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Grief Items To Be Removed From 9/11 Memorial In Croton

CROTON-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. – Members of the Buchanan-Cortlandt-Croton 9/11 Memorial task force will "respectfully remove" eight action figures and 12 bean bag bears left anonymously at the memorial. Task force volunteers think the toys were left as a "gesture of grief" in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

Eight action figures and 12 bean bag bears were removed from the Buchanan-Cortlandt-Croton 9/11 Memorial, Monday.

Eight action figures and 12 bean bag bears were removed from the Buchanan-Cortlandt-Croton 9/11 Memorial, Monday.

Photo Credit: Bob Foley

"We in the task force feel honored that our 9/11 Remembrance Memorial at Croton Landing, which is dedicated to the victims of the enormous tragedy of 11 years ago in New York City, has served as a spontaneous, but temporary, solemn place to grieve and meditate on this latest unthinkable tragedy,” said Janet Mainiero, member of the task force.

Task force members said they think the toys are related to the shooting because of the numbers and types of toys left. Eight boys and 12 girls were killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., which lines up with the number of purple bean bag bears and action figures left nestled in the rock crevice of the 9/11 Memorial.

While it remains a mystery as to who left them, the task force decided to let them remain undisturbed for the past two weeks "in deference and respect to whoever placed them there."  After they are gathered up on Monday, they will be delivered to an official in Newtown for its archives, said Mainiero who made the arrangements with that town’s first selectwoman.

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