September 11 - ten years after

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Gazette staffers remember Sept. 11, 2001 2 – McCook Daily Gazette

McCOOK, Nebraska – On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, 19 hijackers – following a coordinated plan of attack – commandeered four passenger jets, two from American Airlines (Flights 11 and 77), the others from United Airlines (Flights 93 and 175).

American 11 and United 175 were flown into buildings at the World Trade Center in New York City, American 77 was rammed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., while the last one – Flight 93 – crashed in a field outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

All of these events took place within a two-hour timespan that morning, but the shockwaves of the devastating incidents continued to be felt throughout that day – and for days, weeks and months to come.

9/11: TEN YEARS AFTER

The following is an assembly of Sept. 11 recollections from a number of current Gazette editorial staff members.

Some were working in the McCook newsroom that fateful day, others were employed or otherwise engaged elsewhere – but all of them are sharing their Sept. 11 experience in their own words.

Bruce Crosby, Editor When we first heard about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, I was in the same place I was when the Challenger exploded — at work at the Gazette.

I was busy making prints in the pre-digital, 1986, darkroom when I heard on the radio that the Challenger had launched. By the time I reached my desk in the newsroom, my editors were trying to wrap their heads around the idea of an exploding space

ship — one of them had even borrowed a page from my Journalist in Space application to complete his own.

That naive program went away when the reality of a lost Teacher in Space set in.

I was editor by 2001, and it was a typical early-fall Tuesday when my associate editor, Dawn Cribbs, got a call from her husband, who said he had just seen a plane fly into one of the Twin Towers.

When the news came that it was an airliner, not just a small private plane, then the cameras caught the second plane hitting the second tower, we knew it was deliberate.

We had only limited, expensive access to photographs from the scene, but we managed to get a local photograph, anyway. A Valmont business jet found itself grounded at MCK when all

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011

The top of the Gazetteʼs front page on Sept. 11, 2001. You can find a full reproduction of that dayʼs page in the center of this special edition. airplanes in the nation ordered to land at the nearest airport; later that day, after deadline, the Associated Press gave us permission to use their photos, gratis.

Publisher Gene Morris

and I wrangled with the proper headline and sizing, trying to keep an unprecedented event in perspective without knowing just what that perspective might be.

See STAFFERS Page 15

Sheriff, police and fire chiefs share their Sept. 11 experience McCook Daily Gazette

BRUCE BAKER MCCOOK DAILY GAZETTE

McCOOK, Nebraska — Fire Chief Marc Harpham remembers the day like it was yesterday. "It was before I was chief and I was working part time for the electric company also. I was at the fire department and was just getting off a 24 hour shift. I saw the news report and remember watching the second plane hit. That was when it was obvious that it was something intentional," said Harpham, reflecting on his experience on Sept. 11, 2001.

"It bothered you the whole

9/11: TEN YEARS AFTER

day. One thing that struck me as different, you usually see planes or jet trails in the sky, but that day, nothing. All traffic was grounded," said Harpham as he remembered how bizarre it was at the time.

The mass casualties to emergency responders hit close to home for Harpham.

"That night, when everything came out, you knew some had perished but I didn't know it would be to the extent that it was."

Although Harpham is quick to acknowledge a big difference between the New York

and McCook fire departments, the feeling of loss that stemmed from that day wasn't just because of the tragedy impacting his colleagues. Prior to 9/11, Harpham and several other McCook fire fighters had met a member of the NYFD. "He developed a recovery drink that we used a lot, similar to Gatorade but more designed for firefighters. I had never met him, but we had talked over the phone several times," Harpham said. The man was among those that perished that day.

"It struck a lot of us pretty hard," Harpham said.

Red Willow County Sheriff Gene Mahon recalls the events of that day with ease as well. "I remember we had a guy traveling cross country on his bicycle and he was struck by a truck just east of town," said Mahon who said that the call came in about 9/11 as sheriff's deputies were responding to the accident. Injuries to the cyclist were minor, but with the airport being shutdown after the attacks he had an abnormally difficult time trying to leave McCook, according to Mahon.

Chief of Police Isaac Brown recalls seeing the first

Where were you on September 11, 2001?

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011 – 3

information about the attacks from his home on the early morning news shows. "Shortly afterwards I was following the activity at work. A call made during the first few days revealed that the military did not accept old guys, even if they could pass the physical. I told them they should recruit old guys because they can only run in one direction, forward that is," said Brown.

His light-hearted comments were masked with a chuckle, but his desire for action was shared by many in our nation following the attacks on the World Trade Center.

“We were at Disney World with the kids. Watching Good Morning America while waiting to board our plane. We saw the second plane hit live on TV.” – Jami Korf-Stevens

“I just had a baby and was waiting for the doctor to come in and check on us!” – Melissa Lynn Miller

Red Willow Western Rural Fire Department & Haz-mat Team

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Finally, World Trade Center rising again 4 – McCook Daily Gazette

KAREN MATTHEWS ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK (AP) — Ten years after the 9/11 attacks destroyed the World Trade Center, an 80-story glass and steel tower is rising like a phoenix from the ashes of ground zero.

The site called a "hole in the ground" for years has cranes in the air, trains running underground and hundreds of trees planted around giant, man-made waterfalls to remember the dead of Sept. 11.

And the surrounding neighborhood – no longer just a financial district – is bursting with young families, new schools, a Whole Foods and a Barnes & Noble.

Tourists squint and point their cellphones at 1 World Trade Center, once known as the Freedom Tower.

"I'm kind of proud because I was here two weeks after 9/11 and this was a dust pit," said Larry Brancato, 59, of Wallingford, Conn, walking by ground zero. "It just shows that Americans have always had a can-do attitude."

After years of inertia, and prolonged disputes between government agencies, insurer and a developer who had just taken out a 99-year lease on the towers when they were toppled, the development of the trade center is substantial, and the tallest

9/11: TEN YEARS AFTER

tower can now be seen for miles.

"People can begin to see that this is no longer a hole in the middle of New York, but a real place is emerging," said architect Daniel Libeskind, whose master plan serves as a blueprint for the site.

A memorial featuring waterfalls cascading into the footprints of the twin towers will open to the public on Sept. 12, a day after families see their loved ones' names around the pools for the first time. The skyscraper formerly known as the Freedom Tower is growing by a story a week and now stands 1,000 feet above the skyline as the tallest building in lower Manhattan. A transit station and a second office tower also are taking shape.

As the trade center lay in smoking ruins in 2001, New Yorkers debated the future of the 16-acre superblock that the twin towers had dominated.

Some wanted to rebuild the two 110story skyscrapers exactly as they had been. Others said that out of respect for the nearly 3,000 dead, the entire tract should be a memorial or a park.

Larry Silverstein, the developer who signed a lease on the twin towers on July 24, 2001, pushed to rebuild the 10 million square feet of office space he had lost. Civic groups pushed for a more neighborhoodfriendly design than two monoliths on a concrete plaza.

See NEW WTC Page 15

CTW Features

Located at the site of the site of the former World Trade Center complex in lower Manhattan, the 9/11 Memorial occupies approximately half of the 16-acre site and features two enormous waterfalls and reflecting pools, each about an acre in size, set within the footprints of the twin towers.

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011

Emergency response system vastly improved since 9/11 9/11: TEN YEARS AFTER

McCook Daily Gazette

BRUCE BAKER CITY EDITOR

McCOOK, Nebraska — The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center brought immediate devastation to our nation in many ways. Ten years later increased efficiencies in communication between varying emergency responder entities, as well as overall improvements to their cooperation, may be among the many lessons learned by the tragedy.

Radio communications have been updated since the 9-11 attacks, with Red Willow County Sheriff Gene Mahon saying their communication is a lot better with all agencies as a result and it is still being improved. "The new statewide radio system is still in the process of being updated," said Mahon.

"Before 9/11 emergency

management was pretty much watching storms. It took a complete U-turn after 9/11 in what it was all about."

