Blast from the past: 9/11's other lesson

From The News & Reporter, Sept. 13,2006

We have always had appreciation and respect for what firefighters and emergency medical technicians do.
Firefighters run into burning buildings to save people’s lives, then work as hard as they can to protect people’s property and minimize the disruption that a disaster can bring.
Sometimes it’s paramedic doing advanced medical procedures, while other times, it’s just the speed with which ambulance drivers get injured or sick people to a hospital as fast as possible, but EMTs hold our lives in their hands.
Some of us took them for granted, but others, while appreciating their efforts, fell into the habit of expecting that what they do would get done, somehow, by somebody.
That’s one thing that the tragedies of Sept. 11, 2001 changed, mostly for the better. We’ve learned to look around more often and to say, “Thank you,” to those who protect our lives and property.
Some say emergency personnel are now in the frontline in our war on terrorism. They will be the first called if something happens. It is frightening, but still those folks still step up.
At the same time, we hear, particularly from some volunteer fire departments, that the number of volunteers is dwindling. Our volunteers need help and backup.
The Richburg Fire Department has many volunteers, but too many work so far away during the day they cannot respond, or cannot respond in time, to emergencies. The department last year averaged slightly more than a call a day. It is now a tax district and will within the year begin hiring a few paid professionals to work the day shift, to bridge that gap. But it is stretched, now.
The Lando Fire Department is putting the finishing touches on a new station in Edgemoor, its main station. It has been built big not just to accommodate the trucks that are getting bigger and bigger.
It will have beds and showers so that crews can stay overnight at the fire station. The chief and the fire board hope the new station attracts more volunteers from the community.
We applaud the department and fire board for their work in bringing the station,more than a decade in the making, to fruition.
The Chester Rescue Squad sold barbecue on Labor Day weekend. It is staffed entirely by volunteers. When we went by the preparation, we saw a healthy dose of younger members.
But the squad needs a new rescue truck — the current truck is both old and overloaded.
The squad is raising $100,000 the hard way — one plate of barbecue at a time.
It is good to say thank you to those volunteers. But just saying thank you isn’t enough. If you’re able-bodied and have the time, consider volunteering. If you don’t have the time, but have the means, donate to your local squad or to your local fire department.
They risk their lives to save ours. They deserve more than thanks.

Blast from the past: Volunteering a way of life for some

All year you have to beg people to give blood. Yesterday the man at St. Vincent’s asks the crowd to please stand in line and not be impatient.

–– Jimmy Breslin
Newsday Columnist
Sept. 12, 2001

There is a wonderful spirit of volunteerism in America right now.
Newsday columnist Jimmy Breslin puts it in perspective, and we want to take it a step further.
Americans respond admirably to a tragedy. Right now, we can’t think of a tragedy in recent history whose scope matches the intentional plane collisions of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the crash of a hijacked plane almost certainly on a similar murder/suicide
mission.
All around the country, people send their sympathies and beg to help out. A firefighter living in Myrtle Beach, originally from New York City, whose son still lives in New York City, took three other Myrtle Beach firefighters with him to help. Volunteers from all over the country have come to New York to assist in removing debris.
So many have come, in fact, that most are being turned away. People in the country have been trying to help out most by donating blood.
There was a blood drive in Allendale County last week. It had been planned before the terrorist attack. The Red Cross brought enough supplies for 50 donors, thinking it would not need that many. The Bloodmobile ran out.
Nationally, possibly for the first time ever, the nation’s blood supplies are full. So many people were donating blood that they too were turned away. Donated blood can be kept for 45 days. In a few weeks, it will be time to collect a new 45 day supply.
There will be a blood drive in our parking lot Nov. 1. The People-Sentinel, is partnering with the Shepeard Community Blood Center and Barnwell County Hospital.
We hope as many people and more turn up here as turned up in Allendale. The tragedy will be months in the past then, but people shouldn’t forget.
All this, we think, is a sign of the goodness and the volunteer spirit that lies in all Americans – it is a sure sign of why we’ll win the war on terrorism once launched.
But we also want to remind people of an article in last week’s paper. We wrote about Billy Jean Sprawls of Williston, who received a state then a national award for her volunteerism. She received it before the attacks.
The people rushing to donate and volunteer are to be commended for their response to this tragedy. What then can you say about a person such as Sprawls?
For her, volunteerism isn’t a response, it’s not a reaction. She’s pro-active. For her, helping out is a round-the-clock way of life. People in the area should be proud to have such a neighbor to set an example for us.

Blast from the past: Yesterday, September 11th, 2001

On Sept. 11, 2001, I had more to say than normal, which is saying a lot. In addition to our regular editorial, I wrote the below special editorial. I also wanted to send another message, stronger than the cautionary editorial, so I created this editorial cartoon. Wish the cartoon had been more accurate.

