Pulse: Pablo Quinones

Posted on by Thor

The director of the Orange County Regional History Center was about to leave her position. She asked me to come to the History Center to do one last sketch for a Pulse related oral history. As she said, this would be the “swan song” that ended the series.

The directors office had a HEPA air filter so this was a rare instance where I sat indoors and did a sketch without a mask. If more venues had HEPA filters I might indeed return to sketching indoors mask less.

Pablo Quinones was a first responder that the Pulse Nightclub shooting. After the shooting he went on to become the personal driver and security officer for Mayor Buddy Dyer. Being the mayor’s security office has to be an adventure since the mayor attends all the best events in Orlando. After the Pulse shooting I remember seeing the mayor arrive at many of the fundraisers and artistic memorials with a large entourage.

Pablo has been a law enforcement officer and civil servant since 2000. He attended Western Illinois University and the College of  Lake County.

Since the City of Orlando purchased the the Pulse Nightclub site for 2 million dollars from the One Pulse Foundation there was no security at the site. A sign in front of the Pulse nightclub was vandalized in February of 2024 with bold graffiti. Sayings on the sign, like “Love is Love”, “Love never Dies, it Transforms” and “Love will always Win” are now obscured under giant spray painted bubble letters. Efforts are being made to scrub away the graffiti, but of course the messages of hope and love will also be scrubbed away in the process.

One Pulse had a gorgeous plan for the site that had a brightly colored fountain and an enclosed seating area. I liked this design and feel it is a shame that it will not be created. The cost for the memorial and a museum skyrocketed beyond the fundraising abilities of the One Pulse Foundation. The city is planning a far scaled back memorial which they hope to complete by 2028, which is 12 years since the tragedy occurred. The club is on an incredibly noisy intersection so the thought that a peaceful site of remembrance might be created with a few coats of paint seems insane. What it attracts so far is urban spray paint.

 

 

Love Trumps Hate

Posted on by Thor

On June 12, 2019 families of the fallen, survivors and members of the community gathered at Pulse to remember the 49 lives lost in a horrific act of violence. It was a chance to honor loved ones, to show support for the survivors and to honor first responders. It was 195 days since Orlando as a city changed.Orlando as a community continues to rise.

The sun was setting as Pam Schwartz and I arrived at the memorial ceremony. She branched off to make sure families were seated and I began to document the evening with a sketch. I had my own art stool and I sat in among the families leaning back against a tree. Several of the Angel Action Wings were in the crowd.

Several rows ahead of me I could see the father of Cory James Connell with his baseball cap and number 7 jersey. Cory was shot and killed on June 12, 2016 at Pulse. Later that year the family was blessed with the birth of a baby boy who they decided to name Cory as well. I sketched young Cory several times when the family spoke about their journey after the loss of their son. Now young Cory was a young three year old with wild hair and plenty of attitude.

During one of the songs a mother cried inconsolably to my right. Around me people turned and pointed their cameras towards the horizon. A large rainbow had formed as if an sign of the love and acceptance being honored. Barbara Poma offered a few remarks as did Buddy Dyer and Jerry Demmings. A sign language interpreter signed every comment of love and acceptance.  Then the names of the 49 were read. Unfortunately a few names were mispronounced.

Heather Martin a survivor of the Columbine shooting spoke candidly of her long road to recovery following that shooting. She talked about how loud sounds like fireworks could act as triggers. As she was talking an ambulance rushed by with it’s siren blaring which is another sound that triggers memories of that night at Pulse. “This unfortunate bond of tragedy has born incredible friendships, friendships that have kept me going when I struggle.” she said. Sharing her battle, her struggle helps overshadow the dark times with hope and love.

Plans are in the works for a permanent memorial and museum on the Pulse Nightclub site. Architecture firms from all over the world will be submitting proposals for what should be on this site. Opinions about what should be on the site are varied.

Unloading Pulse Memorial Items at Off-Site

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After clearing memorial items away from the Pulse Nightclub,we drove to the onePULSE Foundation storage facility. While all the staff and Barbara Poma went upstairs to the air conditioned storage facility, I remained behind with the truck in the entrance bay. Call me paranoid but I didn’t want to leave the truck unattended. In Parkland, Florida where 17 students and faculty were killed in a mass shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, there was a memorial set up outside the high school with thousands of flowers, banners, teddy bears, and pin wheels. A drunk and disorderly couple were seen by a witness taking items from the memorials of the Parkland shooting victims and putting them in their truck.

A witnesses said they saw 37-year-old Michael Shawn Kennedy and
40-year-old Kara O’Neil taking items from a fence outside the High School. When police arrived they found the items in the couple’s car. A deputy also saw Kennedy placing a box of pinwheels in the vehicle. They claimed they were going to set up their own memorial. One deputy noted that Kennedy said, “I ripped down the anti-gun banner because I am pro-gun.”

According to the incident report, these items from the memorial were
found in their car: a Parkland athletics trophy, a shadowbox with photos
of the 17 victims, 17 white metal angel pennants, dedication plaques
that say “The Mighty Seventeen” and “MSD Parkland Strong”, 3 white teddy
bears, an anti-gun banner, 25 pinwheel lawn ornaments some with the
victims’ names, American flags, and a red stone that says “Never Again.” It is hard to imagine what was going through their drunken heads.

After leaving the onePULSE Foundation facility, the Orange County Regional History Center staff went to the off site facility for their museum collection. After Hurricane Irma, that storage facility suffered damage when an air conditioning hatch blew off and gouged multiple holes in the warehouse roofing. Water soaked drop-ceiling insulation and tile panels, until they were so heavy that they crashed down exploding on the concrete floor like bombs.  All of the inside walls in the warehouse had to be replaced to keep the historic items from being over run with black mold. Dehumidifiers ran for weeks to suck moisture from the air. Pulse memorial items still on the floor were once again subjected to water, but a heroic effort was made to dry and restore everything and not a single item was lost.  The new Pulse memorial items were paced on palettes. With the two year exhibit opening on June 2, some of these memorial items might end up on display, which will be up much longer that the 7 days that the One Year Later exhibit was open last year. That exhibit had to come down to make way for a wedding reception. This year’s exhibition will focus on the new stories the History Center has learned and on what has changed for Orlando since last year.