(Newser)
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The city of Sanford, Fla., is taking heat for removing a makeshift memorial to Trayvon Martin that cropped up outside the gated community where he was shot. The memorial consisted of a curbside heap of teddy bears, laminated photos, silk flowers, and other bric-a-brac, and some activists say removing it is an affront, the LA Times reports. "It's more of a psychological thing," says a legal adviser for Concerned Citizens of Sanford. "With the memorial gone, people will try to forget what happened."
But officials say that after four months of exposure to the elements, the teddy bears were rotting and community residents had started to complain. "It had gotten incredibly shabby. It just looked horrible," a city commissioner said. "It was no longer a fitting memorial." Those items still intact enough to be moved are now in storage at the city museum.
