Opinion
Commentary: 9/11 – A Personal Memoir
(Author’s note: this commentary was written on September 11 and 12, 2001, as events transpired. It has since been reprinted in various edits in various years on the anniversary of those 9/11 terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Today, September 11, 2023, 22 years on from that horrific day, let us pause and remember not only those who died and those they left behind but the specific example of those first responders who walked into danger to offer a helping hand to those trapped inside the twisted wreckage of hatred delivered to NYC but did not walk out. For it is their example and sacrifice on that day that points humanity toward a better future where 9/11 and Kabul Airport bombings are a part of our past rather than the expectation for our collective future.)
September 11, 2001: The faint ring of a telephone stirred me from a restless sleep. I grudgingly opened my eyes and realized that it was fairly early in the morning on Tuesday, a weekend for me in my current employment cycle … I stumbled into my adjacent office and, without my glasses, tried to make out the caller ID through a sleep-encrusted blur. I lift the receiver.
“Turn on your television!” my friend Dewey’s voice commanded excitedly. “We were watching one of the World Trade Center buildings burning after a plane ran into it about 15 minutes ago and another one just flew into the other building!”
“When?” – Reality and dreams seemed to be mixing, though I thought I was awake.
“Now!!! A second ago,” Dewey said & I knew this was not a “Jerky Boys” prank phone call. I hung up the phone without responding. I understood as my mind snapped to, that the information was presented not for discussion but for action. I was at my complex of three televisions at the far end of my third-floor loft apartment over the Main Street Mill that was so reminiscent to me of the fifth-floor walk-up loft I had sublet for a year 11 blocks north of the World Trade Center some 20 years earlier. I hit the “on” button on the smallest of the three, the old 13-inch that I had gotten from my mom. It sat several feet from my living area couch and was my preferred home-alone viewing screen. Perhaps its size helped me maintain the illusion that I wasn’t really addicted to it.
The crystal-sharp satellite picture quickly appeared, I picked up the remote and punched in 970, the satellite channel for the NBC affiliate in Washington, D.C. As a child, it would, as likely as not, have been the morning news station I would be watching as I got ready for school and my parents prepared for their respective federal government jobs in D.C. and Rosslyn, Virginia.
There they were, the twin towers gleaming on a bright September morning against a cloudless, bright, blue sky – except for the huge plumes of black smoke pouring from the top 20 or so floors of both buildings. I flashed on the old ’70s movie “Towering Inferno.” How did that movie I’d never seen more than about 10 minutes of at a time end?!? How many were saved? How long did it take to finally – just burn out?
Bryant Gumble’s calm TV voice hypnotically recited the facts as known at – I flicked the info button to see the time: 9:07 a.m.
“Two planes … believed to be a 737 and a 767 … 18 minutes apart … North Tower first, then the South Tower … Not known if intent or accidents … Here it is. Watch to the right of your screen, and you’ll see the second plane as it approaches and plows into the South Tower.”
Oh man, that wasn’t an accident!! There was malevolent intent apparent the first time I saw it. That building was a target. But can’t alarm the public with unsubstantiated theories – public, I have public there!!!
I raced back to my office for the phone. Stuart and Annie Lee, my friends since college days in Richmond, Virginia, at old VCU, the urban university; Stuart and Annie, whom I sublet that Lower Manhattan loft from in 1979-80, when I had my New York state of mind experience, still lived in that five-story walk-up, 11 blocks from the World Trade Center.
The World Trade Center twin towers presented a surreal backdrop to lower and even near mid-town Manhattan, the latter as pictured here when the author lived 11 blocks north of them in 1980. – Photo/Roger Bianchini
Two-one-two, two-zero-two, NYC/DC, I always transpose those area codes in my head. I focus and dial two-one-two … The line picks up on the second ring. It is Annie’s voice, “Hello” – she seems breathless.
“Annie, what the hell is going on up there,” I blurt out, not letting on how relieved I am to hear her voice.
“I don’t know, but it’s pretty bizarre,” she replied.
