The Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency (SCV Water) board approved the addition of the names of Saugus shooting victims to the signage of Central Park on Tuesday, marking the end of a months-long campaign on the part of the children’s parents.
The decision, passed with a 9-3 vote, comes as a relief for the families of Gracie Muehlberger and Dominic Blackwell, two Saugus High School students killed in the November 2019 Saugus Shooting.
“We were definitely emotional, excited, elated last night,” said Bryan Muehlberger, Gracie’s father in an interview with KHTS on Wednesday. “A number of the board members had great comments, though some had reservations… we’ll be working with the City on the final rendition of the sign now that it’s been approved.”
While the Santa Clarita City Council had approved the addition of the phrase remembering the victims of the Saugus High shooting to Central Park’s sign in August, the project could not move forward without the permission of SCV Water.
The City of Santa Clarita leases the 130 acres of land that Central Park is built, with several caveats, including that all improvements are restricted to those that are consistent with a park, and that SCV Water has the right to approve or deny any changes to the name of the park.
See Related: Plans For Central Park Sign Change To Honor Saugus High Shooting Victims Progress
SCV Water Director Ed Colley submitted a report to the board, outlining the reasoning why an ad hoc committee recommended against approving the sign change, cautioning that placing Gracie and Dominic’s name so prominently might alienate the losses of other families or prolong the healing process for other Saugus students, several of which are now suffering from mental scars, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
“The loss of every child is a tragedy, and I decline to rank the loss of any one ahead of another. Quite simply, it is not possible to build enough parks or other infrastructure such that every victim of a tragedy could have their name attached,” read the recommendation. “To the extent that two children are singled out for greater recognition than others, we convey a hurtful message to the families of the children not memorialized – your son, daughter, brother or sister, and your loss, is less important.”
Muehlberger noted that he would never try to evaluate the value of the loss that other families might be feeling, stating “losing a child is losing a child,” and that the Muehlbergers and Blackwells hope to acknowledge what the community experienced together and provide healing.
Now that the signage is set to be changed, the families and the City also plan to install a memorial for the two children who lost their lives in the shooting, a process that is still in the development stages, though the Muehlberger’s hope to have the memorial underway if not complete by next summer.
The Muehlberger and Blackwell families stated that they had elected to place the memorial for Gracie and Dominic away from the Youth Grove — another memorial in Central Park which honors the lives of those lost to drunk driving — rather than combining the two in an effort to respect the grieving process for other families.
“Memorializing and doing something for the victims is the most important thing, building a memorial, giving a place for people to mourn, all of these things are healing for the community, as we see in the case of the Youth Grove or the Veteran’s Memorial Wall,” said Muehlberger. “It remembers and honors the lives of those who have been lost or have given their lives for us.”
Muehlberger noted that the road has been a long one for the families, and although the outpouring of community support has been heartwarming, the fact that the families have had to fight for recognition of Gracie and Dominic at Central Park has been discouraging.
“We are getting sick of these battles that should not have to be fought,” Muehlberger said.
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