• facebook
  • twitter
  • rss

No Charges For Woman Who Removed GREAT WHITE Guitarist's Memorial Crosses

September 18, 2003

Zachary R. Mider of the Providence Journal reports that the police will not charge a Rhode Island woman who publicly admitted taking memorial crosses honoring GREAT WHITE guitarist Ty Longley (story#1, story#2),they announced yesterday.

Diane Mattera told The Journal Tuesday that she took the crosses from the site of The Station nightclub fire, in which both Longley and Mattera's daughter, Tamara, died. Mattera left a note saying she didn't want her daughter's memorial shared with that of a "killer."

"Given the facts at hand," the Police Department said in yesterday's statement, "no charges will be brought against Mrs. Mattera.

"The department, as well as the municipality, is saddened by the actions of those involved and would hope that persons visiting the site would honor the sanctity of memorial items left there. The department understands the significance of the site in the grieving process, and we have always maintained this position to the families and friends of all those lost there . . .

"Persons who visit the site should realize that items left in memorial of those who perished are left at their own peril. We would hope that persons visiting the site would respect those items left however, they are left there as an offering and not as personal property," the statement continued.

"We have and will continue to maintain a presence there with the hopes of allowing persons to continue visiting the site. Hopefully the families and friends of all those touched by this tragedy will continue respecting the wishes of those in mourning."

Jody King, vice president of The Station Family Fund, filed a complaint with the police Monday after learning of the disappearance of the crosses. He could not be reached yesterday.

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).