16 July 2007

Remembering Katie Bender

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I noticed the Bender family placed an ad in Saturday’s paper marking 10 years since Kate Carnell and her chilling “attachment to your birthplace is just emotional baggage” henchpersons blew up the Canberra Hospital as a spectacle. Let’s hope that the plans to redevelop the Albert Hall environs don’t mess with Katie’s little memorial. And I hope that the unfortunate who won the competition to get to press the blaster has since recovered emotionally. A dreadful event, still dreadful ten years on to those most affected.

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I’ve known about the incident as long as I could remember because my family was literally centimetres away from poor Katie.

Because I was only 5 years old at the time I hadn’t had a grasp on death or events alike but today on the way to Woden Hospital to get my cast put on (I broke my thumb last Saturday) I got to asking ‘Mum, I don’t really understand what happened at the Canberra hospital.’

It came as a shock to me when she started tearing up when she told me what she had experienced, we were at a distance where we could touch this young girl on the shoulder if we were going to tell her anything, we didn’t even know her.
Looking back on it I retch and my stomach goes squirty, to this day I could be minus one of my sisters who were no older than Katie herself, or even one my parents.

But instead of hitting my family, or any other people who had much to offer in life, it hit Miss Bender, a 12 year old preteen who probably hadn’t yet even experienced that butterflies-in-your-stomach feeling of asking somebody to the school dance or even heavy school exams, all of the normal things teenagers experience.

My heart still goes out to the Bender family – and in my opinion the monument should stand for years to come, not only for the sake of her family, but as a reminder to the ACT government to think things through.

I would just like to clarify that I do not agree with the monument to Miss Bender – purely because it was a public event – and therefore kind of agree with Bonfires comments of “Why is their grief more special than his”

In that regard – I object – and find it a waste of taxpayers money.

I have no problem with roadside memorials – in moderation – and if the Benders set up their own memorial at the site of Katies death that would be fine with me as well.

However – I do find myself swerving a little more to the left every time I go past the DJ McLaughlin memorial on Yerrabi Drive – but the darn thing is too high up on the curb.

That kid was a monster and committed suicide – barely something to memorialise in my opinion.

Lol, Pandy and WK4eva asked directly, whereas I said I didn’t want to see a video of a girl getting decapitated, and I’m the one that’s offered the opportunity to see it!

Thanks for the offer Vic, but it was a passing interest, I’m not studying the incident or anything. Still, if you uploaded it to youtube that would be cool, provided there’s no snuff footage in the video…

I was there ten years ago too, and if the site of the memorial is located exactly where she was standing when she was hit by the debris, I can’t believe I didn’t find out that someone was struck until the next day! I was within 20m easily, and didn’t see any commotion.

The whole act of turning it into a spectacle was pretty amazingly stupid and short-sighted, even if it did make people less concerned that their birthplace was to be demolished. One death in ~100,000 people, while tragic, was a pretty lucky outcome, considering all the people out in boats that could have been hit by the debris flying into the water.

Katie Bender and her parents and family were extremely unlucky, and this was an incomparably regrettable event for this town, but that still doesn’t mean you can concrete some stones to the ground at the site of her death and attach a plaque remembering her.

Vic Bitterman10:46 pm 17 Jul 07

It’s been years since I looked at the tape Meconium. Not something I have thought of for a long time, until recently with it on the news….

To be honest with you, last time I watched it was probably not long after it happened, and I made a copy for the AFP who were after any home videos of the implosion. Which I sent them my copy.

Gimme a while to find it. It’s been two house moves since, so I’m sure it’s in a box in the garage – a box that has been unopened for at least 5 years! 🙂 And we’re off interstate this weekend, so maybe next week? Send me an email (get this via the admins of this site) and I’ll get you a copy…. whether it’s a VHS tape or a DVD depends whether I can get a copy going… been years since we’ve had a videotape player in use here!!! 🙂

I don’t want you to upload your video VB, but I did want to see the implosion again – found one already on youtube which is actually a news segment on the demolition of the Acacia bridge, but it has a little bit of footage of the hospital demolition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYaw1Ol8jn4

As for roadside memorials, it’s a pity the governments are too gutless to do anything about them. People used to go to cemeteries to grieve and remember loved ones – they made a dedicated trip rather than erect a very public reminder of their child’s life so they can remember them each time they go to the shops. It’s unnecessary, it’s visual pollution and though it may have a cautionary effect on drivers, there’s surely better ways to do that.

Can’t believe the demolition was ten years ago already though.

Googling roadside memorials shows not everyone is a fan of them. Some councils only allow them for a short period before encouraging the erectors to dismantle them.

Do we want to get to this stage?http://homepage.eircom.net/~arantsli/augh2.htm

Well said bonfire.

It is healthier for all those memorial builders to move on.

Vic Bitterman4:50 pm 17 Jul 07

No, I don’t even want to watch the video again.

I think that they are a trend, a fad, and a boganism.

Soon they will be replaced with cheap statuettes, and will get grander and grander as bogans attempt to compete with each other for roadside ‘status’.

I think the roadside memorials can sometimes have a sobering influence on the behaviour of the drivers that pass them.