We used to joke about whether the North Tower, the closest one to their loft, would fall on their building if it tipped over on its side northbound. It seemed that close, those big rectangles looming out of the back loft windows and over the rooftop deck Stuart had built. That was after their 1977 wedding in Charleston, South Carolina, Annie’s home turf. I glanced at the time on the caller ID. It was 9:11 a.m. – REALLY?!? I thought without verbalizing it.
“I just saw a tape of the second plane hitting the second building,” I said.
Annie hesitated, then said, “Roger, I was down there when they exploded.”
I was stunned. She had been closer than her home at 9 in the morning. Was she nuts? What was Annie, an artist, a sculptor, doing in the financial district at 8:45 in the morning? I must have verbalized the question as well as thought it.
“I was at the fish market they have in the parking lot on the east side of the Trade Center on Tuesdays and Thursdays (that’s an acceptable reason, I thought). We heard a plane, and we all ducked. We knew it didn’t belong there so low over the city. Then the building exploded, and we had to run under this building overhang to get away from all the burning debris that was coming down after the explosion. After the second explosion, I thought I better get out of there, and I went to look for my bike, which was on the Trade Center side. Luckily, it was OK, and I just came in the door when you called.
“You said the plane HIT the building?” she trailed off, apparently just making the connection between the low-flying plane that had caused those at the fish market to duck reflexively and the first explosion. “I didn’t, we didn’t – Listen, Roger, I don’t mean to cut you off, but I want to clear the line for my mom. I know she’s going to try and call or I should call her before the lines get clogged up.”
“OK, sure. Where’s Stuart,” I wanted to make sure the calm in her voice included knowledge of Stuart’s whereabouts before we disconnected.
“He’s here.”
“Good. You all take care and stay in touch.” I hung up.
They were OK.
That she was down there in physical jeopardy had jolted me …
I was back at the TV. I plopped on the couch. It was 9:15. It was like I was hypnotized, the emotional trauma of world-changing events perceived at an almost subconscious level. In a weird way it was like 1963 and 1968. But no, it was 2001 – the real first year of not only a new century but a new millennium; 2001 much bigger deal than 1901; none like it since 1001 – a thousand-year bookmark on the pages of history. So, I channel surf throughout the morning of September 11, 2001.
The World Trade Center and the Pentagon are in flames!! All air traffic to the U.S. being diverted, and all planes in the states being brought down. – How?
“A plane down in the woods of western Pennsylvania – Camp David may have been the target” is theorized on the air.
BUT THEN – a huge plume of smoke in lower Manhattan. What the …?!?!
Is there only one building there?
It’s gone.
In a panic, I look for competent reporting and a familiar voice. CNBC broadcasts from lower Manhattan, competent, who knows; familiar and boots on the ground, yes.
“One of the two World Trade Center towers has collapsed,” a camera shot from across the Hudson River – lower Manhattan looks like it is on fire – back to NWI (News World International) – they had the live feed from a New York City ABC affiliate earlier with a poor guy on the phone who was trapped on the 85th floor because the fire doors had locked up – which building was he in? Is he dead? He said things were under control and stabilizing, and he was giving directions to where he and one other person were trapped with windows blown out – the firemen must have been going up …
Watching NWI with their main Canadian affiliate as … the … second tower … collapses from the top down – “Oh my God. Oh my God,” the on-air voice repeats, calm but distraught, how is that even possible? – as off camera, yelling and screaming with no pretense of calm maintained as the North Tower joins its sibling on the ground … where am I?!!? Two 110-story buildings … gone …
I watch lower Manhattan from across the Hudson River again. It is totally enshrouded in smoke. Are people suffocating in that? Could you breathe in there?
Again, try Stuart and Annie. Nothing …
Then tears came, and I sobbed with worry for my friends and for my old neighborhood; for 50,000 or 5,000 people, I didn’t know; for two buildings that had stood like a magical, surrealistic backdrop to an already magical skyline for a quarter of a century or more; for the firemen and the cops who went in there trying to get trapped people out … It’s just enormously, monumentally tragic and screwed up and I don’t feel bad about crying …
That it has come to this is tragic in more than the obvious ways. – Things will never be the same. A dark thought flashes into my consciousness – is that what it is really all about?
