BANGOR – Like many of their counterparts around the nation, members of the Bangor Fire Department paused Wednesday morning to remember the hundreds of New York City firefighters who lost their lives while trying to save the lives of others in the aftermath of last year’s terrorist attacks. Read More
GUILFORD – Waving small American flags provided by the local American Legion Post, young and old gathered Wednesday in the rain to remember the victims of last year’s terrorist attacks and to pay respect to America. Several hundred people, including SAD 4 pupils, veterans of… Read More
CALAIS – The president of Washington County Technical College said Wednesday he simply had no new words. On a day when thousands of memorials were offered in thousands of places in honor of last year’s terrorist attacks, William Flahive turned to words from half a… Read More
The official death toll from the attacks, including the 19 hijackers, is 3,044 – 2,811 at the World Trade Center, 189 in Washington and 44 in Pennsylvania. Here is a list of victims with ties to Maine: . Cmdr. Robert Allan Schlegel, 38, of Alexandria,… Read More
INDIAN TOWNSHIP – It began with a single word: woliwon. In the Passamaquoddy language, it means “thank you.” googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++)… Read More
CAMDEN – The call of crows carried into the stillness of St. Thomas Episcopal Church as the congregation prayed Wednesday for those lost in the attacks of a year ago. The church was overflowing as the community joined with the Rev. Michael G. Rowe at… Read More
MADAWASKA – Church bells from the St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church could be heard in the background Wednesday morning as a flag at the U.S. Customs and Immigration port of entry was lowered to half-staff at 8:46 a.m. More than two dozen customs and immigration… Read More
BELFAST – Patriotic songs echoed through the halls of the East Side School on Wednesday as flowers of thanks were given by the pupils to area law enforcement and emergency services workers. From kindergarten to fifth grade, 100 schoolchildren lined the gymnasium to welcome the… Read More
DOVER-FOXCROFT – Four men shared their “heroes,” people who influenced them in their lives, with eighth-grade pupils at SeDoMoCha Middle School Wednesday, as part of a weeklong character-building study. One of the speakers familiar to the pupils said he had taken bits and pieces of… Read More
AUGUSTA – In the days after last year’s terrorist attacks, the Maine National Guard prepared itself to assume a crucial role in shoring up the security of the state’s borders, airports and waterways. But the grinding wheels of government meant it wasn’t going to happen overnight. Read More
BANGOR – Her morning flight to Wisconsin delayed one recent morning, Jen Huske wasn’t using the extra downtime at Bangor International Airport to worry about terrorists hijacking her plane. With the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks approaching, the 30-year-old Belfast woman –… Read More
At Mattanawcook Academy in Lincoln they’ll discuss loss, at Hermon High School they’ll talk about conflict, and at Isle au Haut Rural School they’ll reflect on heroism. Students across the state will mark the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks today when teachers… Read More
Augusta – Declaration of interreligious peace and cooperation, Gov. Angus King and others, 8:30 a.m., followed by bell ringings at 8:46 a.m., 9:03 a.m., 9:43 a.m., 10:10 a.m. Sept. 11, Blaine House front lawn. Augusta – Evening of remembrance, church open for quiet prayers, 6:30… Read More
What do you think we have learned as a nation as a result of the Sept. 11 attacks? I always felt safe because I was in the United States, but you’re not safe no matter where you are. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var… Read More
BANGOR – Nearly two hours before their 10 a.m. flight to Syracuse, N.Y., Ron and Louise Newcomb dutifully – but distractedly – peruse their magazines in the first-floor terminal at Bangor International Airport. The recommended two-hour lead time before a scheduled departure – an industry… Read More
ROCKLAND – Pilot Steve Morrison had no fears about flying his small airplane down the Hudson River on Sept. 8 to bring the Maine state flag to New York City. The fact that two airplanes piloted by terrorists slammed into the World Trade Center towers… Read More
DOVER-FOXCROFT – Alton Brown fingered the rim of the baseball cap that his stepbrother, Robert Norton, had worn before the Lubec man’s death at the hands of terrorists a year ago. Holding the cap brought back a flood of memories Tuesday that centered on Brown… Read More
LINCOLN – The horrific events of Sept. 11, 2001, aren’t keeping Katie Vance, one of a set of Lincoln triplets, from living in the bright lights of New York City, a place she loves. Every morning Vance wakes up to check the latest terror alert… Read More
Maine artists in many instances have been deeply affected by last year’s terrorist attacks. The following is a sampling of their reactions and their insights a year later. Camden author Tess Gerritsen was in Seattle on Sept. 11, 2001, trying to get back to Maine. Read More
