from the shoreline where
the highway ends at Shell Beach. A stone monument with the names of victims
and those missing after the storm will be placed on land.
 
Also, benches will be installed and the area will be beautified, officials
said. The site is meant as a place for relatives and friends of victims, as
well as other visitors, to gather for reflection and honor those lost,
Parish President Henry "Junior'' Rodriguez said.
The Parish Council months ago endorsed the idea of a memorial to victims.
The cross and monument is being paid for by several businesses in the
parish.
 
St. Bernard Parish Council member Tony "Ricky'' Melerine, whose district the
memorial will be placed in, and Rodriguez said they believe it fitting to
honor the victims in a special way.
 
"This (the storm) was an event we won't ever forget. It's a great idea to do
this,'' Rodriguez said. "We'll put a park there'' for people to visit, he
said.
 
Melerine said he wanted the cross and memorial at Shell Beach because that
area was where St. Bernard initially felt Katrina's impact and he thought
the cross should be in the MR-GO because the ship channel was responsible
for so much of the parish's flooding.

Also, Melerine said, it's right for the memorial to be in eastern St.
Bernard because, "I want people to go through the parish to go there and
they will see the destruction that was caused. They will see why we are
putting this up.''
 
The dedication ceremony will be part of a full day of events in St. Bernard
Parish marking the storm's anniversary.
 
A special Mass will be celebrated at 7 a.m. that day at Our Lady of Prompt
Succor Church in Chalmette; a "Day of Reflection'' breakfast will be held at
8:30 a.m. at St. Bernard Unified School; and a bell-ringing ceremony in
Liberty Plaza in front of the Civic Center, whose time hasn't been
announced, will remember the victims and honor the parish's emergency
responders who helped rescue thousands of victims during the flooding. 

The bell-ringing will be a project of the Business and Professional Woman's
club of St. Bernard, the Kiwanis and Rotary clubs and the Chamber of
Commerce.