As the day progresses, I follow the pending collapse of adjacent buildings, watch ghost-like, dust-covered people stumble, walk calmly with their briefcases, or run from the rubble and spreading, spewing cloud that covers lower Manhattan.
As the skies over America clear of all air traffic for the first time in the age of air travel, an age that has existed all of my life, I wonder how the next attack will come, who will bring it, and why …
As the day progressed into night, lower Manhattan took on an eerie look as powerful spotlights bracketed debris and the continually rising cloud of smoke from fires burning deep within the rubble of 220 stories, estimated at 1.2 million tons of debris that will take a year to clear …
Who knows how long it will take my mind – or anyone’s – to assimilate what has happened.
By Roger Bianchini
Sept. 11-12, 2001
Opinion
Backing Crystal Cline: A Veteran Sheriff’s Endorsement for Warren County’s Future
I am writing to support Crystal Cline in her pursuit of the office of Sheriff of Warren County. Crystal has demonstrated all of the qualities needed to be a Sheriff, including respect for her peers, honesty, and an ability to analyze the needs of her community.
All of these are necessary traits, but I recently discovered, by mistake, a trait I had never experienced. Crystal is a very thoughtful person.
In the past week, Crystal and I have exchanged text messages as she has sought advice. During our exchange, she sent me a text that was intended for someone while she was following up on a difficult family issue. She demonstrated to me in a text that she exhibits a wonderful personal touch.
Sheriffs, I believe, need to exhibit compassion and empathy. We respond to assist people at the toughest of times. Even potential defendants need to be shown respect. Crystal is obviously a person who can do this. If I have learned anything during my 45-year law enforcement career, being approachable is so important. I know she will be, and I believe she will be a wonderful Sheriff.
Anthony Roper
Sheriff of Clarke County
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Opinion
Republican Trojan Horses
Under the cloak of non-partisan endorsements, the local Republican committee continues to recommend and support candidates for seats in both the Town Council and School Board elected offices.
Each year, these endorsed candidates are placed on the sample ballot along with other Republican party-nominated candidates for the County, State, and National offices. This is “trojan horse” politicking, not only confusing but a violation of the rules as outlined by the Town and State charters. Many of my fellow residents ask why the Republican party is even involved in non-partisan elections.
The problem with this violation is that it results in a stacked deck, offering a well-funded, unfair advantage against truly non-partisan candidates. Republican support and manpower are given to their endorsed candidates running for the same offices in the five districts.
The Virginia Founding Fathers felt that non-partisan elections at the Town and School Board level would help keep the focus on local community issues and not national partisan self-interests.
The promotional slogan that we should “Keep Warren Red” has nothing to do with the challenges facing the Town and County. Winning is not the objective. Rather, it’s improving our quality of life. Clearly, this is the reason why the Founding Fathers put into place rules to help ensure non-partisan officeholders who will be dedicated to local issues.
We now have candidates running who have not been endorsed yet and are very conservative by our high community standards. For one reason or another, there wasn’t a meeting of the minds with the Republican party, but they still feel driven to run for office. Seek them out.
Let’s elect the best people for the job who will work for the citizens. Let’s break the cycle that we have been stuck in for the last several years and elect the most qualified candidates instead of “Red” being the goal.
Let’s elect concerned citizens instead of Trojan horses.
Michael Graham
Front Royal
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the letters published on this page are solely those of the respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Royal Examiner’s editorial team, its affiliates, or advertisers. The Royal Examiner does not endorse or take responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or validity of any statements made by the authors. The statements and claims presented in the letters have not been independently verified by the Royal Examiner. Readers are encouraged to exercise their own judgment and critical thinking skills when evaluating the content. Any reliance on the information provided in the letters is at the reader’s own risk.
While the Royal Examiner makes every effort to publish a diverse range of opinions, it does not guarantee the publication of all received letters. The Royal Examiner reserves the right to edit letters for clarity, length, and adherence to editorial guidelines. Moreover, the Royal Examiner does not assume any liability for any loss or damage incurred by readers due to the content of the letters or any subsequent actions taken based on these opinions.
In submitting a letter to the editor, authors grant the newspaper the right to publish, edit, reproduce, or distribute the content in print, online, or in any other form.