It not only effected how stops were made by deputies, which became more intense according to Mahon, but more time and energy was spent on patrolling rural airports that just had private airplanes and ensuring the water system was secure.

"A lot of changes after 9/11 to emergency management.

You had to start watching things more intensely," said Mahon, "you have to be more alert to what is going on around you. In general the little things you took for granted prior to 9-11 you couldn't take for granted anymore."

McCook Fire Chief Marc Harpham echoed Mahon's comments. According to Harpham security measures within the fire department were changed as well. "Even

though we are a small town, we have to be aware of the potential out there for someone wanting to do harm," said Harpham.

The events of 9/11 not only raised awareness of the seriousness of the duties performed by law enforcement agencies and emergency responders, but it also resulted in improvements to various agencies ability to work together. "We already had mutual aid agreements, but 9-11 really brought all areas and departments together.

Coordinated training since then has brought us a lot closer and we work together a lot better now," said Harpham.

Harpham explained that EMS curriculum has been added that includes mass casualty incidents and preparing for terrorist attacks and said it has resulted in a lot more preparation. "The nice

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011 – 5

thing is, if you prepare for the absolute worst case scenario, anything less than that you are ready for. He cited the recent Amtrak train derailment as an example. "Even though that could have been a lot worse, the response was fantastic by all," said Harpham.

Grant funding was changed dramatically as a result of the attacks as well.

Harpham estimated a million dollars in grant money was utilized locally over the past 10 years. "9/11 increased awareness of terrorism. There was terrorism before 9/11, I remember a bombing at an abortion clinic where the bomber wired secondary devices targeted at EMS responders, for example. But 9/11 brought it to the forefront and made us more aware."

Increased awareness of terrorism wasn't isolated to emergency responders. In 2002 President George W. Bush

signed into law the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act which required insurance carriers include terrorism coverage on their commercial policies. It has since been extended several times and will be up for renewal again in 2015.

Larry Eisenmenger of MNB Insurance in McCook said that terrorism coverage has become a hot item as a result of the attacks.

"Many insureds delete this coverage, but municipalities normally keep it. Big city businesses are certainly more inclined to carry terrorism coverage," said Eisenmenger, who added that prior to 9/11, "terrorism coverage was excluded from insurance policies. Sept 11, 2001, has definitely cost insurance companies and insured's added expense, regardless of whether or not we notice it much in McCook."

See RESPONSE Page 17

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6 – McCook Daily Gazette

9/11: TEN YEARS AFTER

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011

Majority of states have yet to write 9/11 into social studies standards ERIK W. ROBELEN EDUCATION WEEK

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ten years after terrorists crashed planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the profound impact on the United States is not hard to see, from heightened domestic-security measures to the U.S. role in conflicts deemed part of a war on terror. What’s less obvious is how the attacks have filtered into American classrooms.

Some observers and educators suggest the effects on instruction are generally at the margins, that the events of Sept. 11, 2001, in New York City, suburban Washington, and southwest Pennsylvania appear to get little or no attention in most social studies classes.

In fact, fewer than half the states explicitly identify the 9/11 attacks in their high school standards for social studies, according to a forthcoming study.

Some teachers, however, have worked hard to better educate both themselves and their students about issues related to 9/11 and its aftermath. Beyond the events of the day, they’ve sought to promote a deeper understanding of the Middle East, U.S. foreign policy in that region, or – amid stereotypes some students bring to school equating Muslims with terrorists – the diversity of the Islamic faith and cultures around the globe.

“It is, for better or worse, one of the defining moments of contemporary history,” said Clifford Chanin, the acting education director for the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, in New York City, which has developed many resources for schools. “I think it is essential that the event be studied and understood. ... It’s now a factor in what the world has become and what it will become. You’ve got to prepare students for some relationship with 9/11 and its consequences.”

‘What Happened?’

With the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks coming in less than two weeks, schools around the country are expected to take the opportunity to memorialize the event, and in some cases, use it as a topic of classroom discussion. Many students today may have only vague notions of 9/11, since they were young or not even born when the attacks occurred.

Beyond memorial activities, the question is the extent to which schools embed 9/11 and its impact into curricula in meaningful ways to help students make sense of the changes and challenges the

attacks sparked, in America and globally.

Experts say delving into 9/11 is not easy for teachers, and takes considerable preparation and support.

Mr. Chanin said he gets a lot of questions from educators, including: How do we explain what happened? How do we explain the world since it happened?

“Those are extremely complicated questions,” he said. “The field of Middle Eastern studies, Islamic studies, security studies – these are complicated subjects.

Not all the experts agree. It’s a challenge” for teachers.

Fear of Controversy For schools that do want to take up 9/11 issues in greater detail, there’s no shortage of resources.

A variety of curricular materials have long been available, and a new wave has been timed for the 10th anniversary. In July, for instance, New Jersey officials unveiled a voluntary 9/11 curriculum that covers such topics as the historical context of terrorism, the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan, and U.S. debates over security vs. civil liberties. And Mr. Chanin’s organization has been working with several school districts, including the 1.1-millionstudent New York City system, on classroom materials.

Diana E. Hess, a professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said it’s her sense that most social studies teachers spend little, if any, classroom time covering 9/11.

“I think if we did a really good, largescale study, ... we would find that 9/11 is not in most social studies classes,” said Ms. Hess, who speaks to many social studies teachers in Wisconsin and elsewhere. “That doesn’t mean it’s not in some, or that it doesn’t get an occasional mention.”

Robert A. Watterson, an assistant professor of social studies at West Virginia University, in Morgantown, echoes that assessment and points to three leading factors: inadequate time in an alreadycrowded curriculum, teachers’ feelings of being ill-prepared to probe the complex issues, and fear among some teachers and administrators of taking on matters with the potential to generate classroom conflict and upset parents.

“Some teachers really back away from interacting with their students in a meaningful conversation on something that could be controversial,” said Mr. Watterson, who directs his university’s Center for Democracy and Citizenship Education. “You get into values issues and analy-

sis” on subjects that can be “politically charged,” he said, whether foreign policy, the balance between civil liberties and homeland security, or issues about Islam in a classroom that may, for instance, have Muslim students.

Kurt Waters, a high school social studies specialist in the Fairfax County, Va., school system, said that in keeping with state academic standards, teachers in his district address terrorism in social studies at the 7th, 10th, and 11th grades.

“I would think that in order to teach terrorism, all teachers would use the example of 9/11,” he said. The attacks typically account for a portion of one 90minute lesson, he said, with students examining what happened that day, as well as the causes and consequences. “With the curriculum so filled, it’s hard to go into any great depth on any one particular topic.”

UW-Madison’s Ms. Hess and Jeremy D. Stoddard, an associate professor of education at the College of William and Mary, in Williamsburg, Va., have examined the treatment of 9/11 in history and government textbooks and found many of the materials wanting.

They did have coverage of 9/11, but a lot of it was really cursory and lacked the specific detail you would see in the rest of the text on other things, and we saw that as bizarre,” Ms. Hess said. “For the most part, they didn’t want to engage kids in any kind of controversy about 9/11.”

Topics Vary The two scholars also are examining how state standards treat 9/11, and shared with Education Week some preliminary findings.

Based on a review of the 48 states and the District of Columbia that have revised all or a portion of their standards documents for high school social studies since 2001, 20 specifically mention 9/11, as a content standard, a substandard, or an example. Another 15, while not identifying the 9/11 attacks, mention terrorism or an aspect of the U.S. war on terror. Finally, 14 states fail to include any specific mention of 9/11 or terrorism, though in many cases, these standards are broadly thematic. (California and Montana have not updated their standards since the attacks.)

See STANDARDS Page 19

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Young New Yorkers reflect on a September day 9/11: TEN YEARS AFTER

McCook Daily Gazette

MICHAEL FALCO CTW FEATURES

IVAN RUBENSTEIN-GILLIS, 39 Midwood, Brooklyn Musician What are your memories of Sept. 11?

I drove upstate early on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, to do some recording in the country. I remember that it was one of the most beautiful days I have ever seen - a crisp clarity of light you could see for miles.

