In Memoriam : Tears and Treasures Collect at Curb Where Girl Died in Accident

A street corner in a well-to-do Encino neighborhood became an impromptu memorial this week for a Birmingham High School cheerleader who was fatally injured in a traffic accident there Sunday morning.

Friends of the victim, Sharon Elizabeth Barnett, 15, of Tarzana created the memorial by placing roses, floral bouquets, fruits, balloons and personal mementos beside a spot of charred grass on the lawn where Barnett was thrown in the fiery predawn accident.

Through Friday, the brightly colored display continued to slow traffic at the busy intersection of Valley Vista Boulevard and Zelzah Avenue. Joggers stopped to examine the scene. Motorists stepped out of their cars with cameras to photograph it. A steady procession of youths who had known Barnett stopped by to kneel in her memory.

Struck by Pickup

Barnett was the passenger in a car driven by her boyfriend, Jason Warner, 19, when it was struck about 2 a.m. Sunday morning by a pickup truck going south on Zelzah Avenue.

She died several hours later at Medical Center of Tarzana. Warner was still listed in serious condition Friday at Northridge Medical Center.

Police traffic investigators said they will ask the district attorney’s office to file felony drunk-driving charges against Dennis William Blumenthal, 19, the driver of the pickup, whose blood alcohol count, they said, was measured at .10, the point at which the law presumes a person to be intoxicated.

Blumenthal and a passenger in the pickup were treated but not admitted at Northridge Medical Center.

Besides leaving flowers and balloons at the curb, several of Barnett’s friends taped flyers there that bore slogans attacking drunk drivers and that announced a new group they called Teenagers Against Drunk Driving.

Neighborhood Affected

The accident and the reaction of the victim’s friends appeared to have a profound effect on the neighborhood near the intersection, where traffic from the hills must contend with nearly freeway-speed traffic on Valley Vista.

“I haven’t seen anything like this in my life,” said Brad Morley, a man who stopped as he and his wife, Sharon, drove by in a black convertible.

“It’s touching a lot of people’s lives. I put down flowers yesterday, and I didn’t even know the girl,” he said.

Paddy Hiss, another neighbor who stopped her car to look, had to wipe tears away.

“I’ve been wondering what has been going on for days now,” Hiss said. “There have been kids sitting on the curb crying. I guessed it was this.”

Hiss looked down for a couple of minutes, then started back toward her car.

“I’m on my way to an AA meeting to take my 12th birthday cake,” she said. “How easy it would have been for me to be the driver and the killer of this kid. It makes me so glad I turned my life around.”

One homeowner who woke at the sound of the crash and ran outside barefoot to empty a fire extinguisher into the burning car on his neighbor’s lawn stood vigil on the spot Friday, approaching those who stopped to ask that they sign a petition.

Stop Signs Urged

It urges the city to put stop signs on Valley Vista Boulevard.

Armand Wazana, a tool and die maker, said he has lived on the block 17 years and saw another fatal accident eight years ago at the intersection.

In an hour he got a dozen signatures.

“I already collected 100 to 150 petitions,” Wazana said. “If I have to go see the congressman, I will.”

Wazana said the memorial began spontaneously after a woman who lives in the house on the corner put a flower arrangement in her front yard at the spot where Warner’s burning BMW came to rest.

Later, Barnett’s friends brought more flowers and items that recalled the things she loved. Among these were sand and seashells from the beach, a surfer magazine, a pompon in the blue and gold of Birmingham High, a McDonald’s hamburger and french fries, oranges and tangerines on the twig and hats and whistles from a New Year’s Eve party.

“We all spent it together, all of her friends,” said Lisa Fox, a 16-year-old Taft High School student who sat at the curb for several minutes Friday.

Meaningful Articles

Fox, who spent six weeks with Barnett last summer on a teen-age tour program, said every item had a meaning.

“She was real into surfer guys,” Fox said. “She was real into health food. She loved the beach, so a couple of guys went to get the sand and shells.

“A couple of us stole this from a restaurant,” she said, pointing to an ashtray filled with melted candle wax.

On New Year’s Eve, they had burned a candle in it for their friend.