09/20/2002

By AMY PALANUK, kgw.com Staff

Crews on Friday removed the cyclone fence that held a make-shift memorial of stuffed animals, flower bouquets and balloons for Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis in Oregon City.

A memorial wall developed on the temporary fence shortly after FBI and Oregon City police announced they had found the girls' remains on the property.

Nearly one month after it was put up, the six-foot fence surrounding Ward Weaver’s property on South Beavercreek Road in Oregon City was pulled down. Oregon City officials and a local fence company crew helped remove the fence.

The make-shift memorial wall August 26. (AP Photo)

“I think it’s kind of an eyesore right now,” said one neighbor. “The flowers have died. The balloons have run out of air. People have neglected it, so I’m glad that it’s coming down.”

The many items left on the fence were given to the Ashley and Miranda’s families. All that remained of the memorial were dismantled pieces of cyclone fencing stacked on the ground.

The fence was put up August 23, a day before FBI agents executed their search warrant on Weaver’s property. Weaver is in Clackamas County Jail on unrelated rape charges. Clackamas County prosecutors intend to indict Weaver on the girls’ deaths.

Many crowded around the fence while the search went on. When FBI special agent Charles Matthews and Oregon City Police Chief Gordon Hurias announced that human remains had been found on the property, a large crowd formed outside the home Weaver rented.

All that was left from the fence was a pile of partitions. (KGW Photo)

Soon, hundreds of mementos, notes, balloons, candles and photographs flooded the wire fence outside.

People from as far away as Seattle came to pay their respects to 12-year-old Ashley and 13-year-old Miranda, whose remains were found on the property.

The owner of the property, Steve Hopkins, decided after the search was completed to destroy the home Weaver rented to let the community heal, he said.

The future of the property is still up in the air, but Hopkins has said he is considering a possible park, depending on how things work out in the next year or two.

“If there’s enough public interest, enough public sentiment, anything is possible,” said Oregon City parks director Dee Craig in a previous interview.