Memorial at Depot Road Park honors three young Huntington Station residents
Huntington Station – Supervisor Frank P. Petrone and his Town Council colleagues joined community members July 16 in dedicating three trees and a stone marker at Depot Road Park in memory of three Huntington Station residents whose murders mobilized the community into joining with the Town to address community issues.
As family and friends of Maggie Rosales, Daniel Carbajal and Sarah Strobel looked on, Supervisor Petrone spoke of the community effort to create the memorial and his hope for its significance to the families and the community. “We want you to keep this park in your hearts. We want the families to come to this park,” he said. “This is a way of you and us continuing the memory of these individuals that were taken from us. Taken from us, but not taken from our hearts. Tonight, we dedicate this part of the park and these trees in their loving memory.”
“Let’s leave today with a hope in our hearts,” he continued. “Let’s leave with a commitment to each other to keep working together. This was a good example of how everyone has worked together for this. If we do that, we can overcome, we can overcome so many adverse situations.”
“I really hope this brings you some small sense of healing to know that the community has all come together in honor of your children,” Councilwoman Susan A. Berland said, also addressing the families. “When you come here, when people for generations come here, they are going to want to know:– Who is Sarah? Who is Danny? Who is Maggie? And they are going to ask those questions, and their stories are going to go on for generations to come. They are going to continue like these trees are going to continue.”
Rosales’ father, Cesar, thanked the Town and the community for their efforts. “My daughter was a good person, a good girl,” he said.
Councilwoman Tracey A. Edwards spoke on behalf of the Carbajal family. “This is a wonderful dedication and they truly appreciate all of the efforts that everyone has made to come together,” Councilwoman Edwards said. “Their goal is not only to celebrate their life and their remembrance, but to have a resolution, to have some closure, they need to know that the people who are responsible for these terrible tragedies are put in the place where they belong.”
Councilman Eugene Cook also attended. Councilman Mark Cuthbertson was unable to attend.
Friends of Strobel also spoke.
Supervisor Petrone thanked community members who were the driving force behind the effort, including Depot Road Park stewards James McGoldrick and Kathleen Kufs. Kufs was responsible for obtaining the memorial stone, which she got donated by Art Memorial and Stone in Kings Park. Keith Barrett, deputy director of the Town’s General Services Department, arranged for donation of the three Japanese maples by Stan Weisberg, from a commercial nursery property in East Northport he had purchased.