We value the engagement of our readers and encourage open and constructive discussions on various topics. However, the Royal Examiner retains the right to reject any letter that contains offensive language, personal attacks, or violates any legal regulations. Thank you for being a part of our vibrant community of readers and contributors, and we look forward to receiving your diverse perspectives on matters of interest and importance.
Opinion
Community Kindness Shines Through in Warren County Amid Division
Even though our Country and our County seem to be in turmoil and divided, there are still wonderful and helpful people here. On Labor Day, I was working in my yard, stumbled, and fell backward, unable to get on my feet. I was lying on the grass, and two ladies, mother and daughter, were driving past, saw me, turned their car around, helped me to my feet and to my porch, and got help for me.
Many thanks, Mary! Also, thanks to my Rivermont Baptist Church Family for the food and cleaning assistance, especially since I cannot use my right hand due to the broken wrist.
Sylvia Dawson
Warren County
Opinion
Power Grabs, Parental Guidance, and Public Libraries: A Front Royal Reflection
I am a prior citizen of Front Royal, VA. My husband and I raised seven children in our home there. As our family grew with the addition of grandchildren, several of them also lived and attended schools in Warren County, VA. Due to family obligations in North Carolina, we moved from Front Royal two years ago. We all have fond memories of our growing years in Front Royal, and those recollections include our trips to Samuels Public Library. It was with some consternation that I read an article in The Washinton Post regarding the challenge to the library via withholding funding for the library in an effort for “concerned citizens” to exercise control over the governing management of the library.
It is ironic that we relocated to a county in NC that is facing similar challenges in our local school district over school libraries and their content and availability. This challenge is also led by a group of citizens deeply engaged in their religious faith, which they strongly believe is guiding them in this process. The only difference is that extortion is not a tool available to the concerned citizens in NC against the School Board.
For the record, my children who graduated from high school in Warren County include six children who went on to college and received degrees; three have received their master’s degrees, many graduated with dual degrees, and all are successful members of their communities and in their professions. Their careers include work in the field of education, social service work to assist and support the homeless and disenfranchised, work for the Federal Gov’t directly and indirectly, and those who own/have owned their own businesses. I feel very confident making this assertion; the trajectory of a child’s life does not hinge on the content of any single book but is essentially reliant on the character of their parents or parental authorities in their lives. Allowing your children to grow into adulthood with guidance and honest conversation is so much more impactful than sheltering them from the things the parents find offensive or harmful.
I am not taking issue with someone’s concern about any content in any reading material, it is as much your right to be concerned as it is mine to feel that exposure to all aspects of society helps a child refine and develop their own sensibilities as they become adults. It seems the library has put in place a system to help parents limit their child’s exposure by allowing parental controls on their child’s access to the materials they have concerns over. That these parents feel that they need to control any other parent’s rights can be interpreted as nothing less than a desire to control more than their own child’s access and to assume control of all taxpayers in Warren County. This is not democracy, and it is not faithful supplication to God. It is nothing more than a power grab in a performative act of assumed high morality.
Furthermore, the publication of individuals’ names is nothing more than a bullying tactic hoping to incite vindictive rhetoric against those individuals. That the Board of Supervisors didn’t hold the line at the bullying “conservative activists” and then joined their ranks by withholding their funding and offering the MOA makes me question their suitability to be Supervisors. They were elected to be leaders of sorts for their districts to seek consensus in untenable challenges.
I am happy to see the Board did reach approval for funding for the library. The Town of Front Royal and Warren County are fortunate to have this institution, its friendly and helpful staff, and its commitment to the community. I was born and raised in the close suburbs right outside of the Washington DC line. When my first husband passed away, I was left with four young daughters, just reaching their teen years. I had a demanding job that kept me from keeping a normal nine-to-five routine. I felt it was critical to move to a community where we had neighbors that would look out for us and where the girls could participate in sports and after-school activities without needing transportation from me. I chose Front Royal, and although it lacked some of the benefits they had in Fairfax, it brought them a multitude of benefits that helped shape them into the adults they became. Front Royal has always had factions that didn’t see eye to eye on certain issues, but I never experienced the excessiveness that has begun to permeate the social climate in Front Royal. I hope this incident gives everyone pause to regain common civility and respect for their neighbors and allow the differences to create the best of the community and enhance the future of its upcoming generations.
