Special section 1

News-Review PETOSKEY

SPECIAL ISSUE FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2011

10 years after

September11 How times have changed. How we have changed.

Area events to honor the heroes and victims of September 11 Beaver Island A Sept. 11 memorial service will be 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11, at the fire hall on Beaver Island. AMVETS Post 46, the Beaver Island School and the island’s emergency workers will be represented.

The public is invited to attend.

Boyne City “Boyne City Remembers,” a community potluck/picnic, is 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11, at the pavilion in Veterans Park, Boyne City. Opening ceremonies of the picnic will honor local first responders.

Then, hot dogs and barbecue beef sandwiches will be provided. Bring a dish to pass. After the picnic there will be music, children’s games, face painting and a softball game between the Boyne City Fire Department and the East Jordan Fire Department at 3 p.m. Call (231) 582-6222.

Charlevoix A special ceremony in honor of the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11 is 4 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 11, at the East Park bandshell in downtown Charlevoix. Gary Stutzman of Northwest Academy and the Patriotic Band will begin playing music at 3:45 p.m. Pastor David Behling of the First Baptist Church will then give an invocation followed by more patriotic music. Former firefighter and retired Navy officer Dan Martin will also give a commemorative speech. Call (231) 547-4300.

Harbor Springs The Harbor Springs American Legion hosts a commemoration ceremony on Sunday, Sept. 11, to honor the victims of Sept. 11. Churches are encouraged to ring their bells for five minutes at 1 p.m. to mark the beginning of the event. A parade of color guards, emergency service personnel, vehicles, a large American flag and veterans will follow. The parade will begin at Harbor Springs city hall and conclude at Zorn Park. Call (231) 5265595.

Indian River A special Mass will be 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 11, at the parking lot adjacent to the Cross in the Woods, Indian River.

Guests should arrive at 10:10 a.m. Firefighters, police, EMT and military (active and retired) are invited to wear uniforms and will be recognized and given a special blessing. The Knights of Columbus will sponsor refreshments after Mass.

Call (231) 238-8973.

Petoskey A first responders recognition reception is 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11, at the Petoskey Knights of Columbus Hall, Petoskey. All police, fire and EMS personnel in the Petoskey/Harbor Springs metro area including office staff, personnel and their guest are invited. Food and drinks will be supplied. Cash donations or food products to benefit Brother Dan’s Food Pantry will be accepted. Call (231) 347-7432.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A new Trade Center rises Construction cranes and One World Trade Center rise above the Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty, Saturday, July 30, 2011, in New York. The tower will be 104 floors and 1,776 feet (541 meters) tall when completed.

C2 SPECIAL ISSUE: SEPTEMBER 11: HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED, HOW WE HAVE CHANGED

Friday, September 9, 2011 •

Law enforcement, fire officials reflect on Sept. 11 and changes it brought Heather Lockwood (231) 439-9398 - hlockwood@petoskeynews.com

A NEIL STILWELL/NEWS-REVIEW

Kendall P. Stanley holds the Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2001, issue of the News-Review.

Former News-Review managing editor recalls the day tragedy struck

I

t’s axiomatic in the newspaper business that you never know what’s going to come at you for any day’s issue.

It certainly was that and more on Sept.

11, 2001.

As our normal morning stand-up managers’ meeting Kendall P. was breakStanley ing up word came that a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers. The Associated Press wire was starting to hum with stories as the second plane hit the second tower. And as the day wore on the towers collapsed — something that had never, ever happened to a skyscraper up until that point.

Even though the attack on America — the first in nearly 60 years after Pearl Harbor — happened nearly 900 miles away, it quickly became a local story.

Steve Zucker caught up with Pellston Regional Airport manager Kelley Atkins as all aviation in the U.S. came to a standstill and airports including Pellston were ordered closed. Reporter Beth Anne Piehl ran out the door and caught up with college students at North Central Michigan College and with folks at area stores as they watched the story unfold on TV. Neil Stilwell stayed on top of the wire stories with updates following updates. I don’t know where the number of write-throughs ended that day but I never saw as many after that.

It all came together under that day’s headline on A1 — Under Attack. Not quite as in your face as the Bastards! headline on the front page of the San Francisco Examiner the next day, but accurate in its timeframe.

As an afternoon newspaper we had the ability to provide local impact stories on the day’s events for

our readers well before most newspaper readers got their local coverage the next morning.

It’s hard to recall that day in the newsroom — under that kind of pressure there’s a lot of activity all flowing toward the goal of getting the stories, getting it right, getting it on a page and getting the paper out the door.

All of a sudden you stop after the presses start to roll knowing you’ve done the best job you could providing as much as you could to your readers — and then you start all over again for the second day of coverage. First up, who from Northern Michigan was in New York? In Washington, D.C., near the Pentagon? Will they be willing to talk (as I recall one did, one didn’t)?

I do remember that television coverage of the collapse of the towers provided something that we in the print business could not — a frightening view of the towers slowly and surely collapsing down on themselves taking thousands of lives with them.

There was also the surreal question of who, why, how? What malign force had taken a beautiful September day and turned it into a day that, at least one paper headlined, as another day in infamy?

We soon found out of course, and that discovery has led us on a decade-long quest to find and punish those who planned and executed it.

But the sense of security that existed on Sept. 10, 2001, will never be replaced for those of us who watched in horror and disbelief the fateful events of the next morning.

Kendall Stanley retired in Dec. 31, 2009 as editor of the Petoskey News-Review. He is still a weekly columnist with the newspaper. On Sept. 11, 2001 he was the managing editor of the Petoskey News-Review.

For more recollections from the newsroom, see page C4.

rea law enforcement and fire officials say they shared feelings of helplessness, sadness and anger on Sept. 11, 2001, as they watched the day’s tragic events unfold and replay on TV. But those feelings were closely followed by a feeling of determination. And the catastrophe ultimately prompted changes for law enforcement, fire officials and other first responders.

“I was actually in my office, which was in the basement of the police building, and I got a call from the lieutenant that was working the front desk, and (he) said, ‘Are you watching, do you have the television on?’ I said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘Well, turn it on,’” remembered Petoskey Department of Public Safety director John Calabrese, who was a Det./ Lt. for Eastpointe Police Department at the time.

“And I did and saw they had the story on there with one of the towers with the smoke coming out of it. Of course, then we all started paying very close attention and it wasn’t too much later that, I think, most of us watched the second plane crash into the second tower.”

Calabrese recalled a change in the mood at the police department that morning.

Calabrese “There definitely was a tone of, you know, first, shock and sadness, because I think as we watched we all knew that those firefighters and those police officers that were there trying to save lives were all going to die,” he said. “And, I think, pretty quickly most law enforcement agencies really began to think about ... what do we need to do to protect our community?”

Area law enforcement officials said Sept. 11 brought attention to fall backs in communication among agencies and a need for increased emphasis on incident command.

“So what we saw growing out of that was a real movement to consolidate and kind of unify responses to situations like we saw on Sept. 11,” Calabrese said. “I think we’re much better prepared to deal with large-scale emergencies than we were 10 years ago.”

Calabrese said after Sept.

11 the federal government, he thinks specifically the Federal Emergency Management Agency, began mandating incident command training.

“Most of the training comes from (FEMA), and there’s a whole block of training classes that are required for law enforcement and fire fighting personnel in the state — actually, across the country now,” Calabrese said. “So the nice thing is, the training we get here in Northern Michigan is the same training that you receive in southern California. ...

In emergency situations you can take personnel from different disciplines and different jurisdictions and put them into one spot and everybody is going to understand what’s going on.”

