REMEMBERING 9/11/01
The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 12, 2002 - 5A
Michiganders
pause, reflect
during state-
wide vigils
The Associated Press
Silence fell across parts of Michigan for an eerie minute
yesterday, a moment of remembrance that observers said was
a ringing display of honor and perseverance.
Tears filled Rita Williams' eyes as 16 doves - represent-
ing those with Michigan ties killed in last year's terrorist
attacks - were released during a memorial service at
Detroit's Hart Plaza.
Williams, who works in Detroit's consumer affairs office,
swayed to the sounds of a high school choir and waved a
small American flag as the doves hovered high overhead for
several minutes before flying off.
"My heart was moved," she said. "They represent peace
and healing to the nation and the world. I hope God brings
comfort to the families."
Healing was a common theme at memorial events across
Michigan as the state and nation marked a year since the
attacks. Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick called yesterday a day of
mixed emotions - a day of sadness yet a time also to be
proud of America's resolve. He urged Detroit and America to
continue to move forward and pray not only for the U.S. but
for the Middle East, Europe and the rest of the world.
"It's a day we stand up together and affirm that we will
never go backward and fall victim to hatred," Kilpatrick said.
"We are rising up and engaging our future."
The 300-plus people at Hart Plaza fell silent at 8:46 a.m.
EDT, the moment when the first hijacked airliner struck the
World Trade Center in New York a year ago. A minute later,
bells tolled at more than 85 Detroit area churches.
Both the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit Windsor Tun-
nel, which connect the U.S. and Canada, were closed for three
minutes at 9 a.m., a remembrance that created small traffic
backups for less than five minutes.
. In downtown Grand Rapids, hundreds of people attend-
ed a ceremony in Ah-Nab-Awen Park on the Grand River.
Among them were dozens of uniformed police officers
and firefighters.
In a recorded message, former President Ford, who was
raised in the city, said the terrorist attacks have made the
United States stronger.
"People are not the same," Ford said. "There is a sense of
unity."
Kelly Van Dyke, 25, of Grand Rapids, was at the ceremony
with her daughter, Alyssa, who was born on the morning of
Sept. 11 as the attacks were taking place. On the back of the
rbaby's jacket was a sign that said, "Today is my 1 st Birthday."
"I think it's important to reflect not only on the lives lost,
but also the new life, and that's why I'm here," Van Dyke
said. "I'm proud to be an American, that's for sure."
Larry and Carole Mueller stood outside Traverse City's
Cherry Knoll Elementary school early yesterday as their two
children huddled near the flag pole with 400 other students.
A year ago, the couple watched with children Nicholas, 9,
and Emilee, 11, as the horror unfolded on their television
screen.
"There weren't a lot of questions. They just couldn't under-
stand why," said Larry Mueller, a Traverse City firefighter.
"We just said, 'This is something bad happening."'
A hush fell over the Cherry Knoll students as Boy Scout
Josh Litwiller, a sixth-grader, raised the American flag, then
lowered it to half-staff. The children recited the Pledge of
Allegiance and sang "America the Beautiful" and "God Bless
America."
Amanda Hentschel, 11, recalled how she reacted when she
heard the news last year: "Our teacher got a phone call, and I
started crying."
At an interfaith service in East Lansing, former state Rep.
Lynn Jondahl, an ordained United Church of Christ pastor,
said the attacks helped Americans become more conscious
that they're part of a global people.
"Before 9-11, Americans could distance themselves from
the violence and fanaticism of terrorism," said Jondahl, who
now heads the Michigan Prospect for Renewed Citizenship.
"We mourn this loss of life and despair that violence begets
violence."
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7 memon s te
By Shannon Pettypiece
Daily News Editor
NEW YORK - It was a solemn
day in New York City as New Yorkers
and hundreds of thousands of people
from around the world gathered at
Ground Zero to show their solidarity
and remember the day many say
changed the world forever.
Thousands of people lined the
streets surrounding Ground Zero,
some getting there as early as 4 a.m.
The crowd stood silent, gazing at the
vacant space in the New York City
skyline where the towers stood exact-
ly one year ago yesterday.
Inside Ground Zero the friends and
family of the victims gathered in a
circle lined with flowers, photos and
mementos for the loved ones they
lost. Later in the evening President
Bush joined them around the circle
giving out autographs, handshakes
and words of condolence.
The ceremonies began early yester-
day morning at 1 a.m. with a bagpipe
procession starting in every borough
of the city and convening at Ground
Zero, and ended at sunset with the
lighting of an eternal flame in Battery
Park near the World Trade Center site.
The sound of Taps echoed through
Lower Manhattan off the walls of the
charred and battered buildings that
surround the site to mark the moment
when the first tower fell as wind blew
dust from the floor of Ground Zero
up into the air where the buildings
once stood.
At the exact time when the first
plane struck the Word Trade Center,
8:46 a.m., there was a city-wide
moment of silence followed by Gov.
George Pataki reading the Gettysburg
Address and former Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani, along with other political
and public figures, reading the names
of the Word Trade Center victims.
While many offices were still ask-
ing employees to come into work,
many of those affected by the attacks
last year made a point to be part of
the ceremony at Ground Zero.
. For Matthew Cohen, who lost I1
friends on Sept. 11, today's ceremony
was a way to get closure and remem-
ber them, one of whom was a very
close friend from high school whom he
was supposed to have been meeting
with at the time the towers were struck.
"I'm just going to stay here as long
as I can," said Cohen as he held a
small American flag in his slightly
trembling hand. "Then just go home
and be among friends."