When I arrived in Ulster County, I received a call to turn on the news. Two hours away from my apartment on 14th Street and 7th Avenue, my friend and I stared at the televised horror, transfixed.

How have things changed since then?

Well, in some ways, everything's changed, I think, about American culture, generally, more than just NYC. But New Yorkers are, true to their reputation, pretty gritty and resilient. I don't think things are very different.

ISAAC MADDOW-ZIMET, 23 Williamsburg, Brooklyn Research Scientist What memories do you have of Sept. 11?

I was a freshman at Stuyvesant High School, downtown, so I was about a week or two into school

on Sept. 11. We were sitting in Spanish class when the planes hit, and [we] saw the second one collide into the tower, just a few blocks away, out of our classroom window. Our school was turned into a triage center [and] we were evacuated by Secret Service agents about an hour or two after the first plane hit. I remember turning back as I left the school and seeing this huge plume of smoke suddenly come up. It wasn't until I got home that I realized it was the north tower collapsing.

How has the city changed since that day?

I'm not sure it has, quite honestly. If anything, maybe I think that there's a sense, among New Yorkers, that only another New Yorker can relate to what that day was like - that it was a certain kind of communal experience, that changed us, and changed the city but not necessarily in a clear-cut way.

I think it's subtle though, and it's rare that I notice it day to day. It's more in the kind of glance that you'll give to any other New Yorkers in the room when the subject comes up, that you, and they, know what it was like.

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011 – 7

was an ever-present reminder. Life seemed paused. Schools were closed.

Businesses were closed. All you could do was visit the makeshift memorials.

How has the city changed since Sept. 11?

Everything that seemed so different and permanent in the aftermath of the attacks has become routine and has reverted to the way it was before. I think it's kind of the same for the fire and police departments, even. It seemed like we would become a friendlier, more helpful, cohesive city after the attacks, but that didn't take long to revert, either.

The city has definitely changed, but I don't know how much has to do with 9/11.

BEN BEARMAN, 28 Sugar Hill, Manhattan Information Technology What do you remember from Sept. 11?

I woke up late that morning - around 10:30. I remember panicking because my mother worked in Tower 7. I was very

upset until we heard from her around 2.

She had been late to work that day and her train stopped in the tunnel after the first attack.

Once my family was accounted for, I tried to go help at ground zero, but they were turning away volunteers by then.

[Ed: The original 7 World Trade Center building was located across from the twin towers and destroyed in terrorists attacks; the current 7 World Trade Center opened in 2006.]

How has the city changed since 9/11?

It's hard to remember what NYC was like before 9/11. It seems normal now to have cops with assault rifles on guard duty, K-9 teams in Time Square, and "If You See Something, Say Something" signs in the subway. I think we all take the threat that we live under more seriously.

FLETCHER HAULLEY, 30 Morningside Heights, Manhattan Researcher What are your memories of that day?

It was simply incomprehensible. The smell of the burning, collapsed buildings just lingered on ... There was literally no way not to think about the attacks, at all times, for weeks afterward, as the smell

9-11-11

Where were you on September 11, 2001?

“I was on my way to my Pre-Calc class, my senior year in high school. My class was second period and I remember walking by a first period class, as the room was surrounded by people watching.

They turned the television on in most of my classes for us to watch.” – Josefina Martinez Hall

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The events of that infamous day: the 9/11 timeline 8 – McCook Daily Gazette

9/11: TEN YEARS AFTER

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011

NEWSPAPERS IN EDUCATION INSTITUTE

5:45 a.m.

Hijackers pass security screening Hijackers Mohammed Atta and Abdulaziz al Omari pass through security at Portland International Jetport in Maine.

They board a shuttle flight to Boston’s Logan International Airport, where they connect to Los Angelesbound American Airlines Flight 11.

Atta will pilot Flight 11 on its lethal course into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Four hijackers physically subdue passengers and crew so that Atta can breach the cockpit and kill or disable the two American Airlines pilots.

Over the next hour and a half, seventeen other hijackers clear security checks at Logan Airport, Newark International Airport, and Washington Dulles Airport.

All presumably carry knives, box cutters or other concealed weapons on their person or in carry-on luggage.

Although eight are tagged for additional screening and a gate agent flags two as suspicious, none are prevented from boarding their intended flights.

An image of the New York City skyline with the Twin Towers rising above it, taken before the Sept. 11 attacks.

7:59 a.m.

American Airlines Flight 11 takes off from Logan Airport in Boston, 14 minutes behind its scheduled departure Seventy-six passengers, 11 crewmembers and five hijackers board Flight 11. In industry terms, the Los Angeles-bound flight is “riding heavy,” stocked with up to 68,400 pounds of fuel for its transcontinental run.

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A screengrab from security camera footage from Portland, Maine, International Jetport showing hijacker Mohammed Atta passing through screening the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

Al Qaeda terrorists hijack the plane at approximately 8:14 am and reroute it towards Manhattan, using the Hudson River as a navigational guide.

8:14 a.m.

United Airlines Flight 175 takes off from Logan Airport in Boston, also 14 minutes behind its scheduled departure Fifty-one passengers, nine crewmembers, and five hijackers board Los Angeles-bound Flight 175.

Al Qaeda terrorists hijack the plane at approximately 8:45 am and reroute it towards Manhattan.

8:19 a.m.

American Flight 11 crew contact airline Veteran flight attendants Betty Ann Ong and Madeline “Amy” Sweeney, with a combined 26 years of experience, alert ground personnel to the hijacking of Flight 11.

They stay on the line for almost the entire duration of the flight after its seizure by the terrorists, relaying key details about the attack such as the hijackers’ seat numbers and report that the crew is unable to contact the cockpit.

Acting on Ong and Sweeney’s information, American Airlines alerts the FBI, jumpstarting the investigation that will become the largest in the agency’s history.

According to Sweeney, the crew attends to the safety of the passengers,

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providing medical care to those injured in the hijacking.

8:20 a.m.

Flight 77 takes off American Airlines Flight 77, en route to Los Angeles, departs Washington Dulles International Airport ten minutes delayed.

8:24 a.m.

Hijacker Mohammed Atta on Flight 11 mistakenly contacts air traffic control “We have some planes. Just stay quiet and you will be O.K.” — Hijacker Mohamed Atta, mistakenly spoken to traffic control Minutes later, he makes a second unintended transmission.

8:37 a.m.

Air traffic control contacts the military After hearing Atta’s transmission, air traffic controllers contact Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS), a division of the military that defends North American airspace, to report the hijacking.

8:42 a.m.

Flight 93 takes off United Airlines Flight 93 departs Newark International Airport after a lengthy air traffic delay on the tarmac.

Flight 93 was scheduled to leave Newark at 8:00 am, within minutes of the other hijacked flights.

See 9/11 TIMELINE Page 7

9/11 timeline McCook Daily Gazette

8:46 a.m.

Crash of Flight 11 Flying the plane at about 470 miles per hour, hijackers crash Flight 11 into floors 93-99, instantly killing the 87 passengers and crew on board and unknown hundreds within the tower.

The crash starts fires throughout the North Tower and funnels jet fuel down elevator shafts, igniting fireballs at the lobby and below-grade levels and burning anyone coming into contact with this combusting fuel.

The impact severs all three emergency stairwells, trapping hundreds in and above the impact zone.

Investment firm Fred Alger Management and professional services company Marsh & McClennan have offices in the impact zone. Thirty-five Alger employees and 295 Marsh employees perish in the attack. Carr Futures’ 69 employees, at work on the 92nd floor directly below the impact zone, also perish. Trapped by debris, they are unable to evacuate.

Bond trading firm Cantor Fitzgerald, floors 101-105, suffers the single largest loss of life, 658 employees.

8:46 a.m.

Emergency Services mobilized The Fire Department of New York (FDNY) and New York Police Department (NYPD) dispatch units to the

9/11: TEN YEARS AFTER

World Trade Center within seconds of Flight 11’s crash.

