Seal Beach residents won't forget their roots - Contra Costa Times
For years, Seal Beach has reveled in its moniker of "Mayberry by the Sea." But an act of mayhem by the sea has overwhelmed that image.
The modern world crashed onto the shores of the quaint oceanside hamlet when a gunman burst into a popular local hair salon and left behind the biggest body count in Orange County history.
Scott Dekraai has been arrested and charged with eight murders and one attempted murder. Prosecutors say they are seeking the death penalty.
On Wednesday, the gunman allegedly killed his ex-wife and six more employees and patrons inside Salon Meritage and a bystander outside. One gunshot victim survived.
The rampage was at least the fifth spree killing in the United States this year and the deadliest in terms of victims.
That it could happen in this postcard California beach town made it more shocking.
From a quaint downtown, with the old-timey Bay Theater and pint-sized post office, to the pier to the wide white sand beaches, it can seem the perfect Southland idyll.
According to Census data, the median family income in the town of about 25,000 is close to $95,000 and the population is about 80 percent white. Almost 40 percent of the residents 25 years and older have college degrees and 94 percent have graduated from high school.
Crime, particularly violent crime, is low.
Seal Beach is a town where people walk about day and night and greet each other by name.
Then Seal Beach was visited by a monstrous atrocity.
Long road ahead
Now comes the aftermath, and how this tight-knit community heals, grieves and moves on to something resembling normalcy will determine whether Mayberry can be recaptured.
It will be a lengthy and uneven process. There are still tears to be shed, bodies to be buried, memorials and services to be staged, grief to be shared and talking, lots of talking.
The city is in the process of organizing a memorial. The Chamber of Commerce is to meet and discuss how it will move forward. Churches have held and are holding memorial and prayer services. Funds for the families of victims are being organized. Grief counselors have been made available and dispatched to local schools where children and friends of victims attend.
"My first recommendation is for us to accept where we are (in the grieving process), whether it's anger or sadness," said the Rev. Josh Reeves of the Seal Beach Center For Spiritual Living, just around the corner from Salon Meritage and which held a service before Thursday's 4,000-strong candlelight vigil. "If we can't accept that, we can't begin to move forward."
It won't be fast or sudden.
"In America, the problem is we want instant everything," said Monsignor Michael Heher of St. Anne's Catholic Church.
The healing from the massacre will take time individually and collectively, he said.
"Then comes a time when you realize, `I made it through all that,"' he said.
Youths start the process
The town began the first halting steps in that direction with the hastily organized candlelight vigil that was started on social media websites and blossomed into an event attended by thousands of community members.
Jake Tellkamp, 19, a freshman at Orange Coast College and a lifelong Seal Beach resident, suggested the event on Facebook and from there it took on a life of its own.
"I told people to repost and there were 1,000 shares in 20 minutes," Tellkamp said.
City Councilwoman Ellery Deaton credited the youth with bringing the community together and helping to start the healing process.
"I was so grateful last night," she said Friday.
Families, teens and residents of all ages flocked to the vigil.
"Hi, are you ready to cry," an unidentified resident said to a neighbor who came to her door on the way to the event.
"You see in the youth there's unity that we've never seen before," Tellkamp said. "Kids who had gone to college are all driving home. Everyone wants to be together."
Teens bond
The vigil was attended by people such as Jake Shurz, Raymond Paisa and Tristan Johnston, three freshmen from Los Alamitos High who arrived with a group of friends by skateboard.
The boys said they went to show support for a classmate who is the child of one of the victims.
"You just have to come together as a community," Shurz, 15, said. "I think everyone coming together on such short notice is huge."
Close by a soccer team that victim Michele Fast's daughter plays for huddled together in their yellow T-shirts that said "Go Beach!" on the backs.
Tellkamp delivered a heart- felt speech.
"This tragedy doesn't define us," Tellkamp said, as he struggled to hold back the tears. "This moment here defines us."
Heher said it was vital for people to "keep those bonds up, because people who are grieving tend to withdraw."
It can happen here
"These things don't happen in Seal Beach" has been an often recited mantra. But it did.
While larger cities may deal with violent deaths and tragedy on a regular basis, violence has been mostly absent in Seal Beach, which makes it particularly hard to locals to comprehend.
"I think the community has worked so hard to cultivate peace," Reeves said. "I think this has caused people to doubt themselves."
Robert Aguilar, who attended the Thursday vigil with his wife, Terrie, and 4-year-old daughter, Presley, said that while news outlets report violence on a daily basis, it's something altogether different when it strikes close to home and affects people you know.
Importance of sharing
The Aguilars saw the vigil as an important shared experience.
"This is a start," Robert said. "You come together and you use each other. This is an outlet for a lot of people."
Like many in the town, Terrie considered workers at Salon Meritage personal friends.
"We're a small community and everyone knows someone who was affected," Terrie said.
Ultimately the closeness of the community may be what best helps it heal.
"Absolutely," Terrie said of that being a factor. "We're all here for each other. It helps to talk. We'll be there."
As Tellkamp put it, "We will love each other, because we are NOT strangers."
"Why do you think there have been so many hugs?" Heher asked. "Because at times words are inadequate. It's endurable because people are willing to go through it with you."
Bringing back Mayberry
It will take time before it's known if Seal Beach can be what it once was, but residents say they are determined to reclaim the town.
"We need to be proud of Seal Beach again," said Johnston, one of the Los Alamitos High freshmen.
Another high school student who spoke at the vigil said he had been looking to get out of town to go to college. But after seeing the bonding of the community, he now can't imagine leaving.
"Somebody told me Mayberry was dead," Esther Kenyon of the Chamber of Commerce told people at the vigil, Thursday.
"You saw Mayberry by the Sea last night," Deaton said after the vigil. "With the strength of our young people coming up, Mayberry will be alive for a long, long time."
16 Oct, 2011--
Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNFzsXqlPPV0s5qVtSRehAGE0nYWHQ&url=http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_19124627
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