ROSEBURG - Families of two teenagers who died in a crash on Old Melrose Road in March, want to honor the two and remind others not to drink and drive.

Tony Nickels and Rachel Merrell died in March when a 15-year old friend, Jacob Gonzalez crashed a car while allegedly under the influence of alcohol.

A rumor circulated around friends and family that a letter was written from the city, saying the victim's families would be fined if they didn't take down the memorial on Old Melrose Road.

Students, friends and family gathered at the fatal crash site last week with signs, hoping to keep the memorial there.

"Someone of some sort of authority called the Merrell family and for me, I'm not really sure but they said they wanted the crosses removed that were up here because it was too much of a distraction. So if they're up, they going to get fined," said Skyla Soloman, a friend.

The Merrell family received a call about the incident and possible fine.

"One of Rachel's friends was out here at the crash site, visiting the crash site and some other memorials and and he was approached by a Douglas County Sheriff's officer and they were told that they had until 12:00 at night to get rid of the memorials that we have at the crash site," said Mark Merrell, the brother of Rachel Merrell.

Mark said he hasn't gotten a letter, but he and his father went to the crash site, removed items on the side of the road and called the other victim's family to tell them about what they say happened. A student and friend of Rachel and Tony said a property owner approached them.

"We just had left when the cops showed up that we had thirty days to have the crosses taken back down and because one person that owned the property didn't want them up," said Michael Adams, of the teens.

City Public Works Director Nikki Messenger said the sign appears to be in the city's right-of-way, adjacent to a utility pole. Messenger said in general, the city doesn't allow permanent memorials within the right of way of any major size. She said the city doesn't normally go out and remove those types of things, but if memorials get to be too much of a distraction, they could be dangerous for passing drivers.

"We have not sent any letters to anybody we haven't made any contact with any folks asking to remove it so we're not sure how that came about but I've also talked to Robb Paul, he says they were not involved so we really haven't been able to track any contact made by the city or county with any of the folks out there," said Messenger

Meanwhile the families still want the memorial to stay there, to keep the memory of Rachel and Tony alive, in hopes that it will remind others of their driving responsibilities.

City and county officials both say they have not gotten involved in the incident and that there's no reason why the county would get involved with a city matter.