He added, “In fact, the National Incident Management System (NIMS), which is what we use in the United States, it even includes people from outside law enforcement, fire fighting and emer-

How incident command is used: Petoskey Department of Public Safety director John Calabrese said his department uses the incident command system often, especially in emergency situations, such as fires or instances of crimes in progress.

He recalled two situations in which the department used incident command last year — once when responding to a structure fire in Bay Harbor and once when responding to a report of a man with a gun in what is now the Bear River Valley Recreation Area.

In both situations, the first responding supervisor established incident command, and that person

gency medical fields.

You’ve got city government, department of public works, parks and (recreation), all have received training in this field.”

Charlevoix County Sheriff Don Schneider said after Sept. 11 there was a push for first responders to rely upon incident command more than they had previously. He said the incident command system helps improve communication among agencies and helps first responders better understand what resources are available in a time of need, allowing for a more organized and cohesive approach to an emergency situation.

“It’s everybody sitting around the same table, sharing resources,” Schneider said.

Michigan State Police Schneider Petoskey Post Sgt. Derrick Carroll also said incident command became more of a priority after Sept. 11 and there was a push to em- Carroll phasize it.

Incident command provides a plan and a structure for a collaborative response involving all first responders, Carroll explained.

“You’re going to have someone who’s responsible for each step so nothing gets overlooked.”

Though incident command existed before Sept.

11, “all people weren’t trained on it and it wasn’t always followed,” Carroll said.

Area law enforcement officials also said incident command was primarily used by fire officials before Sept. 11.

Resort-Bear Creek Township Fire Department chief Al Welsheimer said there seemed to be a more open dialogue that developed between police and fire officials after Welsheimer Sept. 11.

Welsheimer thought back to the moment he first heard the news. He was working as a truck driver and was a volunteer firefighter for the department at the time.

“You look at some of the video that you see now of the aftermath and leading up to it, knowing these guys are going into this and they’re never going to come back,” he said. “It’s just hard to, you know, put yourself in that situation. But that’s what we’re trained to do. That’s part of the brotherhood. We’re there to save lives and we’re going to do whatever we can to get these

became the incident commander, Calabrese explained. An incident commander is responsible for directing the response to the incident and directing emergency personnel as they arrive.

Calabrese said a command post where all responders can convene will be set up, sometimes at an emergency response vehicle, and the incident commander will delegate responsibilities. The incident commander is responsible for knowing who is assisting at the scene and what each person is doing.

Depending on the scale of the incident, there may be a need for a

people out.”

Welsheimer said federal grants for upgrading and replacing fire equipment seemed to be more readily available after Sept.

11, though some departments have trouble getting through the request process because they don’t have the expertise to write a grant request or the funds to hire a grant writer.

Gregory Williams, director of the Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Emmet County Office of Emergency Management, said in an email sent to the Petoskey News-Review, “We now have a special team of first responders, right here at the (local) level, that meets to discuss various trends in emergency planning, response and incident management. This group receives direction and intelligence from state and federal officials, and discusses ways to implement strategies to enhance our level of preparedness and increase our capabilities.

Through these planning efforts we create contingency plans for management of explosive devices, mass casualty scenarios, hazardous materials response, threats to our schools, and so on.”

The email continues, “We then leverage any available federal funding toward investments that ultimately make us more prepared, better equipped and better trained should a large scale emergency occur here. We then test these plans, and ourselves, through our disaster exercise program.

We take a hard look at our response to the exercise and work to identify any problem areas so that we can be even better prepared for the actual event.”

Williams also mentioned a push that came after Sept.

11 to train and inform the public of emergency preparedness.

He noted recent tragedies have demonstrated that in some situations emergency officials cannot immediately assist everyone who is in need, so people should keep five days worth of survival supplies, such as food, water, medicine, cash and batteries.

Carroll said Sept. 11 also changed the way local law enforcement agencies looked at the community and its landmarks.

“People are more aware now of potential targets in our area. Before you weren’t thinking about, as much, the Mackinac Bridge. You weren’t thinking about the water tower in your town being poisoned or contaminated, or a railroad car being seized. ...

So it just makes you aware of things in your area that could be used as weapons,” Carroll said. “And you have to recognize those areas and be conscious of who’s in those areas and what’s going on.”

Emmet County Sheriff Pete Wallin, who was undersheriff at the time, likened Sept. 11 to the attack on Pearl Harbor, in that

public information officer, who speaks to the media, Calabrese said, or a liaison officer, who helps tie all components of incident command together, among other roles.

A single person may take on multiple roles, depending again on the scale of the incident and how many people are available to assist, Calabrese said.

“It’s a pretty neat system because you can adapt it to any situation. And that’s why the fire service has used it for so many years,” Calabrese said.

“You can configure it to fit your personnel and the emergency that you’re dealing with.”

both events were a “wakeup call” to the nation.

“We always thought we weren’t vulnerable,” Wallin said. “The Wallin thing about it is, any first responder, I’ll tell you — you knew America was under attack and you felt helpless because you wanted to do something but you couldn’t.”

U.S. Coast Guard

Lorne Thomas, external affairs officer for the Ninth District Coast Guard, noted many changes that came after 9/11. Perhaps most significant of these was in early 2003 when the Coast Guard became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Prior to Sept. 11, Thomas said, “There wasn’t a lot of anti- or counter-terrorism work going on.” He added, “Being in (Department of Homeland Security) allows us to work more closely with customs and immigration.”

“The Homeland Security Act of 2002 divided the Coast Guard’s eleven statutory missions between homeland security and non-homeland security,” according to the U.S. Coast Guard website. “Reflecting the Coast Guard’s historical role in defending our nation, the Act delineated Ports, Waterways and Coastal Security (PWCS) as the first homeland security mission. The commandant of the Coast Guard designated PWCS as the service’s primary focus alongside search and rescue.”

In addition to the creation of the new Ports, Waterways and Coastal Security mission, Thomas said security plans were developed for facilities, vessels and ports.

“You just can’t put a fence around a port,” he said, “they’re all different.”

Another notable change, Thomas said, is that ships coming to the U.S. used to have to give 24 hours notice, but within about a month of Sept. 11 that was changed to 96 hours notice. The increase in notice allows the Coast Guard more time to screen ships, he said.

“Ships that come in, we screen them, essentially, and score them to see how they fall on a risk scale,” he explained.

Thomas said vulnerability assessments were also done on Great Lakes area assets, such as the Mackinac Bridge, as well as assets across the country. Other Great Lakes area assets that were assessed include bridges and tunnels, boarder crossings, the Soo Locks and nuclear power plants, he said. And security zones were placed around all nuclear power plants.

Thomas also said a program called America’s Waterway Watch, which encourages citizens to report suspicious activity, has been successful.

Friday, September 9, 2011 •

SPECIAL ISSUE: SEPTEMBER 11: HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED, HOW WE HAVE CHANGED

C3

Safe at home: How Sept. 11 changed local security Brandon Hubbard (231)439-9374 - bhubbard@petoskeynews.com

A

ny given day in America there are 2 million barefoot travelers waiting to board airplanes. The contents of their bags are shot through X-rays, rummaged by rubber-gloved hands, displaced into plastic bins for reassembly by the traveler. The traveler gets his own manual screening, whether by wand or hand or digital imaging — a naked imprint something akin to the Shroud of Turin.

This is the world after Sept. 11, 2001, a place where men with bombs in their shoes and underwear lurk, and passengers stand unnerved about whether they accidentally brought any fluids more than 2 ounces.

But, despite the delays and inconveniences of security measures, those working on the day of the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania, say the changes have been positive.

