Mementos to be used to build permanent memorial

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) -- All of the countless mementos that are arriving in Newtown, Conn., paying tribute to the 20 children and six adults killed at an elementary school, will be used to make a permanent memorial.

According to the News Times in Danbury, officials plan to turn the flowers, letters, signs, candles, teddy bears and other items into soil and blocks to be used in the memorial.

For now, the mementos will stay up until after the New Year, as residents and visitors pay their respects.

Residents yesterday took turns watching over candles that had been lit at midnight on Christmas Eve -- one candle for each of the school shooting victims.

One woman who drove from Arizona to help out spent her Christmas morning at the memorial in Newtown, giving out Christmas cookies, children's gifts and hugs to anyone who needed them.