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Show I C8 Wednesday, Aprill 18,2007 Vernal Express A PLACE TO MOURN FOR RHONDA Memorial set for woman who disappeared 20 years y Lezlee E. Whiting Uintah Basin News Service Jandi Hughes was almost 8-years-bld the first time she saw her mother. Jandi remembers the meeting was arranged because her mother, Ronda Karren "was getting her life in order." Two weeks later Rhonda was missing and evidence at the scene showed that foul play was involved. Jandi remembers the day she met her mother as though it were yesterday, but the sad events surrounding her mother's disappearance are blurry for her. "The day I met her is so vivid in my mind but the day We're opening our doors for a special day of celebration for the whole family. Stop by and enjoy the day with: Food and refreshments Free gifts and prizes Special activities for the kids New product displays FJSE -A A m Dale: April 21, 2007 Time: 1 1 :00am - 6:00pm 1378 East Hwy 40. Vernal 789-3472 i lEW HOLLAND HOB CNH Amartca LLC Ntw Holland it I raglttarad trademark of CNH Anwrlea LLC, I found out is so foggy. I can't remember how old I was ... I am thinking less than 10, I couldn't tell you for sure," she said adding that she thinks she found out while watching a television newscast. Her family, both her father and the paternal grandparents grandpar-ents who raised her, stayed away from any discussion of Rhonda Karren and even as a child Jandi knew not to ask questions. "We met her and it was like that was the end of it," she said. If Jandi had few details, the community had plenty. Almost everyone living in Vernal in the late 1980s knew that police po-lice believed Ronda had been kidnapped on Sept. 28, 1987, and most likely murdered. Police later speculated that her body may have been put down a well along with acid in an attempt to permanently erase the crime. Efforts late last year to use new technology was a peaceful presence she just wanted me to know. I know she is there. I think she is protecting me in our lives." So Many Questions Jandi grew up not knowing anything about her mother, but today she feels a "sense of peace" when she thinks about the woman, who she also feels she is a lot alike. Her father didn't like to talk "aboutit,"sherecalled. That's why Jandi waited until she was 7 s ( & . v ? JiV:- rE71 If o . j ft ata m Cry -li 11 PICTURES OF RONDA The memorial marker for Rhonda Karen will have her birthday and September 1 987, the month and year she disappeared. It will also have engravings of horses and the words, "We Miss You." Jandi Hughes and her brother, who lives in Wyoming picked out the marker. . r i urn ii i. i-i 1 s - - - -"-A-A. &Jk X-it-' I of I e , i n & "Celebrate and Educate Youth, Families and Communities" April is Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Month ii'Mc"11: A XL :v 4 'V vaa 111 April Activities Sufcy Thursday I Friday 1 Saturday iWimifimM 5 6 7 Yo&Vj HiJU Duchesne HeadStart Glow in Confer encj gOBiwwnBag School Spring Break the Dark Spokanc'Wl frihjtilding lfWiiw' District Spring (5-9) Uintah Egg Hunt 'imiMlll dfyrcnuV Break School District (Tribal Youth" Balloon Release Tribal Auditorium Spring Break Program) at Local Schools (IHS) (5-10) . - io n li B : 14 EASTER 1-4:30Pm llara ' 5pm Mocassin Positive Action HeadStart Family Swim Day Youth Basketball Class in Family Game Parent Training Basketball Vernal Skills Clinic Randlett Night (Tribal Tournament Swimming Pool (Peescheu) (Tribal Youth Alcohol 8pm Teen inWhiterocks (Recreation) ' Program) Reduction Dance (Leslie and Bo . V Positive Action (Tribal Youth Chapoose) V Grant) Program) 15 "To" 17 "l8 19 20 1 Tl Injury 12 Noon Brown 10am 9am Health 7-9pm'Teen ' 9am -lpm Prevention Bag Lunch HeadStart Career College Talk" for 13- Celebrating Youth - Level 2 , "Domestic Literacy Fair Conference 17 Year Olds Day3-on-3, Training . Violence, Health Aggie Station carseat check, (17-19) Child Abuse & Education) (USU) information (Health ' Neglect" Tribal booths, face Education) Auditorium (IHS) painting, lunch, pie throw (CAP Team) 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 6pm Movie HeadStart Cultural 5pmMoccassin 1 -4:30pm HeadStart 