On site, Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) officers begin evacuating the North Tower. PAPD headquarters in Jersey City, New Jersey dispatches additional officers from other command posts to the World Trade Center.

In July 2001, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, long-time managers of the World Trade Center, agreed to lease the buildings to real estate developer Larry Silverstein.

On September 11, 2001, both Port Authority and Silverstein Properties staff are in the building working on the transition. Their expert knowledge of the towers helps Port Authority fire safety, building and security staff coordinate the evacuation.

8:50 a.m.

President Bush is alerted around this time while visiting an elementary school in Sarasota, Florida 8:55 a.m.

South Tower tenants instructed to remain in the building “Your attention, please, ladies and gentlemen. Building 2 is secure. There is no need to evacuate Building 2. If you are in the midst of evacuation, you may use the re-entry doors and the elevators to return to your office. Repeat, Building 2 is

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Firefighter Gary Box, along with other members of the FDNYʼs elite Squad 1, ran through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to the World Trade Center shortly after the crash of Flight 175. Box would be among the 11 members of Squad 1 lost in the line of duty that day. This photograph, taken by Erik Troelsen, is courtesy of the 9/11 Memorial Museum.

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011 – 9

Continued from Page 8

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The South Tower of the World Trade Center as Flight 175 makes impact. The photo, taken by Roberto Rabanne, is courtesy of the 9/11 Memorial Museum.

secure.” — Announcement made by Port Authority official via Public Address inside the South Tower 8:59 a.m.

On board Flight 175 As hijacked Flight 175 approaches the World Trade Center, crewmembers and passengers manage to contact loved ones and authorities on the ground.

9:02 a.m.

South Tower evacuation ordered “May I have your attention, please.

Repeating this message the situation occurred in Building 1 [North Tower].

If the conditions warrant on your floor, you may wish to start an orderly evacuation.” — Port Authority Statement 9:03 a.m.

Crash of Flight 175 Hijackers, flying the plane at 590 miles per hour, crash Flight 175 into floors 77 to 85 of the World Trade Center’s South Tower, instantly killing the 60 passengers and crew and unknown hundreds within the tower.

The impact severs two of three emergency stairwells and most of the elevator cables, trapping many inside elevator cars, and cutting off escape routes.

Despite being choked with rubble, Stairwell A remains passable. However, only eighteen people at or above the

impact zone are known to have evacuated using this stairway.

9:05 a.m.

President Bush is alerted that a second plane has crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center The President now knows that the country is under attack, but information is scarce.

9:10 a.m.

Increasing emergency response from NYC fire and police The NYPD calls a second Level 4 Mobilization, bringing its total deployment close to 2,000 men and women.

Minutes later, the FDNY issues a second fifth alarm. Other companies and off-duty personnel, not directly called, respond to the attacks.

In total, more than 200 fire units, approximately 2,200 police officers, and numerous others from city and federal agencies responded to the disaster scene at the World Trade Center.

9:32 a.m.

Flight 93 hijackers accidentally transmit a message intended for the passengers “Ladies and Gentlemen: Here the Captain, please sit down, keep remaining sitting. We have a bomb onboard. So, sit.”— One of the hijackers of Flight 93 See 9/11 TIMELINE Page 12

Page one, Sept. 11, 2001, reconstructed

Above is a recreation of the McCook Daily Gazette始s front page from that fateful day in American history ten years ago. This image has been reassembled from the newspaper始s microfilm archives.

9/11 timeline 12 – McCook Daily Gazette

9:36 a.m.

Vice President Cheney evacuated from White House office Secret Service agents evacuate U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and his aides from his office in the White House to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, a Cold War-era bunker beneath the White House.

9:37 a.m.

Crash of Flight 77 Hijackers crash Flight 77 into the Pentagon’s western facade, killing the 59 passengers and crew on board the plane and 125 military and civilian personnel inside the building. A hundred and six are severely injured in the ensuing fire.

Loaded with 36,200 lbs of jet fuel, Flight 77 ignites an inferno inside the Pentagon.

The Pentagon’s on-site firehouse responds immediately to the crash of Flight 77. Firefighters from nearby National Airport (with a foam truck designed to fight jet fuel fires) and Virginia’s Arlington County Fire Department arrive within minutes.

Many civilian employees and military personnel evacuate the building shortly after the impact, while others felt compelled to rush into the burning building to rescue trapped and injured colleagues.

A Pentagon security camera captures

9/11: TEN YEARS AFTER

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011

Continued from Page 9

the crash of Flight 77 into the building’s western facade. At the time of impact, the hijacked plane flew at 530 miles per hour.

9:42 a.m.

National Ground Stop The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) grounds all flights over, or bound for, the continental United States. The U.S. Department of Transportation allowed national airspace to open and flights to resume two days later on September 13, 2001 at 11:00 a.m. EST. 9:45 a.m.

White House and U.S. Capitol evacuated Throughout the morning, officials evacuate high-profile buildings, government offices, landmarks, and public spaces in response to rumors of escalating attacks.

9:57 a.m.

Fight for Flight 93 Flight 93’s passengers are believed to have collectively voted to mount a counterattack against the hijackers.

Twelve of Flight 93’s 40 passengers and crew manage to alert loved ones and authorities to the plane’s hijacking. At least five learn about the attacks on the World Trade Center or the Pentagon.

NIE Institute

A smoke plumes rises into the clear blue sky after Flight 93 falls to earth near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. This photo is courtesy Valencia M. McClatchy.

NIE Institute

The WTC South Tower collapses, raining smoke, steel, debris and dust into the New York streets below. This photo was a gift of John F. OʼSullivan Jr., and appears courtesy of 9/11 Memorial Museum.

9:59 a.m.

South Tower of World Trade Center collapses After burning for 56 minutes, the South Tower collapses in 10 seconds, killing hundreds of workers and first responders in the building and surrounding area.

As the South Tower collapses dust and debris engulfs the streets near the World Trade Center. Many flee, seeking shelter in surrounding buildings.

When the World Trade Center towers collapse, huge pieces of the steel facade fall to the earth, causing enormous damage to nearby buildings and significant loss of life.

10:03 a.m.

Crash of Flight 93 Hijackers roll Flight 93 side-to-side, rapidly diving and climbing, in an attempt to knock passengers and crew off balance as they attempt to storm the cockpit.

Eyewitnesses on the ground report the aircraft’s erratic flight, ending with the sound of a crash.

To prevent passengers from retaking the airplane, hijackers deliberately crash Flight 93 in a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, killing all 40 passengers and crew.

The crash site is approximately 20 minutes flying time from Washington, D.C.

10:15 a.m.

Pentagon E Ring collapses The damaged section of the Pentagon’s outermost offices, known as the E Ring, collapses. No rescue workers are injured.

Several times throughout the morning, speculation and misinformation about additional hijacked planes cause the cessation of rescue operations and evacuation of emergency workers.

While the rescue effort continues, many Department of Defense (DoD) employees return to work in the unaffected half of the Pentagon. The National Military Command Center (NMCC), located on the far side of the Pentagon, coordinates the US military response to the 9/11 attacks. NMCC officers initiate a conference call with federal and military responders that continues throughout the day.

10:28 a.m.

North Tower of World Trade Center collapses The North Tower collapses after burning for 102 minutes, killing hundreds of people in the building and the surrounding area.

Of the 16,000 to 19,000 people in the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center on 9/11, the vast majority are evacuated safely. By the end of the day, all seven buildings at the World Trade Center were destroyed.

See 9/11 TIMELINE Page 13

9/11 timeline McCook Daily Gazette

11:02 a.m.

Evacuation of Lower Manhattan New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani calls for the evacuation of all residents, workers and tourists from lower Manhattan.

All of lower Manhattan south of 14th Street from the Hudson River to the East River is officially closed to all but emergency personnel, creating an area known as the “frozen zone.”

Throngs of people crowd onto streets, highways, and bridges to evacuate lower Manhattan. Many walk north or across bridges to Brooklyn.

