Massachusetts Law Enforcement Network

Massachusetts Police News, Information and Discussions on MassCops

Posted by: kwflatbed

By Kathleen Brady Shea
The Philadelphia Inquirer

PHILADELPHIA — Weeks after a milk-truck driver opened fire in an Amish school, a state police commander sought an unconventional way to both evoke and transcend the tragedy: a piece of art.
The resulting watercolor, Remembering Nickel Mines, will be hung today at Troop J headquarters in Lancaster after a private ceremony.
It took more than a year for the artist to render the painting. First he had to overcome his own emotional misgiving, for this artist was also a state trooper — one of the first to arrive at the shooting scene on that October day in 2006.
Cpl. Glenn E. Blue, a longtime trooper who successfully maintains a second career as an artist, said that when Maj. John W. Laufer III, then the head of the Lancaster and Chester County barracks, first broached the idea of a commemorative painting, Blue "cringed."
He could not imagine a painting that would include children or police officers. It would be too wrenching. Laufer agreed.
"I told him I'd think about it," Blue said.
Blue, 48, had spent eight harrowing hours at the Amish schoolhouse where Charles Carl Roberts IV bound and shot 10 girls, five of whom died, before killing himself. It was "one of the worst" scenes he had ever witnessed. Could he keep dredging it up as he worked on the canvas? And, ultimately, what would he be able to say with the painting?
Finally, drawing inspiration from the enduring dignity and resilience of the Amish, Blue said after several months an idea began to take shape: "the dawning of a new day."
Blue, the son of high school art teachers from Collegeville, said that he used photographs so he could replicate the West Nickel Mines Amish School, which was demolished soon after the bloodshed, and that he added some symbolic images so he could pay subtle tribute to the victims.
"The five doves in flight represent the five girls who died," he said. "The five perched doves represent the five who survived."
Once he formulated the design, Blue said he struggled anew with the implementation - but not, as it turned out, because of the associated trauma.
"I was able to separate myself from the event," he said. "I didn't have any emotional issues with painting it."
Instead, he grappled with "getting it right," experimenting for months with different ways to infuse the painting with morning sunlight.
"I'd walk past the sky for days and look at it," he said.
Sometimes he would make changes, he said, and sometimes he would move on.
Once he completed the painting, Blue said, he was still apprehensive. It sat for "at least a month" before he was ready to share it.
After more than a year, he e-mailed a photo of the painting to Laufer.
"He was pretty excited," Blue said, adding that other police colleagues had been equally positive.
"I think that he captured the essence of the scene and was able to memorialize this tragedy in a very tasteful and positive way," said Cpl. Michael P. King, an Avondale colleague who has seen the finished product.
State Police Commissioner Col. Jeffrey B. Miller said yesterday he had not yet seen the work, but he applauded the efforts of both Laufer and Blue.
"It follows along with the other positives" that have occurred during the ongoing healing process after the tragedy, he said, most notably the strong bond forged between the state police and the Amish.
"The troopers felt terrible that they couldn't save everyone, and the Amish were so thankful for the five girls who were saved," Miller said. "The strength that each side has received from the other has been just amazing."
Blue agreed, and he said he hoped his painting would enhance that bond.
"It's definitely not something I would have pursued on my own," he said. "But I'm glad it worked out."

Wire Service

---

vBulletin Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Limited.
vB Easy Archive Final ©2000 - 2008 - Created by Stefan "Xenon" Kaeser