Road work won’t displace memorial to teens

SLIDE SHOW OF THE MEMORIAL: www.sahuaritasun.com/gallery

A roadside monument dedicated to the memory of four teenagers who died in a 2003 car accident will not be moved or torn down as Sahuarita realigns La Canada Drive, city officials said.

Farhad Moghimi, Sahuarita’s public works director, said the memorial was immediately roped off so as not to be disturbed during construction, which began this month and will be done in March.

“It’s going to stay where it is,” he said. “We’re not impacting it either during construction or after construction.”

The shrine, just north of the Pima County landfill, marks the site where on Feb. 10, 2003, 18-year-old Marc Briones, 17-year-old Michael Barreda, 16-year-old Angelique Redondo and 17-year-old Andrea Burruel died in a two-car crash.

The four teens, as well as another — Jesus Amador, then 19, who survived — were traveling south about 3 p.m. after leaving Sahuarita High School when the car spun out of control and collided head-on with an SUV.

City blueprints detailing the La Canada realignment, which will move the north end of the street to the east to align with the entrance of Rancho Resort, account for the memorial, saying “(Existing) Memorial Site Protect in Place.”

Moghimi said the town had been in contact with the victims’ families over the last few months to reassure them that the memorial, which has been kept up, would stay intact. He added that though the realignment involves a land swap with developer Bob Sharpe, the memorial site will still be within the public right of way, meaning it will remain public land.

Sahuarita resident Lora Burruel, Andrea’s mother, said her family has maintained that stretch of La Canada since they registered it in dedication to the teens as part of the Adopt a Highway Program. She also helps keep up the memorial along with the other victims’ families.

“It just keeps their memories alive,” she said. “It’s very important. I think it’s a good thing for the kids, for them to remember.”

She said the family was concerned when town officials last year told them the memorial would likely have to be either temporarily taken down or built into a permanent memorial to accommodate construction.

But then more recently, they were assured that the town could work around it.

“They told us that they were going to have to come close to it, but they weren’t going to touch it,” she said. “We’ve been going by and checking that. It looks as if they’ve been doing pretty good.”

Jesus Briones of Green Valley, Marc’s father, said though he was never contacted by the town about the memorial, he never had any concerns that it would have to be moved.

Upon hearing that the memorial would stay intact, he said, “I take that as good news.”

“We go and water the plants at least two times a week,” he said. “I’m appreciative of the sensitivity on the part of the city government. I’m very grateful for that.”