Published: November 19, 2009 01:08 am      

CITY OF LOCKPORT: Mourners shaken by loss of 'good kid'

BY BILL WOLCOTT and JOE OLENICK

An unsteady stream of mourners visited a makeshift memorial Wednesday on Porter Street, the day after a 17-year-old Lockport High School junior was allegedly run down by a pickup and killed.

A tree, less than 20 feet from the spot, had a cross, cards, candles and Adam Mottorn’s skateboard. Skateboards of friends were added. In the middle of the street, a green rectangle outlined traces of his blood on the asphalt.

Teens and tweeners, as many 20 at a time, gathered at the site. A few would leave and a few more would come. Adults stood on the outside. A few houses away, sobs were heard from the house where Adam lived at 30 Porter St.

Mourners, boys and girls, were silent for the most part, whispering to each other. In the evening, more than 50 people gathered for the candlelight vigil. Only sobs were heard.

Tyler Mottorn, 8, struggled to put a candle at the memorial site. Tyler, who attends DeWitt Clinton School, was mad — mad at the people that ran over his big brother. He wasn’t the only one.

“I’m sad and I’m mad,” said cousin Joe Townsend, who lives on North Adam Street. “There was no reason to kill someone. He never hurt anyone.”

Nick Burke, 12, a cousin, best friend and neighbor, said, “Every morning he would get ready for school and he would start his car up and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s my alarm clock because it would be so loud.” Burke attends North Park Middle School.

Joseph Chase, a cousin from North Tonawanda, led a prayer. Speakers were tentative and in tears.

“Adam was a good kid,” Chase said. “This didn’t deserve to happen to him.”

Earlier in the day, Lockport Principal Frank Movalli said the student body was in a somber mood. Counselors were available for grieving students. And there were many.

“Adam had a lot of close friends and relatives here,” Movalli said. “They (the counselors) have made a big difference.”

Movalli added students were passing around and signing remembrance cards to be given to Mottorn’s family at some time in the future. Mottorn was also a student at Niagara/Orleans Board of Cooperative Education Services, where he studied automotive technology.

Arthur Polychronis, career and technology principal at the BOCES Orleans Center in Medina, said he had spoken to Mottorn’s auto teacher earlier in the day. Mottorn was described as a good kid, well-liked by all and a good student with an average in the high 80s.

His death affected the students who came to the BOCES center Wednesday, especially those who didn’t know what happened.

“The kids were pretty shaken,” Polychronis said. “Some heard about it for the first time when they arrived here. Some had tears in their eyes when they got off the buses.”

As at the high school, counselors were available for students at the BOCES center. The center has students from seven different school districts, with some of those students enrolled in Mottorn’s automotive class. The class had come to a halt Wednesday.

“I’ve never seen that class as quiet as it was,” Polychronis said.

A faculty room was opened for students who needed to talk to counselors. About 15 to 20 kids were down in the room, while others stayed in the classrooms, Polychronis said.

“Some wanted to talk, some just wanted to walk around; we all grieve in different ways,” he said.

A string of youth began visiting Porter Street about noon, according to Paul White, who lives nearby on Olcott Street. He estimated about 60 children came before 4 p.m. and more were coming, some on bikes, some with backpacks. Visitors to the Lower Town neighborhood heard rumors about what happened 24 hours earlier, but did not know.

“I don’t have a clue,” said cousin James White, 17. “Whoever did it best pay for it.”

“He got hit,” said Kyle Condren of Newfane, who tacked a card on the tree. “It’s not right.”

“It’s a terrible situation where stuff got out of hand with the kids,” Paul White said. “It’s very uncalled for and it’s very uncalled for that the news is saying it’s drug-related. I have never seen Adam use drugs all his life and I’ve known him since he was diapers.”

Adam liked to skateboard, fish and hunt. He worked at the Town and Country Club.

Daniel White, who referred to himself as Adam’s guardian and stepfather, was upset by reports on television and radio that Adam was involved in a drug deal.

“He was a great kid, great student, grades in the top 80s,” Daniel White said. “He loved auto mechanics. He hunted with me all the time. We did everything together — (he) was a good kid.”

He said some information in the media is wrong. “They’re believing these guys that hurt him. They’re getting their story, and they’re getting no story from who he is. All they are doing is just slandering him all over the place,” he said. “I know him. I’ve lived with him for 4 1/2 years. I know the kid. He was like a best friend to me. It’s not him.”

The family moved to Porter Street last fall.

“He was an awesome athlete,” Daniel White added. “He wanted to be auto mechanic, going to BOCES. He was on his way to having a good life.”

Jason Swanson, who lives across the street from the spot where Adam was run over, helped organize the candlelight vigil.

“I was very appalled when the Lockport Police had the nerve to say it was a drug deal gone bad,” Swanson said. “The family doesn’t need to have that lingering over their head. It’s about a young child getting killed in front of his home. They need to focus on that. The family is grieving.”

Swanson said, “The kid never touched anything, and I dealt with this kid since I’ve been here. I’ve known this kid in and out. I spent days talking to him. He helped me with my kids. He helped with my lawn. He’s a very good kid.”