A memorial dedicated to the victims of the January 10, 2001, shootings stands outside Rood Administrative Center. The memorial, pictured here Tuesday, will be dedicated on the first anniversary of the incident.(Photo by Eileen Joyce)

Nick and Amanda Wilcox will lead a procession Saturday connecting the sites of last year's back-to-back shootings that killed three, left three others injured and disillusioned a community.

They also want to connect the issues of mental health and gun control, factors they say contributed to the death of their daughter and two others on Jan. 10, 2001.

Laura Wilcox, 19, and Pearlie Mae Feldman, 68, were fatally shot at the Nevada County Department of Behavioral Health Services, where Judith Edzards, 50, was critically wounded and 36-year-old Daisy Switzer was seriously injured jumping from a second-floor window.

Nine minutes later, at Lyon's Restaurant, 24-year-old Mike Markle was fatally shot and Rick Senuty, 35, was seriously wounded. The alleged gunman, 41-year-old Scott Thorpe, was a Behavioral Health client at the time.

On Saturday, marchers will go from Lyon's Restaurant and walk 3.3 miles to Behavioral Health.

It's among a pair of public events to remember the victims. On Thursday, a memorial stone will be dedicated at the Rood Administrative Center.

Laura Wilcox was a temporary receptionist on holiday break from college when she was shot. True to her Quaker beliefs, she was also a social activist who supported gun control and was concerned about the treatment of Behavioral Health clients.

"We believe it's a positive statement. We feel strongly that Laura stood for positive things and positive change, and I guess it's up to us to carry on for her," Nick Wilcox said.

The march will follow Nevada City Highway, Zion Street, Pine Street, Broad Street, Coyote Street, Washington Street, Uren Street, Nevada Street and Willow Valley Road.

The Wilcoxes comfortably walked it in 1 hour and 15 minutes and figure most people can do it in an hour and 45 minutes. People who don't want to walk the whole way can join at Zion Street and Gold Flat Road, or in Callanan Park in Nevada City.

Laura Wilcox's friends from Haverford College in Pennsylvania are expected, along with Sacramento chapter members of the Million Mom March, which supports gun control.

Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, will address gun control and mental health issues at Behavioral Health, and the Wilcoxes will also speak.

On Thursday at the Rood Center, Supervisor Elizabeth Martin will read a poem by Environmental Health Director Norm Greenberg to mark the dedication of the memorial stone.

The stone, 5,500 pounds of columnar basalt, was donated by Ralph Mullican, owner of Yuba Blue/Smartville Rock, and came from a quarry in Oroville. He said he put in several thousand dollars worth of work cutting, transporting, grinding and polishing the stone.

"I was kind of struck by the stories, especially the young persons, and then something like this happens," he said. "It kind of gets to you when someone doesn't get a chance to fulfill their dreams."

The 5-foot-high stone bears a plaque with the names of Wilcox, Feldman and Markle and three embedded glass circles that Mullican calls "windows."

"They represent the inner beauty of the stone, and the inner beauty of the victims," he said.

Ceremonies

- A Ceremony of Remembrance, 12:30 p.m., Thursday, at the Rood Administrative Center. Nevada County and Lyon's Restaurant employees will dedicate a memorial stone.

- A memorial March, starting 1 p.m. Saturday at Lyon's Restaurant and ending at Nevada County Behavioral Health Services. Speeches will start at 2:45 p.m.

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