Fundraiser aims to give Columbine memorial fund needed boost

Rocky Mountain News

Friday, May 20, 2005

Organizers of the fund to build a permanent memorial commemorating the victims of the 1999 slayings at Columbine High School face a July deadline to decide whether to scale back their plans.

The fund remains static at about $700,000, but proponents of the memorial hope a Saturday fundraiser will provide a boost to bring the fund closer to its $2.5 million goal.

Memorial committee members and local media types will square off against The King and His Court softball team, which specializes in comic on-field antics and includes sizzling 80-year-old pitcher Eddie Feigner, whose fast-pitch once was a clocked at 104 mph.

Feigner and his wife, Anne, the team's spokeswoman, added the Columbine cause to their 2005 tour because of a close connection to two similar high school assaults near their California home.

"We were in both schools the day before the shootings erupted at each. It deeply affected us," Anne Feigner said. "When we got the call to play in Colorado, we had to go."

The game will be on ball field No. 3 just off Pierce Street at Clement Park.

The park is the site of the proposed memorial and adjacent to Columbine High. The field can accommodate 2,000 fans.

Tickets are $10 in advance, available by calling 303-409-2106 before 5 p.m. today or at a book signing for Feigner's biography, From an Orphan to a King, at the Holiday Inn, U.S. 285 and South Wadsworth Boulevard in Lakewood from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. today.

Tickets also can be bought for $12 at the game Saturday.