9am Closing Night Tribal Day5praICAC Class in Bottle Hollow Volunteer Ceremonies Fun Auditorium Presentation and Whiterocks (Tribal Plaza Clean Up Appreciation Walk, Bike-A- (BIA Employees Community Chili Youth Program) 7pm (CAPTeam) Thon,RezPet Assoc.) Cook-Off (West Lapoint Elementary Contest and Bike Famh' Support Center Connections Talent Rodeo Bottle AMariahCuch) Show- Hollow (CAP Team) 29 30 sT 6pm Family vs.,. Free Fishing A- UintahX TRICOUNTY Vv ' Activityand I Basin HEALTH DEPARTMENT X BBQfHeadStart I (mJ Fatherhood and f y UteTribe EMS) ftm fl(ppor oA lihte. Basin For additional information on events contact: BIA Law Enforcement 722-2012 in Jandi Hughes missed her mother terribly as a teenager. Jandi and other relatives of Rhonda Karren will hold a memorial service for her this Saturday at 10 a.m. at Thompson-Blackburn Vernal Mortuary. It will be the first since site disappeared from her Vernal home almost 20 years ago. Also pictued is Ronda. to find Rhonda's killer failed to come up with anything that would be useful to investigators investiga-tors in court. But right now none of that matters to Jandi, a 27-year-old single mother of two. Rightv now all Jandi cares about is i that for the first time since her mother disappeared almost 20 years ago there will be some closure for the family. This Saturday, April 21, at 10 a.m.; a memorial service will be held for Rhonda Fay Alexander Karren, at Thompson-Blackburn Mortuary in Vernal. It will be the first one since her disappearance on Sept. 28, 1987. In addition addi-tion a marker will eventually eventu-ally be placed in the Maeser Cemetery, providing a place where Rhonda's children and grandchildren, her widowed mother and her friends can go to grieve. The marker will serve as a memorial to the , woman whose body has never been found. Jandi said she has envisioned envi-sioned putting up some type of marker in memory of her mother for years. In fact, she said no one has known how much she has longed for the day when the family would have their very own place to go to think of Rhonda and pay their respects. "I can go there when I am having a bad day, I can tell her all the important events that happen in my life ... I can feel like she can be there." In an interview with the Standard in December Jandi said she wanted a marker placed in memory of her mother "more than anyone can even know." Jandibelievesshehasprevi-ously Jandibelievesshehasprevi-ously received a reassurance from her mother that told her she is fine and here for her daughter. "I felt her presence and it 16 to do some research on her own. She went to the library in Vernal and searched for hours through the records, not even certain of the exact date she needed. When she finally found something about her ' mother, the lack of information informa-tion was devastating. "We finally found it and she didn't even make front page ... it was on the third page with a little article... I was so upset, I stormed out of the library ... it didn't even make front page news," said Jandi. "When I was a teenager I ( was very angry - angry about everything) I couldn't understand under-stand what had happened. One year we got a picture of her for Christmas ... nobody could ever tell us, they kind of skirted around it ... what was she like? What did she do?" Today Jandi has researched everything she can about her mother's case and has talked to investigators. The consuming anger has left her. "I can research it now and feel okay. I think that is because I am a mother now," she said. She doesn't mind people asking questions about her mom, as long as they cared about her and aren't just prying pry-ing for the odd details "It is ahuge difference talking talk-ing to people who cared about her compared with people who just want to know about what . happened, or just gossip." Jandi said she is comforted com-forted by those who knew her mother and have passed along their happy memories.- She will never give up hope that someday her mother's body will be found and the person responsible for taking her away from her family will be punished. But for now she is content knowing that she will soon have a place to go to truly begin to heal. |