MARINA, Calif.- Sandy Hook Elementary students are tucked in tight, ready to head back to school Thursday morning. But they won't be returning to the same school. Students and their parents toured their new school on Wednesday which features classrooms, re-created from Sandy Hook, to provide a sense of comfort to students. Students are encouraged to come back to school and parents are even invited to sit in for the day.
As those students return to class, many of you locally still have the families and survivors on your mind. We took a look a very touching memorial on the Monterey Peninsula dedicated to the Sandy Hook victims. The person who set it up is still a mystery. But neighbors living near it said they're grateful for whoever did it.
Melissa Nelson said as she takes her 6-year-old nephew to school, she drives right by a turnabout at the intersection of Crescent and Costa Del Mar in Marina. It wasn't until she slowed down and got really close to it, that she realized why 26 little hearts are lining the curb.
"We just happened to notice the hearts and thought they were early Valentine decorations, until today we noticed there were names on them," said resident Melissa Nelson.
So Melissa decided to send Central Coast News a note about it because it meant so much to her and thought more people should know about it. Melissa said driving by the roadside memorial just about everyday and seeing the names of all 26 victims including a little heart for 7-year-old Chase Kowalski, shows just how much pain is still being felt all across the country.
"It just shows that it doesn't matter now far away you are from Connecticut, people here are thinking about it too and it touches a lot of people," Nelson said.
We walked around the neighborhood to find out who set them up. Residents we asked weren't sure where they came from. But one thing's for sure, those who didn't know what the little hearts stood for before we asked about them, are glad they know now.
"Now especially that we know what's here, its kinda, it makes you think when you drive by, what it is and what it means and what it meant to whoever made this," Nelson said.
