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Families Remember Red Lake Shooting Victims

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Families Remember Red Lake Shooting Victims

Red Lake, Minn. (AP) ― Alicia White always made Mother's Day special. One year, she took a student council trip to the Twin Cities, and instead of using her spending money for video games and soda pop, she went to the Mall of America and bought her mom some jewelry.

"I guess that was her whole goal, that she was going to go to the mall to get me a Mother's Day gift," said her mother, Theresa Spike. "She was a sweetheart. She'd do anything for you."

Alicia's life was cut short a year ago when she was killed in a school shooting on the Red Lake Band of Chippewa's reservation. As her family continues to deal with the loss, they'll plan a memorial dinner to remember the 14-year-old's caring spirit and goofy sense of humor.

"There's not a day that goes by without us wishing that she was here and just remembering all the crazy things that we did and said together," said Spike, 32. "It's been a year and I still sit there at 3:30 and wait for her to get off the bus. ... Every day I watch the kids come in and it hits me."

Alicia was one of 10 people who died last March 21 when 16-year-old Jeff Weise went on a shooting rampage on the reservation. Weise killed his grandfather and his grandfather's girlfriend before heading to Red Lake High School, where he killed five students, a security guard and a teacher before shooting himself. It was the worst school shooting in the United States since Columbine.

The tribe has declared Tuesday a Day of Remembrance, and all tribal services will be closed. Red Lake High School will be open, at the request of students and staff. Counselors will be on hand, but no regular classes will be held. A moment of silence will be held in the morning, and school will be dismissed at 2:30 p.m., with no after-school activities.

"We know that everyone is going to observe the day in their way," said Willie Larson, school district accountant.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty proclaimed a moment of silence for 2 p.m. to mark the occasion.

No community-wide memorial was planned by the tribe. Instead, several family members on this reservation in northwestern Minnesota are holding memorial dinners to honor their loved ones. At Red Lake Foods, a combination grocery store, gas station and laundromat, the front door carried notices Monday of services for four of the victims: Chanelle Rosebear and Chase Lussier, both 15, Michelle Sigana, 31, and Daryl Lussier, 58. Notices were also posted at the post office, tribal council office and other public buildings.

The dinners are customary to people in Red Lake, and are traditionally held a year after a death to mark the end of a period of mourning, said Lee Cook, a tribal member and director of the American Indian Resource Center at nearby Bemidji State University.

"It's just meant to sort of honor the person and remind us of the life we had together," Cook said. "It's sort of a happy moment as opposed to a sad time."

The dinners are intended to help people move on, but "I think it's still going to take another year or two to really get over the events of last March 21st," Cook said.

Alex Roy, 15, is among the many who will need more time.

Chase Lussier was her boyfriend, and the couple had a son just a couple of months before the attack. The pair planned to get married, and Chase often talked about how they would have a big family -- enough boys to make their own basketball team. Alex spent the past year watching little Ayden Chase Lussier take his first steps and have his first birthday -- without Chase to share it.

"It was a happy time to see her son do things like that, but then at times it was hard for her because every time she knew she had to watch him do any of this without him," said Sue Roy, Alex's mother. Alex herself spoke only briefly with a reporter before excusing herself, saying she didn't want to talk anymore.

Sue and Alex Roy planned to spend a quiet day Tuesday visiting Chase's gravesite and the gravesites of other shooting victims.

Some ceremonies have already been conducted. St. Mary's Mission, a Catholic church on the reservation, held a week of prayer last week. Every day, a Mass was held in honor of one or more victims, including Weise, the gunman.

Alicia's family plans a memorial dinner on Saturday. White's younger sister, 11-year-old Andrea White, put together a memory book filled with pictures of Alicia. The event will include a buffet dinner and music.

Spike, Alicia's mother, said she still has feelings of anger and depression. Alicia was a cheerleader who wanted to go into the Army and eventually become an FBI agent. She loved school and worked hard to get good grades, Spike said.

"That's the thing that really kills me, is how much she liked school," Spike said. "She went willingly and happily, and to be killed (doing) something so innocent."

Alicia was the oldest of seven children, and her death has left a hole in the family.

Andrea said she wears her sister's navy blue, hooded Snoopy sweatshirt every day so she can feel close to her. She said she's sad, and misses her sister, but she also remembers happy times, like the day the girls were exercising in Alicia's room.

"She said, 'Should I try to do the splits?' and I said 'Yeah!' and she ripped her pants!" Andrea said, laughing.

Spike said she misses her daughter's goofiness. She said the family is depressed and the "happiness is gone." She has two memorial tattoos of her daughter, including a portrait of her daughter with the words "Baby Girl" etched above it on her left arm. She has journals, in which she writes letters to Alicia a couple times a month, telling her how much she misses her.

"Even though it's been a year," Spike said, "I'm just devastated by it, by her being gone."

(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)