Dedication for Long Island Spot Where Message in a Bottle Found

A Long Island town is honoring the spot where a bottle was found after Sandy containing a message from a girl who died years ago.

A plaque was placed Saturday on a rock near the bridge at Patchogue Long Island Beach Club, where the bottle was discovered in December. It reads: "Be excellent to yourself dude," the same message inside the bottle.
 
The line is a quote from "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure." The note was written a dozen years ago by 10-year-old Sidonie Fery and tossed into the ocean. She died in an accident in 2010 when she was 18.

Friends and family gathered to remember her at the dedication.

Georgia Read was there the afternoon Sidonie penned the message, put it in a glass ginger ale bottle and tossed it into the South Bay.

"I'm glad we threw those messages out," Read said. "This brings her alive again."

Dozens of carnations were thrown into the water during the dedication of the plaque, which has a photo of Sidonie. 

"I just really feel in my heart she was looking down at us from heaven," said Brian Waldron. "She wanted us to find the bottle."
 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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