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Reuters
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords on May 17.
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will attend a vigil Sunday evening in Tucson to mark the anniversary of the shooting that left her gravely wounded and six people dead, the congresswoman's office said.
The vigil on the University of Arizona Mall is one of many events planned in the Tucson area to observe the anniversary of the shooting. Giffords and her husband, retired Navy Capt. Mark Kelly, both will participate in the vigil.
On Jan. 8, 2011, a man later diagnosed with mental illness shot 19 people at a meet-and-greet event that Giffords was holding at a shopping center in Northwest Tucson. Six people died, including a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge. Giffords was shot in the head and has undergone intensive therapy at a Houston medical center.
Giffords' office said others participating in the event Sunday at the university include Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, Rabbi Stephanie Aaron and Dr. Peter Rhee, chief of the division of trauma, critical care and emergency surgery at the University of Arizona Medical Center. Rhee was among the doctors who treated Giffords and others who were wounded last year.
Ron Barber, Giffords' district director, will be the emcee for the event. Barber was shot in the cheek and thigh last year.
"The whole weekend of the anniversary, I think is going to be tough," Barber recently told The Associated Press in Tucson.
Barber still walks with a cane, meets with a therapist and is working part time because of fatigue.
Barber and his family established the Fund for Civility, Respect and Understanding, which will host "Reflections: Honoring the Lives of the January 8 Shooting Victims" at 3 p.m. Sunday in Centennial Hall on the UA campus.
"Congresswoman Giffords wanted to be back in Tucson for this very emotional weekend," Pia Carusone, Giffords' chief of staff, said in a statement.
Giffords will not give interviews, her office said.
The Tucson Symphony Orchestra will perform at the vigil, as will Calexico, one of the congresswoman's favorite local bands, her office said.
This will be the fourth time Giffords has returned to Tucson since the shooting. She flew back for Father's Day, Labor Day and Thanksgiving.
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I'm sure this is important to the peope in AZ and to Giffords and 'Kelly. The more publicity she can muster, the better the book sales. Wish them both well, but they have both been so lucky. Golden. The rest of the nation has moved on and want leadership in issues of foreign policy, economy, housing, national budget, immigration, military--so many things she is unable to address. Good luck Gabby and Mark.
I can't help but worry that the way Americans resuscitate horrible events over and over and over, makes the perpetrators of these things feel like they are really accomplishing something that will live on forever. We would be a wiser society to have remembrances more privately. The WWII generation would have ceased functioning for all the horror the world suffered back then if the culture was the same. No disrespect to the deceased, but the high profile events that we hold year after year almost gets maudlin these days.
To heck with the dead and wounded; a member of the ruling class is coming to town. I'll bet the heroine has never even spoken to the families of the dead.
How much would you put on that "bet", my friend?
Now that is an incredibly insensitive comment. It brings to mind the old adage: "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all."
You're probably not from Tucson, I'd wager. It was a horrific event in our city. When I heard about it the morning it occurred, I was so angry I was shaking.
Did Sarah Palin attend?
i hope she can fully recover and work in d.c. again.
i pray that she can....she truly is an inspiration to all americans.
sure she would fit right in mentally that is ,we have enough mentally impaired people in wash dc running our government,,,,,,,,,,,,why dont we elect her president!!!!!!!! come on folks ,lets get real....... we need someone running on all cylinders........
I will just bet she can manage simple punctuation and spelling, byron. You work quite a bit on yours, do you?
@mike n, Ms. Giffords is Jewish. In Jewish Culture you have the year following a death or tragedy to grieve. Please, give her that if nothing else.
Think of it this way, at one undetermined moment in time someone at your work, grocery store, gym, church, car etc. decides to start shooting and you are horribly injured while discussing yesterday's game, the weather, your child's soccer game, etc. Many others are injured and others at the scene die. You live. Are you that callous to disconnect yourself from the tragedy and shun the others who experienced the same?
I was 1/2 a mile down the road when an off duty fireman came into the JiffyLube to tell us of what was happening at that moment. I cannot imagine the chaos or emotional turmoil happening at that point. It is human nature to join together; what do you call Memorial Day? Veterans Day? Do you hold the same callousness towards these 'holidays'?
