GAINESVILLE - The sun shone down on the Edmondson-Telford center in Gainesville Monday afternoon as county officials and others dedicated a new memorial garden, Austin's Garden, in honor of the children that have lost their lives due to child abuse.
Austin's Garden features a large statue depicting Austin Chance Sparks, a toddler that was beaten to death in 1996 by his live-in babysitter and mother. The babysitter, Jason Lamar Smith, is serving a life sentence for Sparks' death. Danda Sparks is also still serving time, according to state inmate records.
Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch was, at the time, the investigator on the Sparks case. For that reason, Sheriff Couch was invited to deliver the dedication keynote (see the video player for the full speech.)
"It was such a dark time, this is a beacon of light, and we've come a long way about the way we investigate these types of child abuse cases, the way we respond, the way we review those cases with all the parties involved... and how those cases are prosecuted. This a community that this case truly brought together and we had one goal in mind and that was to rid our community of such child abuse," said Couch after the ceremony.
The Edmondson-Telford Center opened in 1997 as a safe haven for children in the Hall County area who were suffering from child abuse and was started after Sparks' death, said Executive Director Heather Hayes.
"The garden itself is just a memorial project that we did in honor of Austin since his death was the situation that developed and brought to life the Edmonson-Telford Center," said Hayes.
Hayes said the idea for the garden actually came from law enforcement, after the new facility was built. She says Hall County Sheriff's Deputy Nicole Bailes and Kelly Robertson with the District Attorney's Office came up with the idea.
"We had a new building with the land and it needed some love and care, and we thought a garden to sort of symbolize all the children that come through here would be a neat idea," Hayes said.
"There were several months, maybe the last year, this idea has taken to sort of pull everything together. But the last three of four months in particular have been the planting, and the planting was all done by myself, Nicole Bailes from the Sheriff's Office, members and volunteers from the DA's office and a lot of the professionals that work the cases chipped in on their off time to spread mulch and pine straw and dig plants... it was almost a cathartic type process for the people who are working these cases actually being able to plant those memories, those feelings, those emotions."
The stone statue of Sparks was donated by Memorial Park Funeral Homes. Hayes said there's currently no plans to add any additional statues, but there are plans to add more flowers and plants.
