The 26 pairs of shoes encircling the fountain at Diamond Park represents the number of suicides committed in Butler County in 2019. The Butler County Suicide Coalition hosted the event for National Suicide Prevention Week and Suicide Awareness Month.

Twenty-six pairs of shoes were placed around the fountain at Diamond Park in Butler Wednesday to remember the 26 county residents who took their own lives last year.

The shoes were at the center of the Butler County Suicide Coalition's annual suicide remembrance rally, which was held during National Suicide Prevention Week and Suicide Awareness Month.

Jim Smith, program director for the Center for Community Resources, told those in attendance that the shoes belonged to 21 men and five women between the ages of 17 to 75.

This is an excerpt from a story that appeared in Thursday's Butler Eagle.