Note left at boy's memorial: Move it, or it goes in the trash
The family of an Elgin boy who died three years ago is worried the tree that holds his memorial might have to come down.
It all started Tuesday, when a cousin and an older brother of Gerardo "Lalo" Simental stopped by the memorial off Main Lane and Kathleen Drive, just north of Route 20, and found a mysterious handwritten note in Spanish.
Lalo was 12 and lived nearby when he died in January 2015 while running across Route 20. The memorial - three white crosses, photographs and flowers - marks the spot where he crossed into the road. The note asked for the items to be removed, otherwise they would be tossed in the garbage. It wasn't signed, but it came with a phone number.
The number belongs to Manjunath Ramanna of R & R Luxury Realty, which owns the apartment complex nearby on the 300 block of Kathleen Drive. Ramanna said he doesn't speak Spanish and has no idea who wrote the note.
After someone posted the note on Facebook, Ramanna said, he got several calls, including one from Lalo's mother.
"(Writing the note) is not civil to the parents. That's not civil to anyone, because that's a memorial," he said. "And that's not right to put my number there."
Lalo's mother, Elizabeth Burnette, said she was shocked when she learned about the note. "I don't know who would do this," she said. She later placed a sign by the memorial asking whoever wrote the note to call her. No one has come forward, she said.
The note appears to be related to an issue regarding the dumpster in the parking lot of the apartment complex. Lalo's memorial is at the edge of the parking lot.
Ramanna said the city is requiring him to move the dumpster, and the only feasible spot appears to be the edge of the parking lot near the memorial. In that case, the tree might have to be cut down to ensure access, but that's not clear yet, he said.
City spokeswoman Molly Center said the dumpster was placed without city approval, so a city inspector went to the property earlier this week to discuss that with the property owner. City code requires dumpsters to be in rear yards, so the property owner will need to get a variance and propose three location options to the city, Center said.
The inspector this week issued notices of violation for a commercial trailer in the parking lot and for a TV and shopping cart near the dumpster, Center said. The inspector also inquired about Lalo's memorial, but only out of curiosity, Center said.
"He (the property owner) asked if he needed to remove it and we said, 'No, that's your property,'" Center said.
The Illinois Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction over Route 20, has a right of way that extends roughly 60 to 70 feet off Route 20, or approximately where the tree stands. Ramanna said he believes the tree is on private property.
Burnette said she hopes the memorial will remain untouched, because the spot means a lot to those who loved Lalo, she said.
"I had him cremated, so I have him at home," she said. "My kids, when they are not open and they don't feel like talking and they are feeling down, they go there and they take pictures at the tree. That's their go-to spot for comfort."
"Of course there would be no choice if (the tree) came down," she said. "It would have to move. But that's his (Lalo's) area. That's the area everybody goes to, because that's where it happened. Once that's gone, all of that. ... It's kind of like reliving everything."