Thousands leave the island of Manhattan by boat in one of the largest water evacuations since World War II. 11:45 a.m.

The President arrives at Barksdale Air Force Base President Bush orders Air Force One to land at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, where he makes his first televised remarks about the unfolding events.

“The resolve of our great nation is being tested,” he says. “But make no mistake, we will show the world that we will pass this test. God bless.” Although the President wants to return to Washington, DC, those protecting him deem this unsafe.

Air Force One heads towards Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, home of the U.S. Strategic Command, where Bush uses their underground secure communications network to confer with the White House, the Pentagon, the CIA, and the FBI. Although his staff will prepare for him to address the nation from the bunker, the President ultimately will insist on returning to the nation’s capital.

12:16 p.m.

American airspace cleared The last commercial flight above the continental United States lands.

In total, air traffic controllers guide over 4,000 commercial and private planes to airports throughout the United States and in Canada. Local authorities and residents create ad-hoc plans to provide food and shelter to stranded travelers.

1:00 p.m. and through the day Response at the WTC site Throughout the afternoon, volunteers, first responders, and construction workers arrive at the site to search for survivors.

Firefighters, police officers, paramedics and other emergency service workers stream to the site to join in the firefight

9/11: TEN YEARS AFTER

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011 – 13

Continued from Page 12

and rescue efforts. Operations continue around the clock.

3:00 p.m.

FDNY rescue civilian Pasquale Buzzelli is rescued from rubble of Stairwell B at WTC site Ultimately, only 18 people deeply embedded in the debris pulled themselves out or were rescued, including 14 who were together in the shaft of a North Tower stairwell. The last survivor was found only 26 hours after the towers collapsed.

5:20 p.m.

7 World Trade Center collapses Because lower Manhattan’s waterlines have been compromised, the FDNY cannot get water to fight the flames.

Adjacent to the North Tower, 7 World Trade Center had suffered significant damage in the collapse. Fires caused by the collapse of 1 WTC lead to structural instability, and ultimately, total collapse.

There are no casualties because the 47story tower had been evacuated that morning. However, the fall of the building sends first responders racing away from the collapsing structure to save their own lives.

8:00 p.m.

Rescue workers locate trapped PAPD officers Rescuers locate PAPD Sgt. John McLoughlin and Officer William Jimeno in the debris of the World Trade Center.

They free Officer Jimeno after three hours of dangerous tunneling work. Sgt. McLoughlin’s rescue takes another eight hours.

Rescue operations continue throughout the night. Thousands of construction workers, first responders, and self-dispatched volunteers converge at Ground Zero to search for survivors, improvising bucket brigades to remove debris.

Workers will extricate the eighteenth survivor, Genelle Guzman, from the remains of Stairwell B on the afternoon of September 12. She will be the last person rescued alive.

8:30pm President Bush addresses Back in the White House, President Bush addresses a shocked nation, praising the strength of the nation in the face of the overwhelming events. “Terrorist attacks can … shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve,” he says.

“Today, our nation saw evil – the very

NIE Institute

Thousands upon thousands of people are evacuated from lower Manhattan following the 9/11 attacks, pictured here in a a photograph by Roberto Rabanne from his archive.

worst of human nature – and we responded with the best of America. With the daring of our rescue workers, with the caring for strangers and neighbors who came to give blood and help in any way they could.”

Sept. 14, 2001 President Bush visits and speaks with rescue and recovery personnel at Ground Zero. A National Day of Prayer and Remembrance is observed.

Aftermath of 9/11 The days and weeks — and in New York City, months — after the attacks were spent extinguishing fires, searching for survivors and, ultimately, searching for remains of the victims. Federal, state, and local officials initiated rescue and/or recovery operations at all three attack sites, supported by thousands of first responders, ironworkers, engineers and members of the building trades.

The World Trade Center (WTC) site was devastated, with ruins towering roughly 17 stories and debris spread well beyond the 16-acre site. Even with thousands of volunteers flocking to ground zero to help with the rescue, recovery and clean-up efforts, it took nine months to remove approximately 1.8 million tons of debris from the World Trade Center site. On May 30, 2002, the last piece of WTC steel was ceremonially removed.

The attacks resulted in nearly 3,000 fatalities – the largest loss of life from a hostile attack by a foreign entity on American soil. The Fire Department of New York lost

346 members of its force, the New York Police Department lost 23, and the Port Authority Police Department lost 37, the largest loss of emergency responders in a single event in U.S. history.

Memorials, services and vigils in New York City, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania – and other cities, states and countries all over the world – sprung up immediately after the tragedy and acted as impromptu outlets for grief, support, healing, and remembrance.

A federal fund compensated victims’ families and severely injured survivors.

Families of victims advocated for the formation of the 9/11 Commission, which investigated the attacks and issued a report with analysis and recommendations.

Advanced DNA technology continues to be used to identify the remains of victims. However, human remains have still not been identified for approximately 40% of the WTC victims.

Public and private sectors partnered to support lower Manhattan’s recovery, growth and revitalization, and worked to balance the need to remember and honor the victims with the need for a strong and vibrant community.

Within the first two years following the attacks, plans integrating a museum, memorial, and commercial buildings were proposed and advanced. The first commercial building to re-open, the new 7 WTC, was completed in 2006.

The National September 11 Memorial – located where the Twin Towers once stood – is set to open September 11, 2011, the 10th anniversary of the attacks.

9/11: TEN YEARS AFTER

Emergency responders from across America talk of their WTC efforts 14 – McCook Daily Gazette

JEFF SCHNAUFER CTW FEATURES

It was a beautiful, sunny, 70-degree morning with clear blue skies. Police Capt. Terry Revella (Ret.) of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation was on his way to work at his NYC headquarters when a dispatcher radioed him and said, "Captain, you need to get to the World Trade Center ASAP. A plane just crashed into it."

On the other end of the country on that same September morning 10 years ago, Debra Tosch was attending a canine search specialist class in Washington state when she heard of the attack. In North Carolina, Greensboro Fire Department Assistant Chief Alan "Skip" Nix was serving as the safety/special operations officer. In the hours and days following the most devastating attack on American soil in modern history, Revella, Tosch and Nix would aid their fellow Americans in their own ways. Their stories and how they are working to remember 9/11 today are below.

The Haunting at Ground Zero Revella pulled up next to the north tower of the WTC and could see the gaping hole that plane put into its side.

The exact outline of the wings and fuselage was visible.

"I met up with one of my officers, Jeff Cox, and we had just started to run up to the north tower when Jeff said, 'Captain, what are those black dots around the outside of the tower?'"

Revella recalls. "I said, 'They're people, Jeff.' He said, 'No. That can't be.'"

As people started to jump, one by one, two by two, Revella and Cox could see they were, in fact, hundreds

of desperate souls deciding their own fate.

"This moment has remained the most difficult and haunting to me to this day," Revella says.

Moments later, Revella and Cox were briefly trapped when the south tower collapsed. They were found by a firefighter, then went to work.

"We immediately started to set up an Incident Command Post at Public School 89, which is about ten blocks from the WTC," says Revella. He did not return home for 17 days. "I served as the onscene coordinator for the governor, to the city. While there, I provided assistance and instruction in getting backhoes, bulldozers ... anything else that was needed to remove debris in hopes of rescuing survivors."

Now living in Las Vegas, Revella is coordinating one of the largest 9/11 remembrance events in the West; 911 Remembrance Las Vegas, to be held Sept. 9 through 11, will include a heroes parade and race/walk, among other events. "Our event is going to show that unity and spirit of America we had on 9/11," Revella says.

A National Effort Debra Tosch and her canine partner, a black Labrador named Abby, were part of the second group of search-dog teams, arriving at ground zero about 11 days after the attacks.

"We would search when requested, and when not searching with Abby I would work with another handler and use one of the search cameras," Tosch recalls. "We did not find anyone, but I feel confident that we did our job of making sure no one was left behind."

Tosch went on to become executive director of the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation in Ojai, Calif. The experience of 9/11 helped her realize the importance

Never Forget 9-11-01

of training.