From The People-Sentinel, Sept. 12, 2001

A great speech once firmed up a nation’s resolve and made Americans take on their greatest task.
We adapt that speech to yesterday’s happenings to give a cautious perspective on what has happened.
“Yesterday, September 11th, 2001, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by ...”
That’s where we have to come to a dead halt.
Live on CNN and other networks, live via streaming video on the Internet, we saw what might be this generation’s Pearl Harbor. America is at war, but we must ask the honest question – with whom?
The attack almost 60 years ago that catapulted the United States into World War II with its firm resolve was a sneak attack. But the “naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan” that sneaked under our guard each carried the blazon of the Rising Sun. We knew Japan had done the deed and directed our righteous rage there.
The planes that crashed into the World Trade Center, collapsing both towers, were just as sneaky, just as “dastardly.”
But they were unmarked.
As of this writing, it is too soon to know who did the deed. A million petty groups with imagined gripes against the United States will claim the “credit” for this slaughter of innocents.
We are not warning against anger. We must feel anger at an attack on our seat of government, and a military command center. We should feel a justified rage, a righteous sense of indignation, in the attack on the World Trade Center. That was an assault on civilians, innocents people just trying to do a normal day’s work.
But let us hold off our anger and our response until we know for sure where to direct our anger.
After the bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma, many quickly assumed crazy Islamic fundamentalists did a deed actually done by home grown terrorists.
It is not so illogical an assumption this time. The World Trade Center has been attacked before by Islamic fundamentalists.
But until we know for sure who did this, do not utter a word against any group. When the attackers are identified, do not lump the extremists who did such a deed in with others who share the terrorist’s religion or race.
Sixty years later, Roosevelt’s words are still a panacea. “Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. … Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces -- with the unbounded determination of our people -- we will gain the inevitable triumph -- so help us God.”

Blast from the past: Everybody should go to New York

From The People-Sentinel, Sept. 11, 2002

A year ago today, I was on my way to work. I was about to turn off the radio when I heard someone call up WDOG and say, "A plane hit the World Trade Center in New York. It's on CNN."

So instead of going to work on time, I turned on the television and watched. I saw black smoke billowing from one tower in a far off shot. Then I saw the second plane hit, and I knew, as everyone did. We were at war. With whom, I didn't know, but I was certain, we were at war.

I was born in the Bronx, and some of my greatest childhood memories were of going to the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. I had pictures that I had taken on visits as an adult. I used to have a city planning book, huge, from the '60s, when the World Trade Center was just a plan, an ambitious dream for the future. I had framed aerial pictures of Lower Manhattan that my father bought and later gave to me. I went home and got my personal pictures and the framed tourist photos, and used them to illustrate our coverage, done on deadline.

The photo to the left is not one of mine. A few weeks after the tragedy, Wynell Sullivan of Blackville came and brought them to me, saying she had been on a trip to New York City in 1997. This particular shot was taken from a tour boat in the Hudson River.

It was a great, clear day and she had a good camera. My personal shots were taken on a hazy day with a disposable camera. But we were done with our 9/11 coverage, I told her then, I couldn't use them then. But keep them out, I said. I'll find a way to use them/

Wynell's son works in New York. Like anyone who knew anybody in New York, she got in touch as soon as possible with her son. He wasn't in New York, but she had to talk to him about it.

She was awed by the energy and noise of the city on her first visit, she said. Not only did she see the World Trade Center from the harbor, she went to the top with her son, husband and in-laws.

Everybody should go to New York City one time, she said last week when I talked to her about her trip and her pictures.

She's going back, soon.

Like me, she was listening to WDOG when she heard about it.

"I turned on the TV and was shut to the TV for several days after that, like everybody, I guess," she said.

And she remembered.

"It was amazing to be at the World Trade Center," she said. She remembers standing in line for a long time, going through tight security.

Her son was in Texas visiting his in-laws instead of working in New York. He was supposed to go back Sept. 12, but flights were delayed because airports were shut down. When he got back to New York, he volunteered for a time with the American Red Cross.

"It doesn't seem like a year," Wynell said. "Not quite like a year. Seems longer than that."

I know exactly what she feels. I've lived most of my life in South Carolina, yet I was born in New York. You can't take the New York out of this New Yorker.

I always want to go back. But the obsession is gone, and won't be back for a while. I think it's tied up with what's happening in New York City, where they cannot agree upon what to do with the 16 acres on which the Twin Towers once stood. We all know it is an unidentified problem. I think I know what the real problem is.