Barbara Price
Hickory, NC
Opinion
County Board Chair Cook Reminded of Campaign Promises
There never seems to be any shortage of controversy in our little (but growing) community. While election season heats up, the current library distraction diverting attention away from the issues that impact ALL members of the community, and not just the whims of a local faction whose agenda appears to be ramming their opinion of morality down the community’s throat is somewhat disturbing. I don’t agree with some of the literature that is being presented in our public library, but I also believe there are freedoms that take precedence over these objections where a common ground can be achieved.
Frequently, I am reading and hearing remarks on the Fork District and Board Chairman Vicky Cook. Vicki has always been cordial, open, and non-judgmental in my professional dealings with her. However, I would like to remind her of her campaign platform, as reported in 2021. These paraphrased quotes from a written publication are worthy, in my opinion, of reprinting:
“What I bring into the mix is to have a little more critical thinking. I’m really into common sense solutions that’s gonna benefit everybody”. Continuing in this same vain, “I’m really big into integrity and transparency and accountability”.
Finally, Cook wants to “bring unity” to the community. (Warren County Supervisor Candidate Offers Management Skills, NV Daily, July 18, 2021).
Chairman Cook, I hope you continue to exercise these tenets that you publicly stated and committed to when you knocked on my door asking for my vote.
Gregory A. Harold
Warren County, VA
Opinion
Defending Samuels Public Library: A Plea for Reason and Inclusivity
Dear Mrs. Cook:
It is with a heavy heart that I write to you regarding the unconscionable withholding of funding for Samuels Public Library, which will very likely result in its imminent closing.
Our library is the jewel of Warren County. How can the Board of Supervisors allow a tiny group of fanatical interlopers – many of whom didn’t even own a library card – dictate how our library is managed?
Shame on the BOS for allowing the situation to devolve to the point where our beloved Library Director, Michelle Ross, felt compelled to resign. Shame on you! How will we ever attract accomplished, educated and enlightened applicants to fill her vacant position when the BOS allows an obtuse, misinformed and manipulative minority to control an institution which is the pride of our town. It is heartbreaking to reflect on the disrespect, contempt and lack of support which the BOS has shown toward Ms. Ross and her earnest staff. Shame!
My family has lived in Warren County for 40 years. My sister was on the Board of Trustees when the library transitioned from its previous in-town location to Criser Road, where it has become a cherished hub for ALL citizens of Warren County. I have donated countless hours to the library as a past Friends of Samuels Library board member and as a volunteer shelving books, working at community events and manning the Epilogue Bookstore. Will any of the group of library dissidents contribute any time, effort or money towards the care and feeding of our treasured library? Doubt it!
Everyone in the world has members of the LGBTQ+ community as dear friends and much-loved family members – whether they wish to acknowledge that or not. A strictly heterosexual world has never existed – neither within the human species nor within the wider natural world. To deny their existence, both within our community and within the vast literature of our culture, is to oppose reality. Same-sex families are everywhere. Come out from under your rock, open your eyes, and join the 21st Century.
The BOS and their legal team should be embarrassed at the wording of the current MOU as submitted to the Samuels Board of Trustees. Beyond the question of how the county will find the funding to pay library staff county wages and benefits, how will the county find volunteers to perform the myriad tasks which keep the library functioning as an active community center when the BOS seems bent on allowing a group of religious zealots to destroy our library as we have come to know and love it. Clearly there is no longer separation of church and state within Warren County.
In closing, as a young girl taught by Ursuline nuns in the 1960’s, one of my favorite activities was walking downtown with my friends to our beautiful Ferguson Public Library where I was allowed to take out any book I desired. When it came time to choose a confirmation name, the nuns brought my class to the much tinier Catholic library run by the Knights of Columbus to read children’s books about the lives of the saints. I would encourage the religious activists of our community to invest the time and effort required to establish their own non-secular library and to cease their undesired meddling in our honorable Samuels Public Library.
Sincerely,
Margaret E. Thursland
Fork District
Front Royal, Virginia
