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'If People Want To Go Kill Themselves They Can!' Vandal Destroys Notes of Hope

AUBURN (CBS13) — Messages of hope were destroyed as vandals hit the Foresthill Bridge once again, tearing down notes that were left to try and prevent suicide.

The notes were put up on the bridge by a group that got permission from the county, but some people don't agree with the effort.

"I fear that someone is going to come out here and miss them and they're going to jump," said Brittney Hendricks who started hanging notes this past July.

Hendricks and several others spent the Thursday evening individually zip tying notes of hope, in an effort to prevent a suicide.

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"I would rather see a whole bridge full of colorful notes than a body at the bottom of the canyon," she said.

A passerby didn't agree with the notes and ripped them off one by one. A driver stopped to question him.

"What's your problem? Why are you taking them down?" the woman asked.

The man fired back saying, "Because it's trash. If people want to go kill themselves they can *expletive* do it."

He then said he was going to burn the notes. A horrifying sentiment for those trying to help.

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"If you don't like it then drive past," said Roxey Poganski of Auburn who helped fix the mess the man created.

Sheriff's deputies were called to the bridge after the incident. The man wasn't charged, but he was asked to leave.

"I'm not sure why you feel that you have to lash out and attack something that's working for people who are in a dark place," Hendricks said.

She and her husband own a local tattoo shop in Auburn and said they are haunted by the 87 suicides from the bridge that have happened since 1971.

They began posting these notes this past summer. Since then the bridge has been vandalized and notes were torn down, but Hendricks says she's not going to stop hanging them back up.

"We have four confirmed people that came to the bridge to jump and didn't know that we had notes and chose not to," she said.

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Since July no one has jumped. Hendricks, who has lost loved ones to suicide, wants these notes to make the difference.

"If there is somebody out here who is struggling, I want them to know that I care and that my family cares," she said.

Just knowing a small act of charity is saving lives means the world.

"It's a hard emotion to capture... somebody tells you that the notes that you posted saved their life, that's big," she said.

Signs of love can also come from you, if you want to help out, you can contact the Hendricks at Crimson Tattoo Co. at (530) 745-4355

If you're suffering or know someone who has been struggling with suicide call 1-800-273-8255.

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