"There is a hole in reality, in our minds' reality. The hole is 1,300 feet tall, it's shaped like two buildings. Everytime we look at the skyline, we don't see what's there. We clearly see what isn't there. We lose a tiny bit of pride each time we look.

Some people say we can't build the towers back, because we'd be building where more than 3,000 died. But there are no tombs there. The two square buildings were built on one square block diagonally across from each other on the corners, like a checkerboard. We could put up two more buildings on the site with neither sited where the others were formerly sited.

I think they shouldn't build a memorial until about 10 years have passed.

But they need to build the Twin Towers back. They need to build them back on the site, but not the exact same location. They need to be as tall or taller.

The only way to fill the hole in our psyche is to fill it full again. No half measures. Some say they were signs of American arrogance. Many who said such things are those who hijacked the planes or supported those that did. Other countries have built taller structures since, yet they are not accused of arrogance. None of those countries attempted to build anything like it before America proved it could be done.

The Twin Towers ‑ I always took pride in those buildings. They were a testament to what America could accomplish.

We can't decide on what to do, and we can't agree on a national course, because when we look where they were, when we see the gaping hole in our memories,  we can't deal with it.

Such buildings were once considered an impossible dream. People said the planners dreamed too big. But, it turned out, the dream was possible. Just by being there, the buildings told us anything we dreamed was possible.

Sept. 11, 2001 was a nightmare by any definition of the word, but not only did it steal the dream we made a reality, but it seems to have stripped us of our will to dream again and to dream big. We shouldn't let that happen. It was horrific, but we have to remember the thugs who did this, who now take delight in our unwillingness to dream, did something that required little thought, a little devilish inspiration and a monstrous helping of inhumanity.

The act of building the Towers, however, was an act of genius, inspiration and courage.

Wynell Sullivan was right.

It doesn't seem like a year. Before then, we lived in a time when Americans dreamed big and anything was possible. It seems so far off. It seems like a lifetime has passed for the survivors.

Blast from the past: Pipes play funeral songs of courage, defiance

From The People Sentinel, Sept. 19, 2001 edition

People were starting to turn away from their television sets on Saturday.

Four days of being bombarded wih image after image  began to be too much.

So maybe they missed the first of many, many funerals we will be watching in the months to come.

A funeral mass was held for Father Mychal Judge, a Franciscan priest, chaplain to the New York City Fire Department. The New York City Police Department’s Emerald Society, a band of bagpipers, played. They played the easily recognized Amazing Grace. They played other pipe tunes.

As they brought his casket in to the church, however, they played a particular tune, an Irish tune. It wasn’t religious, which one might play for a priest.

He was Irish, and it was Irish.

I was talking to a friend about it. He said his sister-in-law and her husband were OK. He did it to stop me, because I forgot, and so forgot to ask. They live in Washington D.C. and work in government.

I had been focusing on New York, of course.

But again, the attack is so far-reaching. I don’t know why I always make these things personal. But this is personal.

Those that did this evil not only jarred my present. They have stolen something magical from my past, and robbed a bit of my future.

I was a Boy Scout, and my brother was still a Cub Scout. The pack rented a bus and drove downtown. We went to the World Trade Center, went up to the observation deck, went up to roof, which has an observation tower. We touched the clouds.

We went to a fire station downtown as well. An old one, I believe it was fire company 10, a hook and ladder company. It was an old station kept in active service. There I learned for the first time the real hazard of firemen, and learned what firemen do when they hit a place on fire.

Head to the top. The sooner they get to the top, they can open up the roof to get in as much water as possible. Running through flames, they head to the top.

We went to the Statue of Liberty as well. We also went up to 27th and Lexington Avenue, to the National Guard Armory. It is the armory of a storied regiment, an Irish regiment, the Fighting 69th. The 69th fought in the Civil War, fought in World War I. My father,when he was in the National Guard, was in the unit before transferring to the Air Force.

They didn’t sing it, just played it slowly on the pipes. But I know the tune, I have the words.

It is a song of courage and defiance called the Minstrel Boy.

I don’t think I have yet really dealt with the attack on the United States, and particularly the destruction of the World Trade Center.

The attack is so far reaching. We still are just guessing how many people have been killed and injured in both places. But the attack hit the fabric of our lives in other ways. Sports games were cancelled, but thankfully, our local boys played on, giving some a break from horror.

Sooner or later, you will probably find someone you know who was there, near there, or someone you know knows someone. It will hit you.

Yesterday, I got through to my cousin Jimmy’s wife Molly. They had no business being anywhere near the World Trade Center and weren’t. But people kept asking. Jimmy works in Midtown Manhattan, so he shouldn’t get that far downtown. Until yesterday, who knew?

The little fire house was in the shadow of the World Trade Center. It is not shadowed any more. The armory has become a center for people to come to get information about those lost and those fallen and those still missing.