Editor’s Note: A year ago in “Diary of a Tragedy,” the Bangor Daily News printed the personal stories of several people directly affected by the attacks of Sept. 11. Recently, those people were asked to reflect on the intervening 12 months and relate stories about their lives. Read More
Chronology of key events in U.S. relations with Islamic groups and with Osama bin Laden before Sept. 11, 2001, and of the Sept. 11 attacks and aftermath: Feb. 26, 1993 – Bomb explodes in garage under World Trade Center, killing six and injuring more than… Read More
One year later In little change after little change, Americans adapt to life after terrorist attacks
At that moment, it seemed as if nothing would ever be the same, that we had all been changed in some essential way. How could anyone live a normal life in the shadows of thousands of innocents, slaughtered in minutes … of one colossus obliterated,… Read More
“Terrorist attacks can shake the foundation of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America.” President Bush googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length;… Read More
It hit like an unexpected death in the family, shattering the once comfortable rhythms of our lives and leaving us to struggle with the dreadful uncertainty of what was to come. On that one terrible morning, the boundaries that divide the country were suddenly erased. Read More
Approximately 3,000 people died in the Sept. 11 attacks on America, excluding the hijackers. IN THIS SECTION googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if… Read More
Seven days after terrorists flew a jet into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., Florence Bonney of Orient, a psychiatric nurse, was activated by the American Red Cross as part of a mental health team to work in the capital. She later was called to the… Read More
2,999 Number of victims killed at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and on the four fatal flights. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++)… Read More
A year ago, wearing latex gloves to open mail or taking courses about how to use gasmasks would have seemed silly to most people on Capitol Hill. Today, nearly a year after 9-11 and the subsequent anthrax episodes, those and other security-related practices have become… Read More
In a cramped nuclear shelter deep beneath the White House, President Bush stared across a spare wooden table and told his national security team, “Get the troops ready.” Twelve hours after the terrorist strikes, moments after his nationally televised address, Bush was preparing for a… Read More
“In the past, when we wore firemen’s stuff, we were the only ones wearing it. All of a sudden, it’s become like Gucci.” Mike Redpath googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i… Read More
It was kind of surreal,” Bucksport Fire Chief Craig Bowden said. Bowden visited the site of the World Trade Center in April, seven months after Sept. 11, to deliver funds local firefighters had raised to a firehouse in New York City. googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
Ground zero did not make me cry. That’s an embarrassing admission – even to me – but last December when I went to see the wreckage of Sept. 11, the small streets of Lower Manhattan were as crowded as Times Square on a Saturday night. I felt choked,… Read More
Sitting on a beach in Cape Cod midsummer, the memories washed over him, jolting him, without warning, back to the horror. For a moment, he imagined he was back on the pile, perched in all his frailty amongst the wretched panorama of smoke and smells… Read More
“I strongly believe misperceptions about America and Americans led to this deplorable attack. People in many foreign lands are poor and repressed. All they hear is America is the land of corporate greed, scandals and every American is a rich person with lots of toys. They resent us. Read More
A sampling of ways America has responded to the Sept. 11 attacks: Memorials googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) { if (slot_sizes[i][0]… Read More
A year ago in “Diary of a Tragedy,” the NEWS printed the personal stories of several people directly affected by the attacks of Sept. 11. Recently, those people were asked to reflect on the last 12 months. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes… Read More
On a humid July day in Pennsylvania, hundreds of tourists, as millions have before them, are drifting among the simple gravestones and time-worn monuments of the national cemetery at Gettysburg. Several thousand soldiers are buried here. A few graves are decorated with flowers, suggesting some… Read More
Under a bridge in Brooklyn, a small table is covered in bricks, candles, a cross and a flag in memory of Department of Transportation workers who died in the attack on the World Trade Center. Across town, a statue of the Virgin Mary stands before… Read More
“I wasted two years of my life training Iranians to start up a navy and to build good relations. This is what we get for being the nice guy trying to help them out and protect them from Iraq. Not only do we have Iraq hating us, now… Read More
While last September’s terrorist attacks curtailed the travels of many Mainers, people once again are taking to the skies. “It shocked everyone, but it didn’t stop them,” said Peter Ramsay, a travel consultant with Main 1 Travel in Bangor. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot… Read More
