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Emotional vigil helps neighborhood grieve for boy
| Friday, Mar 21 2008 10:55 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Mar 21 2008 10:55 PM
As the sun settled in the west Friday evening, throngs of people gathered along a fence in a south Bakersfield neighborhood.
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Molly Rodriquez, 13, left, and Cassandra Bricevo, 12, hold a candle for their friend, Zane Newton who died Wednesday in a neighborhood sump.
Alicia Bircumshaw lights candles at the memorial site for 9-year-old Zane Newton, who died Wednesday in a neighorhood sump. Bircumshaw didn't know Newton and doesn't live in the area, but came because she also has a 9-year-old son, Chase Holt, kneeling next to her.
A woman and young boy, who refused to be identified, remember Zane Newton at the candlelight vigil held for the boy who died Wednesday in a south Bakersfield sump.
Mark Newton, father of Zane Newton cries at the makeshift memorial where a candlelight vigil was for his son who died Wednesday in a sump on Saint Helens Avenue.
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Many in the crowd held candles and others cried as they remembered the 9-year-old boy who died just yards away.
Zane Anthony Newton was killed Wednesday when sand collapsed on him in a sump hole on Saint Helens Avenue, a few blocks from his home on Half Dome Way.
“I love him very much,” a weeping Mark Anthony Newton said about his son. “My friends and family are getting me through this.”
Neighbors and friends hugged the father as he addressed about 100 people at his son’s candlelight vigil.
As the father looked at the dozens of photos, cards and stuffed toys placed along a fence to the sump, he sobbed and collapsed onto a chair.
“Zane was always a good friend,” said 8-year-old Madison Herreria.
Some people in the crowd did not know the boy, but wanted to honor him.
Alicia Bircumshaw brought her 9-year-old boy along with candles and flowers to the vigil.
“It could have easily been my son,” she said.
A funeral service for Zane Anthony Newton is scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday at the chapel at Greenlawn Cemetery, 3700 River Blvd.
A graveside service will follow.
To help
A car wash to help raise money for Zane’s family will start at 10 a.m. today at Brookside Market, 4700 Coffee Road.