After a decade of increased security measures, those who were working

the day the deadly attacks came are grateful for the changes America has made.

“I remember that day well,” said Mackinaw City Police Chief Patrick Wyman.

Within an hour of the second airplane colliding into the World Trade Center a checkpoint was established on the Mackinac Bridge screening every vehicle driving onto the bridge. Wyman, who was police chief at the time, remembers his officers scanning passengers and vehicles for anything that might be suspicious or threatening.

“We didn’t have any answers at the time — we didn’t know who we were looking for or what we were looking for. We didn’t have a clue who the terrorists were at the immediate time,” Wyman said. “Was it domestic or foreign? We really didn’t know.”

Wyman said in the decade since, his department has developed a better emergency response to another possible attack and beefed up its abilities.

Backed with Homeland

Security funds, the Mackinaw City Police Department has riot gear, tactical body armor, weapons, radios, gas masks, helmets and biological-chemical suits available.

The large annual Labor Day Mackinac Bridge Walk has also been shifted from the municipal police department’s control to primarily the Michigan State Police, to ensure the more than 30,000 visitors and governor are safe.

“Now the state police have a significant presence on the bridge, the loading areas and the buses, with dogs and bomb squads and security patrols before anyone gets on the bridge,” Wyman said.

“That was never done before (Sept. 11, 2001). It was done by our department basically.”

The world’s third-largest suspension bridge is regularly patrolled by the city police for suspicious people or vehicles.

“That’s something we rarely had to do before (Sept. 11),” Wyman said.

Even smaller, “soft” targets in Northern Michigan have been secured under

federal guidelines.

An 8-foot-tall fence onshore around the dock area at St. James, Beaver Island was erected in 2005 at a cost of $127,000 using state and Homeland Security funds. Based on the post-Sept. 11 Maritime Security Act, the fence is required because the boats carry more than 150 passengers. The twoferry Beaver Island Boat Company constructed the wall around its property at the same time as making several other security changes, such as implementing security cameras and training personnel for the event of an emergency.

“Before there was a large focus on safety. We still continue that, but had to add on the extra measures of security as well,” said Tim McQueer, a manager with the Beaver Island Boat Company.

But, no one has been more structurally impacted in America than commercial airports.

Before the Sept. 11 attacks, private contracting companies hired by commercial airline companies were responsible for deal-

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Daily American, a sister publication of the Petoskey News-Review, directly reported on the crash of Flight 93 which occurred within their coverage area.

A story of courage

Brian Whipkey is the editor of The Daily American, a daily newspaper in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

On Sept. 11, 2001, a hijacked airliner crashed in this county after passengers fought back against the terrorists onboard. Whipkey wrote this column for the newspaper’s Sept. 9 edition.

T

his day (Sept. 9), 10 years ago, America was still a place where we didn’t fear air travel or have any real concerns about terrorism in our major cities.

Sure there were hijacked planes in the past. However if everyone on board cooperated with the hijackers, the planes always safely landed and authorities were able to diffuse the situation.

However in two days, our lives changed forever. Little Whipkey did anyone know that on Sept. 11, 2001, a group of terrorists would unleash their hatred for America.

In a well-organized effort, four airplanes fully loaded with fuel and passengers were hijacked. Two of them were flown into the iconic World Trade Center towers.

A third plane plummeted directly into the Pentagon.

By now anyone watching television news realized our country was under attack. A fourth plane that was delayed from takeoff was still in the air traveling toward Washington, D.C. When the passengers telephoned family to tell about their plight, they soon found out that their plane was being hijacked to hit another national landmark.

The American spirit took over the minds of several passengers and they knew their only hope was to battle the hijackers and regain command of the aircraft.

During their struggle to the battle cry of “Let’s Roll” the plane went out of control over rural Somerset County and plummeted into the reclaimed strip mine located in Stonycreek Township.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A visitor to the temporary memorial to Flight 93 overlooks the new memorial and final preparations for it’s dedication on Sept. 10, 2011, on Wednesday, Sept. 7, in Shanksville, Pa. It was a day that most every teenager and adult will forever remember.

In the newsroom, it was hard to put the events together in my mind. Washington, D.C., New York City and Somerset County. Why Somerset County? Soon the reason would be revealed to the country.

Somerset County is now forever linked to these major cities because of the heroic efforts of those passengers. They vowed to not let the terrorists carry out their plans and kill more innocent people on the ground.

The Americans on United Flight 93 conducted the first counterattack on terrorism of al-Qaida.

In the days following the crash, our newsroom fielded calls from around the globe. Media outlets wanted to know more about Somerset County, Shanksville and Stonycreek Township.

The story of that day is alive and is as strong 10 years later. We’ve had media outlet inquiries from many major cities and other countries wanting to report on the events and what has happened over the last decade. We’ve recently had calls from France and Australia.

One of the noticeable changes that has happened

is the sense of patriotism toward our country. The American flag is a common sight across our landscape.

People proudly display flags, banners and buntings showing their pride for being an American.

Yes, the United States was attacked by cowardly terrorists who preyed on the trusting innocence of Americans living in the land of the free. However their plans stopped here.

The American spirit that was displayed over the skies of Somerset County thwarted the vengeance of these attackers.

That spirit and pride continues today in the faces of those who are glad to be living in a country where we are still free to live, work and worship in the places we choose.

The events of Sept. 11, 2001, will be our generation’s day in history. The events and sacrifices need to be remembered for future generations. With the completion of the first phase of the national park, it’s clear Somerset County will be the place where the many stories of what happened over that time will be shared, preserved and remembered.

Brian Whipkey is the editor of the Daily American in Somerset, Pa. He can be reached at brianw@dailyamerican.com.

ing with checking passengers at airports. Today, the Transportation Security Administration created after Sept. 11, has 45,000 officers working at 450 airports around the United States. And it has yet to stop growing.

Under the $57 billion 2011 budget for the Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration — which has an $8 billion budget — is scheduled to spend another $105.2 million on “advanced imaging technology.” Across the nation there will be 1,275 advanced imaging units deployed by TSA and hundreds of additional TSA employees operating the systems.

Another $125.7 million will be spent to sustain the deployment of 900 canine teams and $12.5 million will be spent to perform “enhanced watchlist vetting.”

“When I started working at Pellston (Regional Airport about 13 years ago), the only thing separating the parking lot and the runway was a splitrail fence you could sit

on,” said Kelley Atkins, Pellston Regional Airport manager.

The security system in the Midwest during 2001, Atkins said, was an office of five people in Detroit who did annual or biannual inspections.

“I actually had to call into the security system in Detroit to ask what to do,” Atkins said. “I remember there was only one person in the office and (hearing) the shock in her voice.”

The Pellston airport was closed along with all airports in the country from the next three days. During those three days, the airport followed federal directions such as towing more than 75 airline passenger vehicles away from the “blast radius” of the airport terminal.

Atkins recalls how no one questioned any new security measure or the work behind it during that brief time nor in the years since.

“I think (the launching of TSA) was a real positive thing,” Atkins said. “Trying to create that kind of apparatus from scratch — I was impressed by it.”

Unforgettable news reporting experience on Sept. 11, 2001

W

hen I first went out on assignment Sept. 11, 2001, for the Daily American as the lead reporter, I never expected to be in the middle of a worldwide news event. It was the most exciting news story of my life and the pinnacle of my career.

Unforgettable.

At first, I simply thought that a little charter plane had crashed.

The few reporters in the field at that time had thought the same because we were the first ones there (and we could not get through to the office on our cell phones because phone lines were overloaded). We truly did not comprehend the magnitude of everything at the beginning.

