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West Kelowna  

Memorial flowers can stay

The flowers can stay – for now.

Peachland staff removed flowers placed on a teenage murder victim's memorial bench by her mother earlier this month.

Ashlee Hyatt’s mother, Charrie Fichter, has been leaving flowers on the waterfront bench for the last five years in remembrance.

Hyatt was killed by one of her classmates at a house party in Peachland in 2010. The two girls were 16 years old at the time. Hyatt’s killer was convicted of manslaughter in 2013.

Peachland Mayor Cindy Fortin says the flowers should not have been taken without notice, despite a policy that prohibits leaving such items.

The mayor said she was disappointed to hear the flowers had been removed by staff without first notifying Fichter.

She brought the issue before council on Tuesday to see if bylaws around memorial benches and other items could be reviewed.

“We decided they can leave the flowers for now while we directed staff to look at some options, particularly to put those cone shaped flower holders on either side of the bench,” she said.

The mayor says she was shaking her head at the whole incident, which began after someone complained to district staff about the flowers, saying it made them feel sad.

“I suppose it is in the eye of the beholder, but most people I have talked to – except for maybe one – loved the flowers and they were nicely taken care of and nicely maintained.”

She says she even took down her own flowers to leave on the bench after she found out Fichter’s had been removed without any notification.

“I am absolutely in favour of this,” she said. “But I understand that we don’t want these donated benches to become shrines, with a whole bunch of teddy bears and crosses and balloons. But just a couple nice bouquets of flowers, there absolutely in no harm.

Sometimes I think we get so entrenched in policy we forget the human factor, and we can’t forget that it’s what we do in the first place.”



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