Neighbors Aid Victim’s Kin in Car Wash

The sign tacked to the power pole said “Memorial Car Wash,” and the lettering on Rodney Burge’s T-shirt explained the rest: “In Memory of Frank Martinez, 1970-1988.”

The line of waiting cars, trucks and vans stretched far down the block on Olive Street in Westminster Sunday, where 18-year-old Frank Martinez had been shot to death by a police officer in the driveway of the Martinez home nine days earlier.

Police said the officer and two others were being beaten by a crowd that included Martinez. Martinez’s family and friends dispute the police version, saying police had provoked the violence.

Letters were being passed out at the car wash, asking people to sign in protest against police brutality, but the atmosphere was more friendly than angry. “It’s more or less a memorial for Franky, what we’re doing here. We’re trying to turn the tragedy into something positive,” said Burge, 29, of Westminster.

The idea of a car wash to raise money for Martinez’s funeral hatched Thursday night and caught on, mostly among “young kids in the neighborhood,” Burge said.

News of the car wash spread by word of mouth, bringing youths from as far away as San Pedro and Long Beach, he said.

People at tables set up along the curb in front of Martinez’s house collected the money--$3 for a car, $4 for a truck or van--while a score of boys and young men pushed cars along the line, mopped them from a wading pool of sudsy water, hosed them off and washed the windows.

A table of free snacks sat in the driveway for customers and workers.

By the time the last of the vehicles rolled through at 5:30 p.m., about $1,012 had been collected from washes and donations, Burge said.

“We’re planning on another car wash next Saturday. After that, we intend to turn the money over to the Martinez family,” he said.

Burge said the car wash will be held Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Olive Street between Hazard Street and Westminster Blvd.

Burge said there will be more money-raising efforts. T-shirts, caps and buttons will be sold, as well as a homemade videotape of a candlelight procession that was conducted in the neighborhood Friday night. A picnic and sale of menudo soup is also planned.

Burge said the point is to help the Martinez family--one of whom, Joel Mendez Martinez, 22, is facing charges of felony assault on a police officer--but also to show that it is not a gang neighborhood.

“We’re not gang members,” Burge said. “We’re not troublemakers. We’re normal people, like anybody else.”