People have asked me over the years if I had seen any dead bodies but that is why this whole event was so surreal.

We didn’t see anything visible — only a gaping, smoking hole. There was no plane so it was difficult to wrap our minds around the idea that a huge plane had been submerged into the earth with heroic victims on board in an international terrorist attack. We only saw a smoldering black hole and had thought at one point that the plane must have been somewhere out of view. I kept thinking ‘Where is the plane?’ When I went to get a closer look and a better photograph near that smoking hole, I was escorted back to the road by policemen — so I began to realize that this incident must be more significant than a little charter plane crash.

I was the last reporter to leave the enclosed site (in my little green Dodge Shadow) because I had been walking all around the area until the policemen radioed one another that I was finally leaving.

I kept thinking ‘What’s the big deal anyway?’ I never knew that a mass of other media who arrived shortly afterward

were detained on a side road because they were never allowed to enter the site. Since I Lepley had gotten there only a half-hour after the crash and parked my car along the access road, got out and walked all around, I never realized I was in a high security area until I was asked to leave.

Then, when I drove out of the site to the main road and saw about 100 reporters surrounding a state police trooper for a press conference, I knew something big had just happened. I had never seen that many reporters gathered together before in my career.

But, it wasn’t until I finally called my editor back at the office that I learned about the terrorist attacks and the extreme loss of life.

Like everyone, I was shocked. I had originally described my reaction to the news of the attacks as if something came crashing down on my head that day but in retrospect, a better way to describe it would be that what I believed and knew and held true fell away beneath me.

My life as an American changed forever and life for all of us has been falling away ever since.

After that first day, I witnessed what most small-town reporters would never imagine. I met media from around the world, literally! I couldn’t believe how major media persons seemed to live out of their suitcases. I interviewed Laura Bush, Tom and Michele Ridge (who I had met before), U.S. Attorney Gen. John Ashcroft and Lynne Cheney (my favorite dignitary). I also wrote several stories for Reuters International. I gave countless interviews for other newspapers

God Bless America...

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Wilson Insurance Agency, Inc. 2073 U.S. 31 N., Petoskey (231) 347-4464 I FAX (231) 348-1190

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and radio stations. The whole experience was astounding and I enjoyed every second of it. It was life changing.

But, time has a way of healing all things. Now, 10 years have passed and my life has shifted from a full-time career toward family and faith, working out of my home as a freelance writer. I seldom ever think about that day, except now to sit down and write these memories.

My son Jordan and I stopped by the Flight 93 Memorial two summers ago and I found myself sobbing as I read the names of those aboard Flight 93. I never even expected to react like that and my son couldn’t understand why I was crying. He was only 2 years old when it all happened and has no memories.

But, for me and my generation, everything changed that day. All the rules were rewritten.

The solid ground gave way in more ways than one. We lost our innocence that day, didn’t we?

Perhaps, the whole event was an outward manifestation of a future society — government meltdowns, stock market crashes, small businesses closing, men and women outliving their jobs, downsizing and budget cuts. It all keeps collapsing.

Yet, small-town Americans like those living in Somerset County keep going despite everything else surrounding them.

May we keep our patriotism in our souls and shine it throughout the world as we remember this special anniversary that happened on our highland soil. Even though our lives have never been the same since, let us hope that through this experience we all learned how to love and give more of ourselves every day to rebuild a nation for future generations.

— Sandra Lepley

C4 SPECIAL ISSUE: SEPTEMBER 11: HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED, HOW WE HAVE CHANGED

Friday, September 9, 2011 •

IN OUR WORDS: 9/11 memories from the newsroom I remember Sept. 11, 2001, starting like any other day.

I was the editor of our weekly newspaper, The Charlevoix Courier, and it was the weekly deadline day. If I remember correctly, I was running a little late that morning and got in behind schedule, meaning I was in full work mode in trying to get the paper out by deadline.

A little later, I can’t remember the time, the advertising representative that worked in the Courier office with me, Kim Taylor, came into the newsroom to tell me a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I immediately figured it was a small single engine plane and continued on with my usual work of writing stories, editing stories and designing that week’s edition of the Courier.

A few minutes later, Taylor shouted from her office next to mine that another plane had hit the World Trade Center, then a plane hit the Pentagon.

She added they were large jets and it appeared we were under attack.

A little later, another plane went missing, and was later found to have crashed in Pennsylvania after the passengers fought back against their hijackers.

I remember going blank, not really knowing what to do. I tried to get onto the webpage of CNN (we did not have a television in the newsroom at the time) and found the site was down because of so much traffic. I turned on the radio in the newsroom and started hearing horrible stories of what had happened.

I just sat back at my desk, stunned, and figured the best I could do

was to continue working. Not long after, I heard sobbing in the doorway to the newsroom and Jeremy turned to McBain find my reporter, Julie Witthoeft, crying in the doorway and asking me what was going on and why this was happening.

I had no answers for her. I was just as confused.

As the day wore on, and I found out more details, my confusion turned to anger and sadness. This grew as each picture and news story of what had happened and what was happening came out from the various national media outlets. But there was also a certain pride I found myself feeling, pride in seeing the good in humanity being shown by people throughout the country and world for those who were victims of that attack.

But I reserved a special pride in knowing for the first time in my life that heroes certainly exist — the men and women of the various fire and police departments that charged into those towers, even as they were crashing down, to try and save others.

By the time I went to bed that night, I knew the world I woke up to that day was forever changed.

That day real-life monsters attacked our nation, but real-life heroes proved their existence and fought back. I now have a daughter, born in 2003, and when she asks me if superheroes are real, I think back to the firemen and police officers that day and say, “Yes. Yes they are.”

I was three months away from my college degree and just a couple of weeks from the end of my required internship at The Telegraph, a daily newspaper in Alton, Ill. The biggest story of my day was meant to be coverage of the annual Big Brothers/Big Sisters breakfast held early that morning.

That all changed rather quickly.

Everyone in the newsroom huddled around the television as I walked in, a sight that drew me into the crowd.

The North Tower of the World Trade Center billowed smoke into the sky and my editor told me network television reports said a small plane had hit it.

The general consensus at the moment was it was a tragic accident, a wayward plane flown haywire into the New York City skyline.

Then we watched live footage of the second airliner as it hit the South Tower. Without missing a beat, my editor turned to me — the only warm reporter body in the room — and sent me to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport with the newspaper’s veteran news photographer, John Badman.

It took John a record 20 minutes to drive us to the Midwest airport, where dozens and dozens of jetliners from both the East and West coasts landed and spilled their passengers into the already busy terminals.

Pilots parked planes on the lawn when they

ran out of boarding gates.

I knew what the word “pandemonium” meant, but Sheri had never McWhirter before witnessed it.

People raced around, paused to look at news footage on mounted televisions, then carried on in their mad dash for taxi cabs, hotel rooms and rental cars.

East Coasters tried to call loved ones on mobile phones and I remember one woman from New Jersey, who said her husband worked near the World Trade Center.

She frantically dialed numbers on her phone and I stood nearby when her husband answered one of her repeated calls.

A late-running dentist appointment made him late for work that morning and at that moment he was parked along a New Jersey freeway to watch smoke fill the sky from across the Hudson River.

Incredible relief shone through her tear-stained face and we nodded at each other as I moved on to find local travelers among the chaos.

In the end, the newspaper put out an extra edition that day, the first time it had done so since a major child murder conviction 11 years prior.

The paper hasn’t put out an extra edition since.

