Orange County leaders discuss permanent ways to memorialize Pulse victims

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Everyone in the community should have a voice in a permanent memorial for the Pulse nightclub shooting victims, Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs said

The county wants to join the city in honoring the victims.

One of the ideas is creating a group to address issues in the community to prevent violence.

The county is taking the lead to preserve makeshift memorials, but it could be months until something more permanent is in place.

The candles, pictures and signs serve as memorials to the victims, but the focus is on shifting to a permanent display.

“It has impacted everybody who lives here,” Jacobs said. “It has impacted not just the residents that live within the city limits, but those who live throughout the county.”

County commissioners on Tuesday discussed ways to remember the victims, even going beyond the idea of a physical memorial.

Related Story: Leaders to start preserving memorial items to honor Pulse victims

“How do we, as a community, memorialize them in a living, breathing fashion?” asked Commissioner Pete Clark.

Clark recommended an advisory group to tackle violence issues.

Jacobs said that whatever is decided, it must be inclusive.

“The issue has impacted our whole community. It certainly impacted our LGBTQ and Hispanic community very hard,” she said.

Orange County Commissioner Victoria Siplin agreed.

“This history that we’re actually living through is going to teach us about tolerance, acceptance,” said Siplin.

The city is creating a committee to work out the details, but the county also wants to help honor the victims.

The mayor said the location will depend on what the owner of Pulse decides to do with the building.

“I don’t want us to lose sight of the strength, resiliency, the unity. I want us to hang on to that,” Jacobs said.

The Orange County History Center has begun photographing, documenting and storing items from the memorials for future generations to learn about the attack.

Jacobs said one of the community’s most devastating moments was also one of its strongest.

She said there could be multiple memorials and that the city and county will work together to make it happen.

Cox Media Group