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StumbleCarson City split over future of IHOP rampage site
AP Photo/Cathleen Allison
Emergency personnel respond to a shooting at an IHOP restaurant in Carson City on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2011.
Sunday, Oct. 9, 2011 | 4:20 p.m.
A month after a gunman went on a deadly rampage at a Carson City IHOP, residents are split over what to do with the restaurant.
While some want the diner to re-open at the same site, others want it moved elsewhere in town. Another suggestion was to tear the building down and make it a memorial, the Nevada Appeal of Carson City reported.
Eduardo Sencion fired 60 rounds from an assault rifle at the IHOP on Sept. 6, killing four people and injuring seven others before killing himself. Three of those killed were members of the Nevada National Guard.
Ron Kendall of Carson City said he's trying to rally support to re-open the restaurant at the same location. He said he spoke with IHOP regional manager Peter Kouis last week, and Kouis indicated a decision on the building's fate was pending.
IHOP spokeswoman Rhonda Barnat declined to say whether any decision has been made on the fate of the closed restaurant.
"Right now we are focused on the needs of our employees and our guests," she said.
Kevin Carrick, who was in the restaurant at the time of the shooting, said it would it would be a mistake for IHOP to re-open at the site. He has urged Kouis to consider re-opening at other sites in town.
"They can expect to not have business" if they re-open at the same site, Carrick said. "I think that's an asinine idea, to re-open there and act like nothing's happened.
"I would love to have them re-open in town. But to re-open there it is telling us they don't respect us and they don't care about what happened," he added.
Bruce Magner of Gardnerville offered another option: raze the building and turn the site into a memorial for victims.
"Shouldn't we replace the building pad with memorial trees, grass, benches, and a memorial plaque to represent those innocent victims lost on that tragic day?" he asked in a letter to the Appeal.
"There are plenty of building spaces available in the area. Isn't the IHOP property a place to be considered (sacred) for those families who lost loved ones?" he added.
Stacia Green, whose fiancé, Christian Riege, was killed in the rampage, agreed. Riege, 38, of Carson City, was a National Guard sergeant who was eating with four fellow Guard members when the shooting occurred. Two other Guard members were killed and two others were seriously injured.
"They need to tear it down," Green told the Appeal.
___
Information from: Nevada Appeal, http://www.nevadaappeal.com
Discussion: 4 comments so far…
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As tragic as death itself is, let alone a totally senseless act such as this one, we as both individuals and as a community have to move on with our lives. Mourning is fine, and quite natural of course, but we can't go on doing it forever. That is NOT healthy at all. We can't all just build a memorial, or put everyone's lives on hold every time someone, or some people die, and other people just can't seem to cope.
I am very sorry for these families losses, I am. But I'm not willing to cause even more senseless losses in the form of tax payer dollars for a memorial, let alone the loss of income and livelihood for the business owner nor their employees who depend upon this restaurant.
IHOP can't reopen that building. It is the "scene of the IHOP murders" which were reported nationally. Building HAS to come down... even if they build a brand new one next to where it stood. That building is done. Customer won't dine in a restaurant where a mass murder occured.
My own city is littered with "memorials" which were built with tax dollars when a tragedy happened and half of them now sit overgrown with weeds. They make people feel good for a while and then are forgotten and a waste of resources.
I do not mean to sound mean & rude when I say this but DMC is right, we have to move on. It was sad what the guy did, do not get me wrong. We can't stop living our lives because of some senseless act. Do not take it out on IHOP.
IMO no memorial what happened there was horrific but to me a memorial keeps bringing back a reminder of what happened, the memorial at the World Trade Center is different it was an attack on our country and what our country stands for this maniac in Carson City was a murderer pure and simple and wanted recognition to me a memorial will give him that recognition. I don't live in Carson but I think it should be torn down and another rebuilt elsewhere this day and age one could be rebuilt in 3-4 months IHOP can pay unemployement till it reopens or put the employees in other IHOP restaurants up there till it opens I am sure there are more than 1 and Reno is not that far. I would not want to go into a restaurant where I knew a shooter came in and killed and there was total chaos.
@plattworx (Richard Welch) & @nancyb:
There are two big things that you have to understand:
FIRST is that most likely this is a FRANCHISE. It is not actually owned by IHOP. In this case the "IHOP" brand is being leased by an actual small business owner. IHOP themselves don't pay unemployment, they don't pay workman's comp, they don't pay business taxes, they don't pay the electrical bill, or any of that. Small business owners have to pay cash out of pocket to not just obtain a franchise, but to also in many cases also pay for the building itself as well as the equipment inside. So it's not like IHOP themselves are loosing any money due to the closing of this store. To the Franchise owner is their livelihood. There are bills to pay, and keeping the doors closed doesn't help. That's like saying that because someone broke into your house and did something heinous that we should seize your home and land, bulldoze everything you own just because we don't like the idea of that structure still standing. What you are suggesting goes beyond feasibility and enters into ludicrousness. And while I'm no expert on Insurance policies, I would be surprised if any sort of clause exists where a perfectly good structure is supposed to be razed and all obligations paid in full, as well as construction of a new site simply because a crime took place there. Besides that, why is it when a gas station or liquor store clerk gets killed during a robbery, none of you haven't suggested anything similar? Are you putting less value onto their lives?
SECOND is simply the fact that the great majority of people in life are able to cope. The best thing that anyone could do would be to support this business in order to help it recover of course. But more importantly is the fact that most people just simply don't care, and many more will never know what happened there and wouldn't have their lives impacted at all by eating there. So what's wrong with that?
Comical as this sounds, I do in fact mean it to drive a point home:
Your fear of Death doesn't match my hunger for Lingonberry Crepes (aka Swedish Pancakes) & Bacon, nor other people's desire to simply live out their lives.