I will forever treasure my front page clipping from that day, along with the hands-on breaking news experience that will always mark my memory.

COURTESY PHOTO

The News-Review was about to complete its first year with a fresh, new redesign the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. Part of the new look involved putting a photo over the top of the nameplate to ‘tease’ the reader into being interested in a story on the inside.

One of my tasks at the time was to edit the photo and place it on the masthead at the top of the front page. I worked with Neil Stilwell, wire editor, to choose the subject. The story we were going to tease that day was a national feature about how hitting the snooze button could be detrimental to your health or something like that. So we had chosen to use a photo of an alarm clock. I had just finished placing the image when I heard Neil from the center of the plant, where the news wire feed was, call out, “Oh my God! Our country is being attacked!”

My initial thought was, “What is he overreacting about now?” but when I turned and saw the look of disbelief

The first words I heard after walking into work the morning of Sept.

11, 2001, was, “Look — a small plane crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers.”

It was just before 9 a.m., and I stood with my news director and the general manager of 9 and 10 News, the CBS affiliate in Cadillac, where I was the 5 p.m. producer at the time.

The three of us stood in the office lunchroom, watching the smoke billow from the tower on live television.

In the newsroom moments later, I gasped as I watched the second plane hit. And then the Pentagon. And then Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania.

We sent reporters all over that day — to the Mackinac Bridge, the airports, schools, police stations — all with the task of telling how the events affected Northern Michigan.

Meanwhile, those of us who worked in the newsroom all day, watched in horror with the rest of the world as our country was attacked.

I remember a news-

and dread on his face as he continued scanning the Associated Press monitors, Renée I knew Tanner it was for real.

We quickly turned on the radios scattered about the building and huddled around them, most of the work at a standstill around us.

Some things, however, were deadlining that morning, so a few employees plugged away in automatic mode, as they strained to hear the broadcast and to make sense of what was happening. Just before the paper was about to go to print, Neil, who usually walks very quickly, especially at deadline, soberly made his way back to my desk. “We have to change the masthead,” he said. “We can’t have an alarm clock on the front page today.”

We agreed the only artwork appropriate for the top of page one that day was the American flag at half mast.

room employee, crying in a back room because he couldn’t get a hold of a friend who Rachel worked in Brougham the World Trade Center. I remember another sitting out in her car for nearly an hour because she was just too upset and unready to face the reality of what was unfolding.

There was an overwhelming feeling of helplessness in the newsroom that day.

There was nothing I could do but sit at my desk and stare at an empty 5 p.m. rundown because I just didn’t know what was going to happen next. I couldn’t even write anything because the news just kept unfolding.

I went home that evening, mentally exhausted from watching the horrible images that flashed before me throughout the day. But even then, as I sat in my apartment late that night, I couldn’t stop watching, wondering if it was over.

What I recall most keenly about the morning of Sept. 11, 2011, is hearing my co-workers talking to their family and spouses who were at home watching CNN or other TV stations, calling up and telling us a plane had hit the World Trade Center.

I’m the Associated Press wire editor, then as now, so I immediately began refreshing my computer search of the wire looking for a story.

There was significant lag back then in the prebroadband Internet days (and we only had 56k dial-up, on two computers) between what you saw on TV and what came across for print, so our freshest information came from people calling from their homes as they watch the news. We were not allowed to have a TV in the

newsroom back then as it was deemed to be too much of a distraction, so we were pretty Neil much in the Stilwell dark.

A bunch of us huddled by the wire feed computer because it scrolled stories directly as they came in over our satellite, faster than a search from our own desks.

I remember as the news got grimmer and grimmer. At first I thought maybe it was a small plane. Then came the report it was an airliner.

Then came the report a second airliner had crashed into the towers.

And then, I knew. All hell broke loose.

My most vivid memory of being in the Petoskey News-Review newsroom on Sept. 11, 2001, was the stinging feeling my tears left on my cheeks. I could not stop crying. It was very chaotic in our tightly cramped room, as we were trying to get our “normal” morning duties accomplished, with the constant ringing of the phone, the people coming into the newsroom with endless questions. I had to try to keep myself as calm as I could when the first of my “away from home” college student children called. My daughter called first, from school in Indiana. Maggie was a sophomore at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., more than an 8-hour drive away. I can remember trying to reassure her to stay at school, not to drive home right then, and, “No, I don’t know very much right now.” My son JD was a freshman at Northern Michigan University. It

was the first phone call he made to me since he started school in August.

“Mom, what Debbie should I McGuiness do?” His dorm window faced the Marquette Armory and he said there were soldiers and trucks and all sorts of people gathering. I had to tell him to stay there, stay at school, try to find his stepbrother, Pat, and I would call him later.

Most of the morning was blurry through my tears, and I do remember the kindness of my editor and publisher, Ken Winter. At one point, I remember going into Ken Winter’s office. He motioned me to sit down, and he sat with me as I just sobbed. I couldn’t imagine how anyone could hate us, our country, so much, to do so much harm to so many innocent people.

Sept. 11, 2001 4 a.m. — My day begins on a happy note, rising at my usual hour but with plans that will not involve the newsroom for a few days. Little did I know then, the day would be one of the biggest news days in history.

I’m taking a two-day vacation and in just a few hours will be having lunch with a dear friend before traveling on to Lansing for a few days of sister-time.

As I prepare for a few days away with friends and family, I have no idea that our world is about to change forever.

State Police trooper on duty that day and he has warned her to stay home and close to a Babette phone until Stenuis Stolz he knows more. He tells her to tell me to avoid certain roads to their home because of traffic concerns.

9:20 a.m. — The car is packed, the pets are fed and I call my husband at work to say goodbye.

He tells me people are talking about a plane crash in New York City. It crosses my mind to turn on the television but a glance at my watch tells me if I’m going to get to Jennifer’s house in time for lunch I need to get going.

9:30 a.m. — I get in the car and promptly put on one of my favorite driving CDs, Brian Culbertson’s “Come on Up.” The music keeps up with my upbeat mood and before I know it, I’m almost to my destination.

10:30 a.m. — The CD ends so I turn on NPR for some news, and it’s not so much what the announcers are saying, but the sound of their voices, that tells me something is seriously wrong.

I turn up the volume and listen in disbelief to the news reports of a terrorist attack on our country. Time flies as I whiz down the highway at 70 mph, my mind going even faster. It occurs to me to call my friend to see if she’s aware of what’s going on.

Jennifer knows as much as anyone else does right now, and is perhaps a bit more panicked than some. Her husband is a

11:30 a.m. — As I get closer to their idyllic town, there appears to be more cars on the road than usual for a Tuesday morning. I notice the gas stations are especially busy, many with lines of vehicles waiting to get fuel. The lines make me anxious as I listen to the radio announcers analyzing the chaos taking place at that moment in New York City, Washington, D.C., and in a farm field in Pennsylvania.

When I arrive at Jennifer’s home our conversation quickly centers on the terrorist attacks. Instead of idle chatter over coffee, we sit in front of the television trying to absorb every morsel of news.

It wasn’t long ago we worked together in a newsroom, she as a reporter and I as an editor. Although she has changed careers and I’m taking a few days vacation from mine, we have a mutual appreciation for what it must be like in a newsroom today, as news professionals scurry to sort out what’s happening.

Jennifer and I share the country’s desire to know what’s going on and are relying on journalists everywhere to get us the information we crave. Information that is so surreal, we can’t believe it’s true. We sit close, and as we listen to news reports we gain an understanding of what’s taking place in our country, knowing it will shape the future of our world from this moment on.

