Panel for Victim Will be Added to Quilt Project

Almost every week, another 19-by-19-inch square is added to a quilt representing those killed in Orange County, many of whom were teen-agers. A panel for Carl Dan Claes, the 14-year-old who was found slain in Lemon Heights, will be the 24th.

The quilt was begun in January by Los Amigos of Orange County, a coalition of residents, activists and business people who this week shared it with Claes’ family at a memorial service at his home.

“We’re tremendously concerned with problem of children killing children, or people killing people,” said Mel Kernahan, a Los Amigos member who is coordinating the quilt project. “So each time someone falls, we make a quilt square.”

Each hand-sewn square is embroidered with the name and age of the victim. Claes is one of the youngest remembered on the quilt.

Hearts and crosses decorate the cloth collage. In one block, doves fly above a victim’s name. In another, teardrops cascade from a heart. The fabric of another, crafted by the victim’s grandmother, came from the child’s clothes.

The pieces are stitched by Los Amigos members, family or friends of the victims, Kernahan said. And each time a life is lost, members of the organization and the community try to hold a vigil at the murder site.

Today, a modest crowd plans to visit A.G. Currie Middle School, where Claes attended, with the quilt and prayers for the teen-ager and those who preceded him, David said.

They also will visit a Santa Ana shopping center in the 1200 block of E. 1st Street where Julio Sarinana, 17, was shot in the head Friday while waiting in a car for his family in a supermarket parking lot. The killer remains unknown.

Danella George, Claes’ mother who will attend the vigils, said she was moved by the quilt and the planned candlelight vigil.

“I think that it’s incredibly touching,” George said. “It’s a beautiful way to not forget the victims of violence.”

Karen Toya Lott, who is a Los Amigos member and founder of the Green Ribbon Campaign, which battles against youth violence, started the quilt patch for Claes.

Illustrating his love for hockey, she designed the square with crossing hockey sticks and a gold puck against a white backdrop, to symbolize the boy’s innocence and youth.

Lott, who designed two other pieces for the quilt, said Claes’ is special because it reminds the public that “violence can happen to any child.”

“People always say it’s the poor kids, the one without a mother and father who gets killed,” Lott said. “But it could be anyone of our kids.”