Service held 'to reclaim our lives'

ROGER MORONEY
``Thank you for protecting us,' the little boy said to a police officer who had walked up from the Chaucer Rd shooting scene to yesterday's Hospital Hill neighbourhood service.
The officer, in police overalls and clearly showing the strain of a long and intensive inquiry, smiled, nodded and said: ``That makes you catch your breath.'
The youngster was one of about 130 people who gathered at Napier's historic Ormond Chapel which stands at the top of the road commonly called ``Breakneck' - the road where gunman Jan Molenaar shot and killed Senior Constable Len Snee and left two other officers and a civilian with critical injuries.
It was described by Waiapu Cathedral Parish Dean Helen Jacobi as a service ``to reclaim our lives, homes and streets' and was uplifting and emotional for those who attended, and who barely a week earlier had been caught in the centre of the extraordinary drama.
``We are here to acknowledge and grieve the violence and fear of these last days,' Dean Jacobi told the assembly.
``In this solemn moment of reflection we will reclaim the space for gentleness and love.'
She paid tribute to the work of Reverend Trevor Harrison, who as police chaplain ``worked so hard for the police and for the community'.
Mayor Barbara Arnott said the community, the volunteers, the emergency service and all those who played their part during a traumatic time for the city were to be supported and applauded.
``Everyone who stepped up to the plate - I just want to say thank you.'
She also spoke of how the families of all those immediately involved, of the police, the civilian and of Jan Molenaar, needed ``arms' of community support around them.
Of the day of the funeral of Len Snee she said the public involvement was overwhelming.
``Everyone involved on that day - I thank you all.'
She said the public's determination to battle through a difficult time, and the way they acknowledged the work of police made the community, and the city, stronger.
Earlier in the service the Paschal (Easter) candle was lit by Jessie Eagle, a civic leader (senior girl) from Sacred Heart College, and after readings were made and hymns sung, Napier Girls' High School head girl Sophie Barr took the candle outside into the calm night where those who attended lit their own candles.
``These candles are for everyone to take home to light at home as a sign of reclaiming your home for peace,' Dean Jacobi said.