Friday, September 9, 2011 •

SPECIAL ISSUE: SEPTEMBER 11: HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED, HOW WE HAVE CHANGED

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Petoskey natives who witnessed tragedy firsthand:

‘Resilience, resolve’ stem from Sept.11 Ryan Bentley

“The images will never go away, no matter how many years pass.”

(231) 439-9342 - rbentley@petoskeynews.com

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decade ago, Steve Fochtman and Ryan Nelson found themselves with first-hand views of hijacked jetliners as they flew toward destructive ends in New York City and northern Virginia.

Once the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks had fully unfolded at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the two Petoskey natives reacted with shock and disbelief. Ten years afterward, the sights and sounds experienced in the vicinities of the terrorist strikes remain clear in their minds.

“The images will never go away, no matter how many years pass,” said Fochtman, who worked for New York’s Cowen Group financial services firm in 2001 and continues to do so. “They’re just so vivid at any point.”

On the morning of the attacks, Fochtman — who was born in Petoskey and lived here through his early childhood — was working at a Cowen office on the opposite side of lower Manhattan from terrorists’ target, the World Trade Center.

He stepped away from the office to purchase some items at a nearby drugstore.

When he exited that store, he began to realize something odd was happening.

Fochtman noticed papers flying everywhere, a scene bearing some resemblance to a ticker-tape parade. He found the sight unusual, but headed back to work.

Once he had returned to his office, Fochtman heard rumors circulating among co-workers that a small commuter plane had struck one of the World Trade Center towers. They soon learned that the aircraft involved was in fact a large jetliner.

Soon, another plane came into view from Fochtman’s office, speeding over the East River toward the World Trade Center, and he realized an intentional attack was happening.

Fochtman lost sight of the aircraft when it passed behind a nearby building, but heard a thud when the plane hit the second tower.

Almost immediately, Fochtman’s office was evacuated. Beforehand, he contacted his wife, Crissy, who was at work elsewhere in New York City, and they agreed to meet at an apartment building where they had previously lived on Manhattan’s west side.

Steve Fochtman

COURTESY PHOTO

Petoskey native Steve Fochtman (right) is shown with his wife, Crissy and 4-year-old son, Gavin. Now a New Jersey resident, Fochtman was working in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, and clearly recalls images surrounding the terrorist attack that destroyed the World Trade Center that day.

Fochtman, now 40, recalls hearing rumors — some correct, some unfounded — about the extent of the attacks on the United States as he moved away from the office on foot.

Once he and his wife met up, they could not return immediately to their New Jersey home, since rail service out of the city had been halted and ferries were running only sporadically. The couple spent that night at a friend’s New York City residence.

Fochtman, who first moved to New York in 1993, works at an equity trading desk for Cowen, which was preparing to move farther north in Manhattan at the time of the 2001 attacks.

While working for a previous employer, Fochtman had been based at the World Trade Center, and had numerous acquaintances who still worked there when the terrorists struck. With mobile phone service overloaded, his early attempts to inquire about their safety were unsuccessful.

“I lost probably five acquaintances total,” Fochtman said, “five people that were very close. One was a roommate that I had lived with in New York for three years.”

Fochtman noted that quite a few of those who died in the World Trade

Center disaster were in their 30s and 40s and had started families. He said it’s painful to think about the opportunities that those parents missed out on to see their children — who are now in or approaching young adulthood — grow up.

For those living and working in New York, Fochtman said the World Trade Center towers’ collapses after the attacks left a lasting void in the skyline, even though numerous high-rise buildings have taken shape in the city since 2001.

“The skyline’s actually more crowded, but without those twin towers at the bottom of Manhattan, it’s just like a void that will never go away,” he said.

In the aftermath of the 2001 attacks, it was often observed that Americans began to place a higher priority on family. In his circle of acquaintances, Fochtman said the desire for more balance between work and home lives seems to have persisted.

“For the people that I work with, you can definitely see (life has become) less about the crew and more about family,” he said.

“You’re not trying to be at the office until all hours at night trying to get ahead.”

FILE PHOTO

Ryan Nelson

Off the flight path A little more than 200 miles southwest of the World Trade Center, Ryan Nelson was in his second day on the job at a recruiting firm’s office on Sept. 11, 2001. His workplace was located on the top floor of a high rise in Arlington, Va. — just outside Washington, D.C., and blocks from the Pentagon.

That morning, Nelson was sitting in a boardroom that had windows lining one entire wall. He was continuing with his training for the new job when a jetliner surged by immediately outside the building.

“The room began to

shake, and out of the corner of my eye the silver American Airlines plane came into view and then flew past the windows, less than 100 feet from us at full throttle,” Nelson recalled. “I think about that moment a lot — about seeing the cockpit windows as it lowered out of the sky, and hearing the engines gaining power.”

With Reagan National Airport nearby, Nelson initially figured that such plane approaches were an everyday occurrence.

But a few seconds later, Nelson heard his boss say, “Oh, my God,” and looked over his shoulder to see smoke beginning to rise.

When co-workers entered the room, shrieking and sharing news of the planes that had crashed

“I think about that moment a lot — about seeing the cockpit windows as it lowered out of the sky, and hearing the engines gaining power.”

Ryan Nelson

in New York, Nelson realized that what had unfolded at the Pentagon was no accident.

“There were a lot of tears and blank stares (around the office),” Nelson said. “I was in disbelief, and remember trying to get anyone to go with me down to the crash site to offer whatever help we could. I finally convinced my boss to drive, but as we saw people coming up the street he turned around, worried about what more he might see.”

After leaving to have lunch with others from his office’s staff, Nelson asked to be dropped off at his car. But he ultimately headed back into the office and spent some time catching up on television news coverage of the attacks and contacting friends and family. In the hours after the attacks, motor vehicles were not permitted to enter the District of Columbia, so Nelson could not return to his home there until after midnight.

Even a decade later, Nelson — who will turn 34 on Monday — said the sound of any large plane flying low and close can instantly make him recall that 2001 morning. But his many memories of the day generally come back just once a year, around the anniversary.

Nelson remained in Washington until 2006, spending part of his time there as a congressional staffer. He currently lives in Petoskey and works as a recruiter, helping medium- to large-sized manufacturing companies link up with professionals in accounting and finance.

For the United States as a whole, Nelson believes the Sept. 11 events have had lasting significance in several ways.

“Sharing tragedy gives people a bond, and so our nation came together,” he said. “In the months and years after 9/11, I think we’ve reflected, shown resilience and resolve, and have been humbled, realizing again how small our world is, how precious life is, and what a gift every day is that we live in peace.”

Where were you when you heard the news?

SHERI MCWHIRTER/NEWS-REVIEW

Kim Way, Charlevoix

Susan Cannon, East Jordan

Char Wehner, Boyne City

Geoff Morse, Harbor Springs

Jimi McTevia, Petoskey

“I was in the 7th grade in Mr. Drenth’s social studies class and we were one of the few classrooms that had a TV. So they announced it and a few other classes came in to watch it on TV for a while.”

“I was in my car on my way to school, to college. So I’d heard stuff on the radio, but when I got to campus at North Central Michigan College in Petoskey, everyone was gathered around the TVs. Students, everyone was in disbelief.”

“I was in Saginaw at work. We had a waiting room with a TV. As I was standing there watching it, the second plane hit and I thought ‘What in the world?’

I think it must have been the same thoughts people had when Pearl Harbor happened.

It was incredible.”

“I was mopping the cafeteria at Harbor Springs High School.

We had a television in the corner that was always on and I looked up and saw the second plane hit the tower. The rest of the day was spent being updated.”