Marc Lingat was working in a
building across the street from the
World Trade Center last year and left
work for a short time yesterday to
attend the ceremony.
"Even if I wasn't working I still
think I would have come in," Lingat
said. "I try not to let it get to me by
keeping busy."
Lingat, like others, said he felt a
need to be with those who were shar-
ing their grief and felt the desire to
call all his old co-workers that were
with him on the morning of the
attacks.
There was a very strong presence of
firefighters from New York and around
the country either working security at
the event, participating in the com-
memoration or in the audience.
"It is a very emotional day, it could-
n't not be," said Pat Martin, from
Engine 229 in Brooklyn. "I hope and I
believe it will always be remembered."
AP PHOTO
With 90 foreign officials looking on, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, front center, shakes hands
with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the lighting of an eternal flame in New York's Battery Park.
Firefighters re memb er fallen comrades
on anniversary of Trade Center attacks
By Shannon Pettypiece
and Elizabeth Kassab
Daly News Edfifos '
#. A
NEW YORK - For New York City firefighters, yester-
day's anniversary of the attacks was a time to remember the
co-workers and friends they lost over the past year and
reflect on how their role in the city has changed from some-
one who provides a basic service to neighborhood heroes
and idols, firefighters say.
At one firehouse in Harlem the firefighters said they have
felt a closer connection to the copmunity, which they feel
has shown them more respect sinc6 the attacks.
"Even guys who are criminals, guys who would rip our
cars off are stopping by the firehouse to say thanks after the
attacks," Truck 40 Capt. Ronnie Gilyard said.
Before the attacks very few people would stop by the fire-
house or say hello to the firemen when they were out on the
street, but now it is a common occurrence, Gilyard said. He
added that pre-Sept. 11 people would not even pull to the
side of the road when the fire truck came roaring behind
them, but now people make every effort to get out of the
trucks way, even when it is not necessary.
"When peoyle see us now they wave," he said. "I really
think the love of God through the people really helps us day-
by-day." Gilyard's company, along with Engine 23, held a
memorial yesterday morning in honor of all the firefighters
who were lost on Sept. 11 including three from Gilyard's
company and many he had worked with throughout his
career as a New York City firefighter.
"It's never going to be the same as it was before 9-11," he
said. "It is like you had a loss in the family."
Many firehouses throughout the city either hosted
their own tribute to those who were lost a year ago or
went as a company to another firehouse that was putting
on a tribute. Others traveled to yesterday's events at
Ground Zero to help with crowd control or participated
in the ceremonies.
Pat Martin of Engine 229 in Brooklyn, who was working
security at Ground Zero yesterday, said the one-year anniver-
sary was a very emotional time for himself and his fellow
firefighters.
"Things are kind of back to normal again, but everybody
is a little quiet, a little melancholy, a little reserved today,"
Martin said. Martin said he and his company were planning
on attending a memorial yesterday afternoon at a local fire-
house that lost people as a result of the attacks at the World
Trade Center.
In Midtown, flowers, candles and messages lined the
outside of Engine 21 on East 40th Street yesterday. Inside,
firefighters and their relatives came together to mark the
one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks that killed
their captain, William Burke. Neighbors and friends who
knew Burke brought food and flowers to the firehouse,
and Burke's family came to spend time with the firefight-
ers they have come to know very well in the past year. "It's
not too sad. It's kind of a celebration," firefighter Michael
Byrne said as Burke's nieces and nephews raced around
the sidewalk.
The kindness of others has been great, Byrne said. He
watched a couple laying a bouquet of flowers in front of the
firehouse. "These people, they're from out of town, and they
just want to put flowers down."
A light of hope
Religious leaders console, ask for
protection of profiled Americans
The Associated Press =_=. a
With pageantry and prayers, religious
leaders around the country marked the
Sept. 11 anniversary yesterday with words
of consolation and calls for harmony dur-
ing special services.
In St. Louis, Muslim Imam Waheed
Rana thanked Americans for their toler-
ance following the terrorist attacks. "Our
community is like a body. When one part
of the body is injured, the whole body
feels the pain," he said.
"We can embrace each other," Reform
Rabbi Susan Talve said at the outdoor cer-
emony. Added Roman Catholic Archbish-
op Justin Rigali: "We reject every call of
bigotry."
Many sermons urged fair treatment for
American Muslims, who have protested
clampdowns on their charities and
mosques and the indefinite detention of
immigrants.
"We praysfor safety, but we also pray for
those profiled and deported since Sept.
11 ," the Rev. John Marsh, a Unitarian Uni-
versalist, told an interfaith ceremony at
San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.
Hundreds of religious services were
held nationwide to remember the victims
of the suicide hijackings that struck New
York. Pennsylvania and the Washington
AP PHOTO
Family members of those killed in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center last year place
flowers on a growing pile at Ground Zero yesterday.
violations of Muslim teachings.
Haider Bhuiyan, principal of the Islamic
Academy of Alabama, told.students that
terrorists "are committing sin and on the
day of judgment they will have to pay for
this." Attending a prayer service in the
Islamic Center of Southern California,
Hoda Eltantawi said, "What hurt the coun-
potential to make a difference in the
world, faces the daunting challenge of
wielding power and influence with others
in ways that do justice," Carey said.
Speaking at New York's Jewish Theolog-
ical Seminary, Chancellor Ismar Schorsch
said "religious fanaticism, with its con-
tempt for human life and intolerance of
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