The Twin Towers are gone.

I’m at a point now when I don’t think I will ever move back to New York City, but you never know. I always planned to return, someday, with any kids I may be lucky enough to have, to recreate for them the wonderful day I had when I was young and the world was safer.

That trip is on hold until they restore the towers, which I hope they do, only higher.

All this, and more, I was thinking as I watched the funeral mass for Fr. Judge, as I heard the pipes play and ran through my mind the words to a song of courage and defiance.

“The Minstrel Boy to the war has gone in the ranks of death you will find him. His father’s sword he has girded on and his wild harp slung behind him. Land of song, said the warrior bard, though all the world betray thee – one sword at least thy rights shall guard one faithful harp shall praise thee.

"The Minstel fell but the foeman’s chain could not bring his proud soul under. The harp he loved ne’er spoke again for he tore its chords asunder and said “No chains shall sully thee, thou soul of love and bravery! Thy songs were made for the pure and free, they shall never sound in slavery!”

I have no shortage of defiance. I’m looking for courage.

REPOST: Casualties of war: From the first to the 41st

You know who George Buggs is, though you probably don't remember. But I remember.
In 2003, I was the managing editor of The People-Sentinel in Barnwell. When the war broke out, the publisher said we had to do something for the troops. that's it. Something. No explanation or ideas.
i brainstormed with my lone reporter, and we came up with an idea.
Just days into the war in Iraq, a story was foisted on the American public about a little girl from West Virginia in a military convoy gone astray who bravely fought off swarming Iraqis until she ran out of ammo. She was later rescued by a special ops team.
Turned out it wasn't quite true. She was captured, but never fired a shot. She had broken legs It was a cynical attempt to manufacture a heroic symbol. The worst part of it was others were killed in that convoy, but they were ignored, and are, in many ways, still forgotten.
George Edward Buggs was in that same convoy with Jessica Lynch. He might have been in the same vehicle. We'll never know for sure what really happened. But while Jessica Lynch survived and was rescued, George Buggs was one of eight soldiers killed in that action, the first soldier from South Carolina to be killed in either of these latest wars.
Because of what we had done in our paper, we should have been prepared. But Buggs' family had not filled out a little slip of paper nor given us his photo. We had to go find them to get their story.
Over the course of two weeks and three papers, we covered the story of his life and death as well as any paper.
Like a good community paper, we not only wrote stories, but we helped the funeral home with some of the things they needed. We enlarged the few, poor Polaroids the family had, for one thing.
Because he was the first Palmetto State casualty, S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford attended his funeral and spoke at it, hopping down from a stage to give a Palmetto State flag to George Buggs' son.
It was a big event. The death scarred the community a little.
When the war is over, they are supposed to do something special for him and all the men who served.
When the war is over. Some now might call that a cruel joke.
George Buggs was career military. He left behind a wife and a son.
When I heard how Buggs used to love to take his son to the movies, I was tempted, so tempted, to fill that void. I love movies, after all.
I wasn't to stay much longer in Barnwell, it turned out. But my heart went out to the son, the wife, Buggs' parents, and the community.
At that time, I didn't understand why a boy was left without a father, a mother without a son, a wife without a husband. A few months later, another young man died, an Allendale County native.
Orenthal Smith was his name. He was the fourth South Carolinian killed in the war. I sat down in my office and talked for a while with his mother and sister. We got the reaction of friends, family,
I remember having again the thoughts. Why?
It is more than three years later. I'm in another community, and I have to retrace some of my old steps to tell a story that I've told in some ways before.
Spc. D. Logan Tinsley is apparently the 41st person from South Carolina to die in this war. But he is the first from Chester County.
He is the first war zone casualty involving a Chester County man since the Vietnam War, his ROTC instructor said. So the county might not fully be prepared for this. We don't know what will happen to the community. His mother doesn't even know for sure when his body will be brought home.
I talked to my mother the other day. It was Christmas after all. I don't know in what context it came up, but at one point, she said she believes in miracles. Her faith is a tower. Mine isn't even the straw hut blown down by the big bad wolf.
But I flash back, sitting in a crowded school gym and at the graveside with the family of the first man from our state killed in this war, I remember sitting there with the family of the fourth, in my office, talking about a lost loved one. And here I am again, sitting in the home of the 41st young man killed in this war.
I don't know why and can't fathom why this happens.
But I hope my mother is right, that there are miracles. I pray Logan Tinsley will be the last from South Carolina to die in this war.
But it will take a miracle.

Joint committee seeks more control over development | Fort Mill Times - Fort Mill, SC

Joint committee seeks more control over development | Fort Mill Times - Fort Mill, SC