“I was in Traverse City sitting in my home in front of my TV when it came on. I had been visiting with a friend when the news broke. Later on I had a job interview at Munson that day and every TV was on there.”

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C6 SPECIAL ISSUE: SEPTEMBER 11: HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED, HOW WE HAVE CHANGED

Friday, September 9, 2011 •

Mixing joy in with sadness

Sept. 11 has special meaning for Harbor Springs family Rachel Brougham (231) 439-9348 - rbrougham@petoskeynews.com

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ary Weitzel-Bailey and her husband, Fred, of Harbor Springs, knew they would be blessed with their third child on Sept.

11, 2001.

Mary was scheduled for a cesarean section and the beauty she awoke to that day is still a vivid memory.

“It was just a surreal morning,” she said. “I remember riding in the car at 5:30 a.m. to the hospital and seeing the sunrise over the bay and just thinking, ‘Wow, is this what it is like in Petoskey this early in the morning?’”

Mary and Fred’s daughter, Margaret (Maggie) Anne Bailey, was born at 8:28 a.m. at Northern Michigan (Regional) Hospital.

And while the Bailey family knew their life would be forever changed that late summer morning, they had no idea that just 18 minutes later, the entire world would change as well.

“I was in the recovery room and it was kind of strange because there was just one nurse in there with me instead of a big group of people. It was like everything had stopped,” Mary recalled. “Then I remember my husband coming in the room and told me a plane ran into the World Trade Center. I told him, ‘Planes don’t just run into the World Trade Center,’ and told him to go back out and watch (the news coverage) in the hallway.”

Minutes later, the second plane hit the World Trade Center. At 9:40 a.m., a plane crashed into the Pentagon,

COURTESY PHOTO

The Bailey family, seen here (from left), Sam, Fred, Maggie, Mary and John, experienced both joy and sorrow on Sept. 11, 2011. Maggie Bailey was born just minutes before the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center, and her birth gave those close to the family a reason to celebrate in the midst of all the sadness. followed by the plane that crashed just after 10 a.m. in Pennsylvania after passengers overpowered the hijackers.

At that point, the Bailey family realized Maggie’s birthday would be special for so many reasons. And those close to the family ended up turning their sights to the newborn for com-

fort on a day that was so dark.

“I just had so many visitors in the hospital — more than what I did when I had my two sons.”

“They even announced it at school that I had my baby daughter that morning,” added Mary, who is a physical education teacher at Pellston el-

ementary. “I think that all the visitors I had over that day and the next, and the fact they announced it at school was, for many, their way of taking a break from the darkness of that day.”

Then the gifts started arriving.

Mary estimates that she had

to write more than 80 thankyou notes for people who brought over gifts for baby Maggie, along with food for the family.

“Maybe it’s just because this was our first girl after having two boys, but it was just an outpouring of love we felt.

I really think people needed something to help them get through that horrible week,” she recalled.

Now, 10 years later, Mary said she is still sometimes a bit stunned when she has to write down her daughter’s birthday on school or medical forms.

She kept newspaper and magazine clippings that she has shared with Maggie to help her understand what happened on the day she was born.

And Maggie, who entered fourth grade at Shay elementary this week, knows her birthday will always have two distinct meanings.

“I think about my birthday and then all the people that died that day,” Maggie said.

“Most of the kids in my grade don’t really understand it much like I do because I was born on that day.”

The Baileys usually celebrate Maggie’s birthday on a day other than Sept. 11, but that hasn’t stopped those who know her from sending her birthday well wishes year after year.

“Even those we haven’t seen or talked to in awhile always remember Maggie’s birthday and send cards or leave messages for her on that day,” Mary said. “I think people try to remember the good in this day. We know Maggie’s birthday is something special in the middle of all the darkness.”

Sept. 11 — a difficult subject for educators Teaching Sept. 11 to younger children

Rachel Brougham (231) 439-9348 - rbrougham@petoskeynews.com

W

hile Sept. 11 is still a very difficult subject for many adults, talking with children about those events can be even more challenging.

Depending on the age, children may have vivid memories of the events surrounding that day, or none at all, so teachers take a variety of approaches when tackling the subject in the classroom.

The News-Review spoke with two area educators and a child psychologist to see how students are, and should be, learning about Sept. 11.

At the college level The events of Sept. 11, 2001, has affected the way Dennis Duggan teaches every one of his courses at North Central Michigan College in Petoskey.

From U.S. government and religion, to a sociology course on death and dying, Duggan said the events of that day 10 years ago has transformed all three of the subjects he leads.

“It’s an event that each and every one of these students, no matter what the course, has in common,” Duggan said. “Like the Kennedy assassination, it’s a day that has transformed our society in all aspects.”

When it comes to teaching courses in government, textbooks have been rewritten sev-

Dennis Duggan eral times since the attacks.

“Our whole way we look at the Constitution and how we look at war has changed,” Duggan said.

How war is declared, to civil liberties, the Patriot Act and human rights — Duggan explained that all are issues that were brought to the forefront in the aftermath of Sept. 11.

In his religion courses, Islam now has a more prominent role.

Duggan spends the first two weeks of the course helping students build their vocabulary of religious terminology, while also establishing basic knowledge of religion in America.

And unlike a decade ago, Islam now plays a central role in that study.

“Understanding the concepts and ideas of Islam, like all religions, helps students understand the role religion plays in our world,” Duggan explained.

“If you have an idea of what Islam is, you can understand their fundamental beliefs,” he added. “Sept.

11 is still tainted with our history regarding Islam tradition, and in

Matt Tamm many ways, we’re still trying to catch up.”

On the first day of each of his sociology courses on death and dying, Duggan shows students that they do have a death experience in common.

He asks each of the students to think about where they were on Sept. 11, and while every student has their own unique answer, that day was one they can all draw from.

“I ask them to walk through their experience — how that day affected their community, family, neighborhood — and how does that change your outlook about sudden death and dying,” Duggan asked.

“It gives us a common theme for the semester — something that we can look back on and think about how we felt.”

At the high school level On the first day of his AP Government class at Petoskey High School, teacher Matt Tamm gives his students a book titled “Common Sense Rediscovered,” by Dale Herder.

The book, just under 100 pages, explores how America responded to the events of Sept. 11.

“Since the first day of school is right around the anniversary of the attacks, it’s a great way to kick off the semester,” Tamm said of the book. “I have them read the book the first week and then we address

Brenda Hough a series of questions about the book and the lessons we’ve learned in the 10 years since the attacks. We also look at how policy was set by the Bush administration, and I try to encourage my students to look at different perspectives.”

Tamm, who has been teaching in Petoskey since 1993, now has students who were just 6 or 7 years of age when the attacks took place.

While they may have some memories of the events of that day, in the years to come, students will have fewer and fewer recollections of where they were and how they felt that day.

“Some may remember playing in the living room and seeing their parents upset — but that’s still going to be a memory they hold onto,” Tamm said.

Tamm also explained how the terrorist attacks, and the two subsequent wars since — Afghanistan and Iraq — have affected the community.

He keeps a list of Petoskey graduates who have joined the military since Sept. 11, and tries to keep up-to-date on their whereabouts, sometimes bringing in an alum to speak to his current students.

And these lessons keep his students engaged in not only the events of Sept. 11, but its aftermath as well.

“I really want them to be engaged in discussions about how that day has changed our world — how we responded, what has changed since — so we can gain different insights and hopefully encourage them to think about different perspectives,” Tamm said.

Depending on the grade, teachers take on the topic of Sept. 11 in a variety of ways.

While middle school students may write letters to service members, elementary-aged students may draw pictures of the American flag to hang up in the classroom.