Absent Diane2:50 pm 17 Jul 07

I personally think that these kinds of memorials are damaging to the family of the victim…in that it makes it harder for them to let go when they have constant reminders. However whether I agree with it or not I do not begrudge the family the opportunity for wanting it.

i hate to be condemned as cruel but here goes.

death affects us all. its part of life.

we have areas set aside for bodies and memorials – there called graveyards or cemeteries.

littering the landscape with our own personal memorials to loved ones cant be permitted.

why is your grief more special than mine ?

its not.

unless the person did something significant in their life which warrants a public memorial, these little shrines need to be removed from the landscape.

they do not help peopel grieve or move on or get over it. they serve no useful purpose at all.

West_Kambah_4eva1:03 pm 17 Jul 07

Katie Bender deserved to die, in my opinion. I mean, who did she think she was, trying to stop a concrete block with her head. What a maroon!

Plus post the video, Vic!!!

I’m with jenna, Danman and Gungahlin Al. However it is useful to know that there are people like Pandy around so we are reminded just how far out some people on the margins really are.

Gungahlin Al10:01 am 17 Jul 07

Well said Danman. Pandy, that was one of the most insensitive and pitiful things I have seen written here – and that takes some doing.
And then to request the tape to be published???
Friggin pathetic!

Where are those Carnell advisers now? Was one of them Annabel Pegrum, more recently at the NCA?

it’s Torchwood Danman.

Move on Bender family. 10 years is enough

Regardless of who is at fault – lets see you try and move on after seeing your own little girl taken from you so swiftly – with no time to say goodbye – hence all the roadside memorials to peopel who have gone but will never be forgotten by those who loved them.

having someone taken from you so quickly with no warning is tough man – not having time to say goodbye and just remembering the last time you saw them and trying to hold onto their memory is tough… Eventually memories fade…..Sad… but we do sometimes need a reminder of the joy that these people put in our life.

Your comments reek of juvenile arrogance – regardless of how old you may or may not be.

How dare you try and tell someone to forget someone they loved – which is pretty ,much my interpretation of your “move on” comment.

And for the record – I have never (Touch wood) lost anyone close to me suddenly.

Please youtube it vic

Vic Bitterman8:47 pm 16 Jul 07

We were about 50 metres away from where Katie and her family was standing. My wife was 6 months pregnant… it could just as easily been one of us. Got it all on videotape too, seeing this on the news brought all those sad memories back 🙁

So when is the implosion of Albert Hall taking place? Though it will fall down before that happens.. give it a few months lol

Ah I remember that day.. didn’t go and didn’t get the big deal.. people will always go to see something being blown up (yes blowing things up does look fun though) anyway I was born in Woden Valley Hospital. lol

BTW, I am dicksletic

Move on Bender family. 10 years is enough. (And yes I get pissed off seeing all those little raod side memorials 20 years after the deaths with little plaques, trees, vases, flowers and even battery powered lites).

BTW do the Bender family read English? The NCA had the Katie memorial and surrounds on their redevelopment palns for the Albert Hall as a declared sacred site.

How about controlled = safe or implosion = the polar opposite of an explosion. Guess they didn’t figure on your analysis, bonfire. Or maybe fun for all the family = take the kids?

We get used to the government being ludicrously risk-averse, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable to factor that in on your “risk assessment”. Particularly where they are encouraging people to come along and enjoy the spectacle. Rather like fireworks. Don’t see many folk killed by Skyfire now, do we (which also has explosives – lots of them).

I’m no fan of the nanny-state holding your hand from cradle to grave; but there is a definite matter of liability here. If a private entity had managed to make so many stuff-ups leading to someone’s death, I’d applaud the family as they trundled in for a very substantial compensation claim.

y’see jenna you are one of the sheeple.

the gummint says its safe, so it must be.

perform your own analysis.

explosives = explosion = perhaps not safe.

Bonfire, the govt advertised this “event” as safe!
The hospital was supposed to implode, not explode. The inquiry clearly proves where the blame lies and it’s not with the parents or the thousands of other people who went along to witness a significant event in the history of this city. If it had been done properly, it would have been safe and this tragedy would never have occurred.

And Danman, you’re right on in your comments. People do grieve in their own way and they should be allowed to without criticism.

JTK – Just because you grieve in on eway does not mean that everyone deals with grief your way.

If the benders want a tribute to their girl – so be it – if they post a memorial notice in th epaper – so be it.

They grieve – so let them – in their own way – until it harms anyone else we have no right protesting how they grieve.

Welcome Back Bonfire – your hiatus was duly noted.

please.

everyone knew it would be dangerous.

we are attracted to danger.

it gives us a thrill.

why do you think people were kept several hundred yards away.

its sad that someone died, but that can happen. we all know that at the drags or motor racing you can get killed as well. spectators routinely die or suffer injury at these events.

why would any sane person think using explosives to demolish a building would be ‘safe’ ?

so when we are apportioning blame – from he govt, to the contractor, to the laws of physics – we should also remember that her parents took her along. they should have known better.

Growling Ferret10:36 am 16 Jul 07

Ditto.

Leaving the Lennox Gardens area a green space rather than filling it with over development ala Kingston Foreshore is my preference.

Leave the eastern side of the lake for rampant development – save the Western basin, from Scrivener Dam to Commonwealth Avenue bridge as an area for recreation, green space, a hint of natural beauty next to the lake.

I say it should be kept in place – not so much for Katie Bender’s family – but for future governments; to remind them to think grand schemes through a little better.

James-T-Kirk8:53 am 16 Jul 07

It is sad that Katie died.

It is even sadder that her family feels that they need to make the site where she died sacred.

When I die, I would like people to remember the great things about my life, not build a shrine to where I happened to be when I died.

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