"It has motivated me to have the Search Dog Foundation build a National Training Center ... handlers from all across the country can come train on deployment scenario props that are designed to prepare them for the most difficult deployments they may face," Tosch says.

A 9/11 anniversary event is planned to bring handlers and supporters of the Search Dog Foundation to the site of the National Training Center and unveil the beginning of the construction. Handlers perform a demonstration and a Canine Memorial Wall will be unveiled. Tosch is hoping to open the training center Sept.

11, 2012.

A Friend In Need Being in North Carolina, Nix was not geographically close to any of the events on 9/11. But when the terrorist attack occurred, he received a call from the wife of one of the firefighters in New York who was dispatched to the twin towers. She lived in Greensboro, and two of her daughters were attending college in Charlotte, about an hour

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011

and a half away.

"We sent two firefighters to the school and brought her kids back to Greensboro to be with their mother," Nix recalls. "That afternoon we took food to the home, spent time with the family and prayed with them before we left. We checked on them daily when, four days later, she was informed that [her husband] had been killed in the collapse."

The comfort and compassion Nix and his colleagues showed a fellow firefighter's family reflects the spirit of the community. The Volunteer Center of Greensboro, N.C., has been chosen to lead in the 10th Anniversary 9/11 Day of Remembrance Observance along with New York City and others. The event will take place from Sept. 9 through 11.

"Not only will we honor those who gave their life that day but also the men and women of the United States military who have given their lives since 9/11," Nix says. "America will always be great as long as we have men and women who are willing to choose others over themselves."

Jim M. Allen PA-C Gerald Matzke MD N Hwy 83 next to the Horse Creek Inn

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Staffers McCook Daily Gazette

Then the third plane, striking the Pentagon, provided the answer.

By the time the final jetliner crashed in Pennsylvania, we guessed, correctly, that the passengers had heroically struggled to wrest control away from the hijackers, crashing into a field instead of the White House or other Washington target.

The headline that day, in all caps, "DAY OF TERROR! America reels from coordinated attacks".

Like most Americans, we got caught up in the wave of outrage, patriotism and pride in those who were answering terrorism's challenge. Perhaps we knew, but didn't want to admit then, that we would still be dealing with the aftermath a decade later. The outrage is little tempered by the fact that the author of the attacks was killed in Pakistan, but I'm glad the patriotism and pride remain.

Dawn Cribbs, Associate Editor I was here in the McCook Daily Gazette newsroom when my husband, Danny, called to say that a plane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers in New York.

While we conversed, he watched the second plane purposely fly into the other tower, live, and every plan for the day was set aside, postponed, or cancelled altogether. Much as the initial news changed every thing about that otherwise absolutely gorgeous September Tuesday, for me, the event served and serves as a stark reminder that we are all one step away from eternity and we should treat each other accordingly.

Bruce Baker, City Editor I had just walked into the front

9/11: TEN YEARS AFTER

lobby waiting area at the hospital in Casper, Wyoming. I was there to meet with a Sodexho representative to finalize a contract for their cola fountain and vending business. I remember the waiting room was several blocks long, similar to an airport, with one side all windows looking out on the street. I could see several patches of 2-3 people, for as far as I could see in that lobby area, just standing motionless in front of the televisions. It was like some strange scene from a movie, very surreal.

Curiosity got the best of me and I reluctantly looked at the television closest to me to see the images of the towers and the smoke. I remember the strange scene and the feeling I had, knowing that something was wrong just by the looks of things, more vividly than what the TV actually displayed.

I never appreciated our emergency responders nearly as much as I do now and have since the days following those events. That was changed forever for me.

I went from thinking of them as I would a parks and recreation employee, a great civil servant and steward of the community, to realizing they are much more and probably more akin to the members of our military called into service in combat zones.

Jeremy Blomstedt, Special Projects Coordinator I was living in Lincoln on Sept. 11, 2001, and working for an in-bound teleservices company that counted among its many clients a sizable number of mortgage banks. My job was, in essence, to act as a liaison between the

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011 – 15

customers who were making mortgage payments and the insurance companies who were underwriting the customers' required homeowners policies. It wasn't the greatest (or most fun) work in the world, but it paid my rent, kept me fed and allowed me to put gas into my car.

That Tuesday morning, my bargain-basement alarm clock – which on most days seemed perfectly content to wake me with music from whatever random station the antenna and dial conspired to send through the less-than-high-fidelity speaker – happened to be set to a local AM news-talk station.

As I stirred from my sleep, I caught the tail-end of a report about an accident at the World Trade Center in New York City. Something had crashed into one of the buildings.

Maybe it was a jet engine, or a small plane – nobody really knew quite yet.

Stay tuned for further updates, the news reader said.

I reached over the edge of my bed and found my TV's remote control.

As the 13-inch screen sparked to life, I could make out the now-infamous image of a burning World Trade Center tower. The calm and level voice of ABC newsman Charles Gibson, then the co-anchor of "Good Morning America," was narrating the scene, confirming that it hadn't been a small plane or even an engine that struck the skyscraper.

It had been a passenger jet.

My drowsiness was gone in a blink.

As the terrible minutes twisted away, my mind whirled with fearful thoughts, so I did what I usually do when I’m truly scared – I called my Tubes Tires Grips Locks Pedals Gloves Cables Seats Breaks Bags Belts Filters Shampoo Spot Remover Vacuum Parts

Continued from Page 2

mom. Her frightened tone matched mine. We exchanged expressions of love. We prayed together.

And then – each in front of our own televisions – we watched United Flight 175 collide with the South Tower.

Charles Gibson's still-soft voice came through the speaker on the TV, crystal-clear: "Oh, my God." His words might as well as been mine.

Mom told me that no matter what happened next, she loved me. Dad loved me. I told her the same, and promised to pray throughout the day.

My next call was to work. By this time, I was more than an hour late, but I wasn't even sure if there would be a job to go to; for all I knew, every single person I worked with was lodged in the exact same emotional space I was.

It didn't take long for the supervisor who answered to derail that train of thought. "We're swamped down here," she said. "We need everybody."

So, along with my co-workers, I spent Sept. 11 fielding phone call after phone call from people across the United States – many from New York City in particular – all looking for reassurance that their homeowners' insurance was taken care of, that they were going to be safe from whatever horrible disaster lay ahead.

Before that day, I don’t think that I really understood how comforting it can be to someone in distress to simply have a friendly voice on the other end of a conversation, whether it's over the phone or otherwise. On Sept.

11 and in the days after, thanks to the customers I worked with, I figured that out.

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New WTC

9/11: TEN YEARS AFTER

16 – McCook Daily Gazette

Libeskind, who won a competition to become the site's master planner, focused on the Freedom Tower, with an asymmetrical spire soared to the symbolic height of 1,776 feet and echoed the Statue of Liberty across the harbor. He set aside half the site for a memorial that left empty the spots where the destroyed towers stood, and set space aside for a performing arts center to merge culture and commerce.

Tensionswere inevitablebetweenLibeskind's artistic vision and Silverstein's desire for buildings that would draw tenants.

Now, Libeskind said, "the tensions are gone."

1 World Trade hardly resembles Libeskind's early drawings, but he called it "an impressive building."

Designed by David Childs, its tapering form is symmetrical but retains the spire and the 1,776 feet. To guard against truck bombs, the bottom 20 floors will be windowless, reinforced concrete covered by glass. The base will house infrastructure like generators and air-conditioning systems.

Critics warned that 1 World Trade would be hard to fill. Who would work in a symbolically loaded building at a location that terrorists had attacked twice? Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer once called the Freedom Tower a white elephant.

It'slookinglesslikethatnowthatConde Nast has signed a lease to move its trendsettingmagazineslikeVogue,Glamourand Vanity Fair to 1 World Trade when the building opens in 2014.

Christopher Ward, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the trade center site, called the Conde Nast agreement "a phenomenal game changer."

"The Conde Nast deal has really jumpstarted interest downtown," Ward said.