Brenda Hough, a child clinical psychologist in Petoskey, urges parents and teachers to address the events of Sept. 11 not with a focus on death and the terror it created, but how the country has recovered and has since moved forward.

“It is a great opportunity to teach children that even in the most difficult and horrifying circumstances, we find ways to cope and can move forward,” Hough said.

Hough offered a variety of tips to help parents and teachers talk about the events with children of all ages.

“Be aware of your own behavior, emotions and reactions,” Hough said. “Children look to adults to understand how to respond to all events. This occurs even when adults are unaware of it.”

Reassure children that they are safe and that people are working hard all the time, day and night, to keep them that way.

“It’s important that children know that just a small group of people are bad, and that a majority of people are good,” Hough said. “And remind them that we have the ability to cope and move forward even after difficult times.”

Hough also added that many young children may not understand the concept of past, present and future, so parents of young children should emphasise that these events happened before they were born.

Finally, limit exposure of Sept. 11 media coverage.

“It can be hard to watch even for adults, so imagine what it would be like for a child,” Hough said. “If you do watch the coverage, don’t watch it all day, and watch it together so you can discuss it. Then do something together as a family, to demonstrate that life does go on.”

Friday, September 9, 2011 •

SPECIAL ISSUE: SEPTEMBER 11: HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED, HOW WE HAVE CHANGED

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Piece of Trade Center finds home on Beaver Island Sheri McWhirter (231) 439-9346 - smcwhirter@petoskeynews.com

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SHERI MCWHIRTER/NEWS-REVIEW

ABOVE: This bent chunk of steel and concrete came from the rubble at ground zero in New York City, where terrorists brought down the twin towers of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. It now serves as a memorial on Charlevoix County’s Beaver Island.

RIGHT: This plaque accompanies the chunk of rubble on Beaver Island that came from ground zero in New York City.

SHERI MCWHIRTER/NEWS-REVIEW

large chunk of rusted metal sits on a slab outside one of Beaver Island’s fire stations, something mainland Michiganders might not ever notice when they visit.

But island residents know precisely where that artifact came from and exactly why it’s on America’s Emerald Isle, a more than two-hour ferry ride into the heart of northern Lake Michigan. It came out of the rubble of the World Trade Center, the iconic double towers in New York City brought down by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001.

“I have never determined where this piece came from, other than to say it’s from one of the towers,” said Phil Hoffman, a former state lawmaker and Beaver Island summer resident.

Hoffman contacted New York City’s mayor’s office to collect two pieces of the building’s rubble, one for Beaver Island and another for Jackson.

He even went into the heart of the destruction to collect those pieces that later became memorials in Michigan.

“We got a truck in Jackson and went to Ground Zero. We went right down in it where they were taking debris out,” Hoffman said.

Tim McDonough, an island business owner, township official and fire chief, said the volunteer firefighters who protect the island seemed ecstatic that a Sept. 11 memorial would be erected outside their door.

“All of them were thrilled to even get it,” McDonough said.

Firefighters across the United States reported overwhelming feelings of sadness or determination that tragic day, a full decade ago. The same is

true on Beaver Island, among the nation’s most remote locations.

McDonough said Beaver Island firefighters could not keep away from news broadcasts on Sept. 11, 2001.

“Everybody was glued to the TV. We watched all day,” he said. “You just felt so bad and helpless. Those firefighters ran into those buildings not knowing what would happen.”

A constant reminder of that sacrifice is a good thing, both Hoffman and McDonough agreed.

“People need reminders, lest they forget,” Hoffman said.

“It’s a living reminder of how bad it can get.”

Each year as the anniversary of that fateful day approaches, the island’s AMVETS Post 46 organizes a memorial service and this year’s is expected to be a whopper of a gathering. Predictions call for all island residents to turn out.

“It’s as much an observation of the day as it is a recognition of first responders, both that day and here on the island,” said Bob Tidmore, the group’s commander. “Both the schools and the citizens come out.”

This year’s 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks is expected to draw out record numbers to memorial events on Beaver Island and across the country.

“The whole darn island will be there,” said JoAnne Cashman, island resident and community center worker.

Beaver Island residents are already well-known for their patriotism, so it would be more of a shock if the memorial service failed to draw forth the people, she said.

Hoffman agreed.

“These folks here are very patriotic. It doesn’t get any better than here on Beaver Island,” he said.

Right place at the right time Petoskey alum, along with furry friend, lends hand to Press Corps on Sept. 11 Rachel Brougham (231) 439-9348 - rbrougham@petoskeynews.com

Just before Christmas, 2001, Norman Smith, a Petoskey High School graduate, received this letter from President Bush, thanking him for his service on Sept. 11.

N

orman Smith, a 1974 Petoskey High School graduate, thought he was going to spend much of Sept. 11, 2001, visiting with and meeting dignitaries.

He was talking with then Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, brother of President George W. Bush, when things went in a different direction.

“I was trying to promote our group and a woman nearby answered the phone, got all panicked and gave the phone to Jeb’s security guy,” Smith recalled.

“There was a lot of commotion and I knew something was wrong.”

Smith was living in Florida at the time and was working with Paladin Associates, an organization that trained dogs to sniff out bombs and drugs. The group would then bring the dogs into schools to do locker searches.

On that Tuesday morning, Smith was at Dolphin Aviation in Sarasota, Fla., talking with local and state leaders about the organization, trying to expand it into other parts of the country.

The minutes that followed that frantic phone call were filled with chaos.

President Bush was also in Sarasota that morning. He was reading to students at Booker Elementary School when he learned a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.

Smith recalled that Secret

COURTESY PHOTO

Norman Smith, formerly of Petoskey, leads one of his dogs on a search of the White House Press Corps plane on Sept. 11, 2001.

Service members soon swarmed the airport. President Bush was escorted to Air Force One, which quickly took off.

But the White House Press Corps remained at the airport.

“The next thing I knew, the Press Corps pilot told me, ‘Tell me about your dogs. I’m not leaving until this plane is checked out,’” Smith said.

Smith explained to the pilot that his dogs were trained to sniff out bombs and drugs.

“I was just in the right place at the right time,” Smith said.

“That day was so insane, things were unfolding so fast and I think they just didn’t know what to expect. The sheriff’s office

bomb dog wasn’t available and no local law enforcement had dogs trained to do this type of work.”

For the next 40 minutes, Smith, his three dog handlers and four dogs, scoured the Press Corps plane and gave it the all clear.

In the days that followed, Smith wrote a letter to President Bush and sent along photos of his dogs working on the Press Corps plane.

Just before Christmas that year, he received a response from President Bush.

It read in part, “Your immediate response to search the Press Corps plane for weapons and

COURTESY PHOTO

explosives demonstrates the true character of America. Your staff and dogs ensured the safety of the Press Corps and allowed them to do their important work of communicating the day’s events to Americans across the country.”

“God bless you and the Paladin Associates’ staff, and God bless America.”

“It was just a really nice acknowledgement,” Smith said of the letter. “It’s just so vivid in my mind; it was an amazing op-

portunity on a really sad day for America.”

Smith now lives in Presque Isle County and works with the county’s emergency management team.

While he’s no longer with the organization Paladin Associates, he keeps photos of the dogs he worked with, along with the letter from President Bush in a special binder.

“I was happy to lend a hand,” he said. “It makes me feel proud.”

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C8 SPECIAL ISSUE: SEPTEMBER 11: HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED, HOW WE HAVE CHANGED

Friday, September 9, 2011 •

“September 11 – A time of remembrance”

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