Some words and phrases that became part of Americans’ day-to-day vocabulary after Sept. 11: Anthrax: Infectious bacterial disease of sheep and cattle transmissible to humans. Pulmonary anthrax, caused by inhalation of the bacteria, killed five Americans via anthrax-laced letters in the months after Sept. 11. Read More
Some advice on how to prepare in the event terrorists strike again in America: Develop a personal and family disaster plan, including plans for emergency communications with family, friends and neighbors. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = [];… Read More
“I am definitely more emotional. If I see a picture of the twin towers, I get emotional and start to cry. I feel a need to watch on TV and to read everything I can about the attack on the towers, but when I do, all I do… Read More
Some of the Sept. 11 victims many Americans felt they got to know after their deaths: Todd Beamer: The 32-year-old Oracle Corp. account manager from Cranbury, N.J., was believed to have helped lead a passenger attack on Flight 93 hijackers that prevented the jet from… Read More
Editor’s Note – Adam Mayblum was working for the May Davis Group investment firm on the 87th floor of the World Trade Center’s north tower when the first plane hit. He escaped down a stairwell with a wet piece of his T-shirt tied around his face. Here, Mayblum,… Read More
From Devin O’Leary, an 11-year-old from Bloomington, Ind., who said he’s still trying to understand why the terrorists attacked. Q: How has your world view changed since the World Trade Center was hit? Are you different in any way? googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot… Read More
Missing. The word has lost its hopeful luster since the days when families plastered New York City with photographs of those who didn’t come home on the night of Sept. 11. “If you’ve seen her, call us,” the fliers begged, offering optimistic details on the… Read More
A Sorrento firefighter and former schoolteacher who went to New York City after the terrorist attacks says he has some pretty grisly memories of digging through the mountains of rubble where the World Trade Center collapsed. What has stuck with him the most is an… Read More
“I was roped into helping out. I started moving oxygen tanks for patients, handing out latex gloves and surgical masks… . Going into it, I was a reporter. But by the time I found myself going into the courtyard of the Pentagon, I think I became a person… Read More
It has been one year, and of everything I saw in New York City immediately after Sept. 11, the one remaining image in my mind is that ladies’ black blouse. In the course of working as a member of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster… Read More
President Bush has declared Sept. 11, starting this year, as Patriot Day, a day on which the U.S. flag will be lowered to half-staff from sunrise to sunset. Bush encourages Americans to display their flags at half-staff from their homes too, and to observe a moment of silence… Read More
A year ago in “Diary of a Tragedy,” the NEWS printed the personal stories of several people directly affected by the attacks of Sept. 11. Recently, those people were asked to reflect on the past 12 months. Here is one of their stories. Christopher Allen googletag.cmd.push(function… Read More
Maine’s coastline is just as long as it always was and the number of people using the state’s oceanfront remains the same. But for the men and women in the U.S. Coast Guard who patrol it, the days are longer and the wear and tear on the service’s… Read More
Some of the fundamental changes to Americans’ legal rights by the Bush administration and the USA Patriot Act after the terrorist attacks: Freedom of association: Government may monitor religious and political institutions without suspecting criminal activity to assist terror investigation. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define… Read More
Lawmakers consider cuts in capital gains, payroll taxes Peres, Arafat agree to hold high-level talks googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length; i++) { if (isMobileDevice())… Read More
Mention “9-11” to artist Robert Indiana, now of Vinalhaven, and be prepared for an angry response. Known for his focus on love – he was launched into the art world when he painted the word “LOVE” in bold letters – Indiana still reacts strongly to the Sept. 11… Read More
Five months ago, Orono artist Ed Nadeau was searching for crows to photograph for a series of paintings he did on the topic. The assistant professor of art was in a field adjacent to the University of Maine campus when he came upon a natural phenomenon welling up… Read More
“I understand what the World War II’s generation felt after the attack on Pearl Harbor. I know what extreme anger and sadness feel like. My parents used to tell me what they were doing and where they were when John F. Kennedy was killed. I… Read More
The impending first anniversary of the Sept. 11 devastation has filled many people with apprehension. What will the media show? What observances will take place in neighborhoods and workplaces? How will we feel when painful images are once again shown? Parents must cope with an additional source of… Read More