Under a deal between Silverstein and

thePortAuthority,theauthorityis building 1WorldTradeCenteronthenorthwestcorner of the site; Silverstein wants to build three office towers on the east side of the 16 acres. The first of Silverstein's buildings, known as 4 World Trade, was up to 48 floors this week. Silverstein says the 947foot tower designed by Japan's Fumihiko Maki will be finished before the taller 1 World Trade, catty-cornered across the site.

The Port Authority, which lost its headquarters and 85 employees on Sept. 11, will move into the second tower rising at the site when it is complete. Silverstein says other "household name" tenants will follow.

With the economy nosediving and Silverstein and the Port Authority battling over who should finance two unbuilt towers — designed by architects Richard Rogers and Lord Norman Foster — the future of those buildings looked doubtful a couple of years ago.

An analysis prepared for the Port Authority in 2009 projected that there might be no market for a third tower at the site until 2030, much less the original five planned.

Silverstein and the authority agreed to a deal last year that will let Silverstein build his second skyscraper when he raises $300 million of private equity, leases out at least 400,000 square feet and obtains financing for the remaining cost of the tower. The third building under his control — the second-tallest in the master plan — will be built when the market supports it.

Silverstein, who is 80, wants to see all of the buildings completed in his lifetime — and he says he will. He said he could get another tower up in 2015. "And if it all works out well," he says, the last one could be up a year later.

Ward was slightly less optimistic,

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011

Continued from Page 4

Rendering by Squared Design Lab

Hundreds of trees will surround the enormous, man-made waterfalls filling the oneacre squares where the twin towers stood. The names of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six are inscribed in bronze panels.

predicting that Silverstein's towers might be completed by 2017 or 2018.

Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, said that despite the still-sputtering economy, there will be a demand for a new trade center.

The average age of New York City's 500 million square feet of office space is nearly 70. "Companies want fresh, new space," Spinola said. And tax incentives intended to spur redevelopment after 2001 make the trade center cheaper than other Manhattan buildings.

Tax breaks also fueled residential growth, and the population of downtown Manhattan below Chambers Street — the area that encompasses the trade center — has doubled since 2001.

Tara Stacom, a vice chairman of real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield who is in charge of leasing 1 World Trade, said the building's proximity to attractive residential neighborhoods is a selling

point.

Other trade center projects include Michael Arad's memorial, the museum scheduled to open next year and Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava's transportation hub, designed to look like a bird in flight. The hub will eventually include restaurants and stores, restoring one of the largest shopping centers that used to sit at the base of the trade center.

The transit hub, which will serve as a gateway to New York for tens of thousands of daily New Jersey commuters and connect to city subway lines, has been plagued by delays and budget overruns. Its 2005 budget of $2.2 billion has ballooned to $3.4 billion and could still grow. Ward said the station will be completed by the end of 2014.

When it opens, the memorial will bring thousands of people and life into a closed-off superblock that transformed from construction pit to construction site in a decade.

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9/11: TEN YEARS AFTER

Post-9/11, emergency radios still not connected McCook Daily Gazette

ALICIA A. CALDWELL ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) — Amid the chaos of the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, emergency responders found they could not communicate with each other. That problem persists 10 years later, according to a review of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations.

A National Preparedness Group report released Wednesday concludes that the recommendation that a nationwide broadband network for emergency responders be created "continues to languish."

"Despite the lives at stake, the recommendation to improve radio

Response

The TRIA, and subsequent extensions of it, created a federal backstop for insurance claims related to acts of terrorism and is intended to allow the industry time to develop solutions and products following an act of terrorism. The federal government then shares the risks of insured losses with commercial property and casualty insurers. The program isn't without limitations and requirements and more details can be found at www.treasury.gov, the U.S. Department of the Treasury website.

For many area citizens the attacks of 9/11 were felt with changes to their job duties —

interoperability for first responders has stalled because of a political fight over whether to allocate 10 MHz of radio spectrum ... directly to public safety for a nationwide network, or auction it off to a commercial wireless bidder who would then be required to provide priority access on its network dedicated to public safety during emergencies," says the report, whose authors include 9/11 Commission chairmen Lee Hamilton and Thomas Kean.

Law enforcement and emergency responders around the country have long supported the creation of the communication network. In January, President Barack Obama announced

increased efficiencies or more intense working environments. Many others were affected by higher costs of insurance or other items, and only a small number were likely able to avoid the inconveniences created in the commercial air service industry.

Few would disagree with Duane Tappe of McCook, who said that the additional security measures have taken the fun out of flying.

"I used to look forward to flying," said Tappe with a chuckle. "You got food, dressed up a little, it was kinda a neat deal. I find myself just dreading it now, I would rather drive to see family anymore."

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011 – 17

his support for allocating the radio space, known as the D-block spectrum, to police and other emergency workers.

Bills that would set aside the Dblock and create a communications network have been introduced in both the House and the Senate this year but so far have not been passed in either chamber.

Several big wireless carriers have supported auctioning off the airwaves to the wireless industry, a move that the government has estimated would raise about $3.1 billion. That could help pay to build a public safety communications network.

The Federal Communications

According to Chief of Police Isaac Brown the changes at the airport relating to security were the most immediate actions that took place.

"Airport security is handled in McCook and most Nebraska cities by the local police departments. Myself and Sgt. Kevin Darling are airport security coordinators for the McCook Ben Nelson Regional Airport. Much more stringent security measures were immediately put into place and remained in place for quite a period of time," said Brown.

The changes not only included anti-terrorist alert training but also increased information sharing practices

Commission has tried to auction off the D Block before. But that 2008 auction required that the winning bidder help build a network to be shared by first responders and give them priority in an emergency. It did not attract any serious bidders.

The National Preparedness Group report said statewide communications interoperability plans and the creation of a national emergency communications plan have improved emergency coordination across different jurisdictions. But more work needs to be done and the ultimate solution, the report said, is to follow the 9/11 Commission's recommendation and create a nationwide communications network.

that remain in place today.

While the airport saw significant changes and law enforcement and emergency response departments were communicating better, the biggest impact on police departments across the country was felt in the impact the event had on staffing levels, according to Brown.

"We have had some staff serve multiple deployments in Iraq or Afghanistan as members of local National Guard or U.S. Army Reserve units. Retaining those slots is challenging for smaller departments that do not have an excess of staff," said Brown.

Training periods for police

Continued from Page 5

officers and fireman is such that temporary employees are typically not a viable option, with many departments operating shorthanded for a year or more at a time.

"And there is always concern for fellow officers and their families while they are on deployment. Happily all of our folks have made it home safe," said Brown.

Whatever the scenario or direct impact the events of 9/11 have had on individuals, Americans can only hope that in the long run the number of positive changes that result from the events, outweigh the pain and sorrow that it has caused.

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9/11: TEN YEARS AFTER

Afghan people in survival mode, says local man just back from Kabul 18 – McCook Daily Gazette

LORRI SUGHROUE MCCOOK DAILY GAZETTE

MCCOOK, Nebraska — After spending seven months away from home when deployed to Afghanistan, Major James (Jim) Allen missed more than just his family.

"There's so many things we take for granted over here, especially in our culture," he said.

When asked, he elaborated, "It's things we never think about, like honesty, integrity, planning for the future."

In a country torn apart for decades by invasion, repression and inter-tribal distrust, Afghanistans have learned to operate by working all the angles, trusting no one, in a me-first, survival mode of living.

Which means their loyalties lie with what will benefit them or their family in the short term,

Allen explained.

They will sign up with the police but then quit a week later if offered an enormous sum of cash to help plan an attack.

Or wanting their daughters to stay in school but pulling them out when someone puts a gun to the father's head.

Whatever works for today.

Some Afghanistans were very mistrusting, he said, seeing all Americans as infidels. Others were amiable and in awe of Westerners.

Afghan attitudes change daily, he said, depending on the circumstances, but regardless, Allen and the U.S. forces "treat all Afghanistans with respect, friendly...so they will know that not all Americans are infidels."