One final note, how many other congressmen and women do you see in a grocery store parking lot trying to connect to the constituency? How many have you seen that actually care to talk to the people they represent? How many of them have you had the opportunity to address in person?
I wish I could be there on Sunday. For all the folks who left disparaging or insulting remarks about Ms. Giffords or the other survivors, please take a long, long look at yourselves in the mirror. Do you really like what you see?
Tom,
You pose an excellent question. Whenever there is a story about Rep. Giffords, there seems to be a slew of crude, insulting or just plain stupid posts. (i.e. pro-america 1148973.) Those who post such offensive comments in light of Rep. Giffords suffering ought to be ashamed of themselves.
Yup, I agree. These hateful people are pretty representative of the many angry people in our society.
They are also representative of the republican party.
I do wonder what safety's are in place so when a member of congress is incapacitated they are replaced. Imagine what would happen if all members of Congress were targeted at once? Lets say someone does get a bomb into DC when there in session. While I am proud of her recovery, we should be looking at the larger picture.
Yeah, will Sarah Palin be attending? This story and many others always take note of how the shooter is "mentally disturbed" and that must be why he did it. That is not the only ingredient in this tragedy. Yeah, Loughtner was a wacko, but that is the kind of person that Sarah and the right-wing were after. Too afraid to do it themselves, they kept up the rhetoric until someone took the bait. This guy didn't go out to the desert and shoot up some dead appliances, he didn't even go out on the street corner and start shooting randomly. No, he had a particular target in mind. He had seen the cross-hairs on Gabby's face on the tv and he knew what he had to do. He heard voices in his head alright, they came from his tv and told him what he needed to know. A mentally unstable man suckered into doing the job others wanted him to do.
Raincheck, that is an unbelievable and completely paranoid product of your imagination. Your little conspiracy theory would make quite a work of fiction. Loughner harbored an irrational grudge against Congresswoman Giffords from a similar congress on your corner meeting between the 2 of them YEARS ago- long before Sarah Palin was on anyone's radar outside of Alaska. This is nothing more than a tragic case of a disturbed young man and you attempting to make this a political issue is pathetic. I suppose the tragedy at Columbine was somehow political too? Get a clue and stop trying to stir things up with your "right wing" conspiracies.
There are enough right-wingnut issues to deal with without inventing one out of this tragedy. Sarah Palin is a smart diva and milking here 15 minutes of celebrity for all its worth, financially, that is. Just like Huckabbee, it's about the money. By the way, she now lives in Scottsdale, AZ. Alaska is her vacation residence. All those millions of dollars are flowing to her from her inept right-wingnut fans buying her ghost written books, watching her do reality TV, and Ruppert Murdoch exploiting her ability to rabel rouse right wingnuts. Not to mention those speaking retainers and appearance fees. Sarah is lauhging all the way to the bank, just like Rush and Ann Coulter (Oh my Gawd!!))
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Why is she still allowed that job if she isnt psychically or mentally able to do it? Just because people pity her oh please. What a do nothing mooch to society....a nice cushy job of drooling all day while other bust their butts to make a living. She is alos not a hero she is just some survivor not someone that saved a life.
Gabby's comprehension is more than adequate. She still has problems finding the right words but that doesn't mean she isn't in her right mind or unfit to remain in Congress. She was shot in the brain, remember? That requires a lot of physical therapy to recover. Give her a chance. She has already exceeded all expectations.
Gabby is an INSPIRATION to ALL Americans!
How many of the other Arizona federal legilators will be attending? You would think that they would want to take advantage of an opportunity to unite in supporting civil discourse over armed confrontation as the right approach to solving society's problems. Then again, that just might be too apolitical a thing to expect. The Arizona delegation could step forward and set a proper example for the rest of the country, especially if they publicly dress down their inevitable critics from the right-wingnut media (e.g., Linbaugh, Palin, Hannity).
hatred is why people shoot into crowds of people...killing a child....wake up people....this shooting is a reason to mourn not scourn
I am surprised Giffords is attending...Give Palin a chance to go Jew Hunting again
nah, palin is waiting for one of jimmy hoffa jrs minions to "take these sons of bitches out"