Cetin Abdurrahman, a Muslim from Turkey, opened his dry-cleaning business in Madawaska eight days before the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. He has thought of selling during the past year, but he holds tenaciously to the small establishment. The racks in… Read More
If the vice president and the FBI director are correct, more terrorist strikes against America are inevitable. What happens then? For a nation unaccustomed to mass carnage on its soil, Sept. 11 was more than mere shock. It was virtually inconceivable. googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
She has made fragile peace with her husband’s death. She knows he is gone for good. For the rest of her life, she will never see his face or touch his cheek or smell the sweat from a long day’s work in the creases of his neck. Read More
“I’m some old tired of 9/11 being used as the nation’s scapegoat. Every mismanaged company that’s going bust blames it on 9/11. Even parents of misbehaving children blame it on 9/11. Changed the lives of every American? Sure. Gave everyone something to blame his problems… Read More
It has been hard, Mahmoud El-Begearmi admitted, being a devout and practicing Muslim in the year since Sept. 11. But El-Begearmi looks on the bright side of the last year, a year in which many Americans have directed hatred at the followers of Islam in… Read More
A year ago in “Diary of a Tragedy,” the NEWS printed the personal stories of several people directly affected by the attacks of Sept. 11. Recently, those people were asked to reflect on the past 12 months. This is one of their stories. Caitlin Shetterly googletag.cmd.push(function… Read More
AUGUSTA – For years the Maine Emergency Management Agency has maintained a low-profile existence at its Camp Keyes headquarters, springing into public view only in response to natural disasters or industrial accidents. But the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, injected a sense of urgency… Read More
AUGUSTA – The Stars and Stripes will be in the spotlight as people across the nation pause Wednesday to remember the victims of the tragic events last Sept. 11. Here in Maine, Gov. Angus King has directed that flags across the state be flown at… Read More
ELLSWORTH – The messages on the wall were what touched Chris Reed of Franklin most about her three weeks near ground zero: photos of victims of the World Trade Center attacks, hung there by grieving survivors, along with messages and favorite items, such as a baseball cap or… Read More
PITTSFIELD – When Andrew Gibson and Michael Simon were 16 years old, they vowed to “be best friends forever.” They attended the same high school and college; they saw each other through first loves, car accidents, marriage. Simon was godfather to Gibson’s second son and Gibson is godfather… Read More
MADAWASKA – A Madawaska firefighter who went to New York City to deliver donations from Maine firefighters found the trip changed his outlook on life. “The disaster changed my life,” Richard Cyr said recently. “I think about life, about family more than I used to. Read More
SHERMAN – As a funeral director, Tony Bowers deals with death on a regular basis. As a member of a Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team for 13 years, he has been involved with large-scale disasters such as the Egypt Air crash in October 1999 that… Read More
CARIBOU – A local funeral director who has worked in New York City five times since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks recalls the appreciation heaped onto volunteers who have assisted in the yearlong effort in the city. James Mockler of Mockler Funeral Home has spent… Read More
OWLS HEAD – The dedication last month of a restored 19th century fire wagon, converted into a funeral caisson and given as a gift to the New York City Fire Department, brought a “family” of firefighters from across the country to the Owls Head Transportation Museum. Read More
DEXTER – Like most children, Cory Fanjoy, 10, and Nathan Wyman, 9, of Dexter would place their small hands over their hearts and recite the Pledge of Allegiance in class because it was expected of them. Today, the Dexter Middle School pupils do it because… Read More
EAST MILLINOCKET – The tragic events of Sept. 11 aren’t something Margaret “Peg” Cousins of East Millinocket will soon forget because it affected so many people in her family. Lots of telephone calls were made among family members that day trying to make sure everyone… Read More
AUGUSTA – New security policies at the Cross State Office Building were easier to implement after Sept. 11, thanks to the Legislature’s renovation of the Capitol complex in 2001. Until then, Don Suitter, chief of Capitol Security, had to rely heavily on phoned information and… Read More
Jackie and Robert Norton drove their green Dodge Caravan into a parking lot at Bangor International Airport early on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. The Lubec couple was headed to California for the wedding of one of Jackie’s three sons. googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
Jackie Norton’s pocketbook, recovered from the rubble of the World Trade Center, is with her son, Jason Seymour, in Santa Barbara, Calif. “A friend asked me rhetorically, ‘How can I talk about the answers of life when I don’t even know what the questions are?'”… Read More