Allen, a physician assistant and owner of Quality Urgent Care in McCook, was called up in July as a reservist with Nebraska National Guard in Unit 1-135 CAV (Calvary).

Courtesy photo

The Husker flag is flown on an U.S. armored ambulance, halfway around the world in Kabul, Afghanistan. In the background is the Queen's Palace, a crumbling, abandoned mansion that sits on the outskirts of Kabul.

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011

Lorri Sughroue/McCook Daily Gazette

Jim Allen, center, strums a few tunes for his family. Watching Dad play was one of the things the family missed when Allen was deployed to Afghanistan. From left is his wife, Jennifer, with son, Dion, on his right.

Behind are his daughters Jillian, from left and Kylie.

He served as a squadron surgeon for the Camp Dubs aid station in Kabul, Afghanistan, joining a total of 600 Coalition forces.

Besides working at the medical aid station, he also mentored civilians for the fledgling Kabul police force. With no real police force in place, he helped to train civilians in police basics, such as searches and security procedures.

It's another step in stabilizing the country and part of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The war in Afghanistan began in Oct. 7, 2011, in response to the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.

U.S. Forces, as well as those from the United Kingdom and the Afghan United Front, launched Op-

eration Enduring Freedom with the goals of dismantling the AlQaeda terroristic network, the organization that took responsibility for the 9/11 attacks, remove the Taliban from power and create a viable democratic state.

The Taliban was ousted in a matter of weeks, with most of the leaders fleeing to Pakistan. In 2004, the Afghan people had their first direct elections.

But putting back together a nation that for hundreds of years as been used as "pass through" state by other countries and by outside invading forces, may take a little more time.

Allen believes change will come and it may come with the youth.

"A lot of little kids speak English," he said, "so if we can get the little kids changed, there's a chance. They have seen kind Americans...they know what we're about."

If fact, American soldiers are known for "free stuff," Allen said, like water bottles, pens, snacks.

Kids come up whenever they get a chance, Allen said, whether it's to an U.S. armored ambulance stopped in a street or to American soldiers out for a walk.

And when asked if the war in Afghanistan was worth it, Allen had no trouble answering. '"We haven't had any more terroristic attacks in America, have we?" he asked.

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Standards McCook Daily Gazette

When state standards do tackle 9/11 issues, their approaches can vary in significant ways.

For example, in Texas, new worldhistory standards call for studying the “development of radical Islamic fundamentalism and the subsequent use of terrorism by some of its adherents.”

In Oklahoma, the standards promote a broader look at terrorism. That state says students should “evaluate the risk of terrorism and its impact on the United States,” with reference not only to 9/11 but also other episodes, including the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995, staged by two Americans, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.

The Oklahoma standards also say students should evaluate U.S. policies and actions responding to and countering terrorism.

Mr. Stoddard said he’s encouraged by states that call for such evaluation and inquiry rather than simply promote “rote memorization of what happened.”

New Jersey’s standards say students should “analyze the reasons for terrorism and the impact that terrorism has had on individuals and government policies.”

In Louisiana—under social studies standards that gained preliminary approval in June—a section on comparing and contrasting historical periods suggests as one example an examination of “anti-Japanese-American sentiment during [World War] II vs. anti-MuslimAmerican sentiment after 9/11.”

One notable change some educators report since 2001 is that a lot more students come to school with preconceptions, and often misperceptions, about Islam and Muslims. Those educators say such views may be due to what some observers describe as growing antiMuslim sentiment in the United States.

“A lot of times it involves statements from students: ‘They’re all crazy. They all hate us,’ ” said Christopher S. Rose, the outreach director at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, who works extensively with K-12 teachers. “Kids are no longer coming into the classroom as a

9/11: TEN YEARS AFTER

blank slate. They have something they’ve been told at home, at church, on Facebook, Twitter.”

Stephanie G. Rossi, a social studies teacher at Wheat Ridge High School in Wheat Ridge, Colo., said she works to dispel stereotypes.

“When I teach world religions, some students assume that all Muslims ... are terrorists,” she said. “Students like to reduce things to black or white. ... You have to correct misperceptions about the faith.”

New Electives At least a few schools around the country have sought since 9/11 to carve out time to explore the Middle East by creating electives.

“The district had a desire because of 9/11 to educate our children both on Islam and the Middle East,” said Michael G. Gleason, who teaches a class in Middle East studies at Westerly High School in Westerly, R.I. “The way I teach the course is I look at current events and then I trace the roots of what’s happening back in the past.”

For several years, Yarmouth High School in Yarmouth, Maine, has also offered such a class.

“This is an incredibly important region for students to learn about,” said Amy L. Sanders, who developed her school’s Middle East-studies class and teaches it.

“Students absolutely are interested,” she said. “They see stories from the Middle East every day in the news, and they have a desire to go beyond the headlines, learn about the history and the culture.”

The class does probe terrorism and conflict in the region, but that’s not all: “We read poetry, listen to music, bring in guest speakers,” Ms. Sanders said.

An independent school in St. Louis last year started a new course titled 9/11: Causes and Responses.

“It became apparent that students had some idea of what happened, but really didn’t have as clear an understanding as we would have liked,” said Cathy Leitch, who teaches the 9/11

elective at the school, the Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School.

“It’s not just the event, but all the issues surrounding it.”

Some educators say the so-called “Arab Spring”—the wave of protests and uprisings this year against entrenched regimes in such countries as Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Syria – offers a prime opportunity to engage students in a decidedly different story about the Arab world and its peoples.

The developments provide a powerful counter-narrative to 9/11 for American students, as they watch young people in predominantly Muslim nations promote democracy and the overthrow of authoritarian governments.

“My students watched so closely what was happening in Egypt, in other countries, where protest spread, because so much was going through Facebook and Twitter,” said Ms. Sanders from Yarmouth High. “They could really relate to that, and when [those regimes] shut off access to Twitter, they could relate to that. They got it.”

She added: “This puts a very different face on the region.

Language Study on Rise Another way to expose students to different cultures and regions of the world is through studying a language, and Arabic is starting to gain ground in a number of schools, though it still appears to be rare.

In 2006, President George W. Bush unveiled the multiagency National Security Language Initiative to promote the teaching of “critical need” foreign languages, among them Arabic. He invoked the war on terror and the nation’s needs in defense, intelligence-gathering, and diplomacy. The president also said learning Arabic would send a message to the Arab world that “we care about their culture.”

Exact figures are not available on how widespread the teaching of Arabic in K-12 is today, but experts say it’s growing. As of November 2009, one list

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011 – 19

Continued from Page 6

counted 93 public schools in 22 states, plus 220 private schools, according to data compiled by the National Capital Language Resource Center at George Washington University.

A survey by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages showed that public-school enrollment in Arabic-language classes nearly tripled between the 2004-05 school year and 2007-08, to nearly 2,400. But those figures pale in comparison with the 60,000 who were reported as studying Chinese and the millions studying Spanish.

In Virginia’s 178,000-student Fairfax County district, nearly 1,000 students took Arabic at the elementary and secondary levels as of last academic year. In Utah, about 450 students study Arabic across nine public schools.

At least two universities, Boston University and Michigan State University, are launching new teacher-certification programs in Arabic at the secondary level this fall.

In Chicago, the Lindblom Math & Science Academy offers just two languages: Arabic and Chinese.

Principal Alan Mather notes that former Mayor Richard M. Daley made a big push for schools in the 405,000-student district to offer those languages.

In fact, Mr. Mather is working to help create a nonprofit center for Arabic language and culture, to be housed on the academy’s campus, that will serve as a resource for Chicago-area educators.

Mr. Mather said he’s often asked by parents why the school offers only those two languages.

“With Arabic, regardless of how you feel about it, we’re heavily involved in the Middle East and North Africa,” he said he tells families. “The more we understand about the language and culture, the better off we’re all going to be.”

Republished with permission from Education Week. Copyright © 2011 Editorial Projects in Education, Inc. For more information, visit www.edweek.org.