We just commemorated the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the horrific event in which nearly 3,000 lives were needlessly lost on a random fall Tuesday. Like other major events throughout history, the moment is indelibly marked on the collective consciousness, and we all can remember where we were and what we were doing when we found out.
My mother called me that morning, telling me to turn on my TV. I did … not fully grasping what I was seeing at first. A short while later, I was at the Polk County Courthouse to cover a meeting of the commissioners court. As the Court convened to hold a public hearing on the proposed budget, we all felt helpless and somewhat silly, continuing to go through the motions as if it was an ordinary day.
Flags throughout the community were immediately lowered to half-staff. Stunned office workers throughout the community huddled around televisions and radios to hear updates on the catastrophe. Although it was occurring thousands of miles away, it may as well have been here, as one could feel the quiet pall that fell over everyone as shock and disbelief gave way to tears and anger.
Some may think that Polk Countians had nothing to worry about in conjunction with the attacks, but regardless, numerous precautions were underway locally that fateful Tuesday.
Although none of the school districts in Polk County closed or dismissed early that day, several campuses in the Livingston ISD were under a self-imposed lockdown.
Prayer vigils open to the public were held at Central Baptist Church, Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church and First United Methodist Church.
Area law enforcement agencies were on alert and based on recommendations by the county’s Office of Emergency Management, extra units patrolled the courthouse area that day.
The Polk County Sheriff ’s Office patrolled area schools and monitored local price gouging in the days that followed.
The Trinity River Authority and Lake Livingston Dam took precautions as well, by increasing the number of security personnel, including security personnel in boats on Lake Livingston.
The local hospital and the American Red Cross co-sponsored a blood drive to benefit the victims of the terrorist attacks.
In the days and weeks that followed, the Polk County Enterprise was tipped off to numerous local connections and managed to provide very localized coverage of the aftermath of the attacks.
Family and friends were concerned for the safety of Alabama-Coushatta Tribal member R. Keith Bullock, who lived in New York City and worked on 46th Street. He contacted his parents at approximately 10:45 a.m. that morning and later followed up with an email. His email talked of watching the two jetliners engulf the top halves of the World Trade Center on TV, commenting that the shock of the sight had not yet set in. As he headed to work, he said he walked in amazement at what was unfolding, saw the smoke billowing from the site and then watched as the second tower collapsed.
Travis and Gladys Jane Helptenstell were relieved when they received an email from their nephew, Lt. Col. Alan Maitland, who worked at the Pentagon, saying that he was okay. He talked of the building rocking, black smoke being seen from the window and not being able to return to his office because the ceiling had collapsed.
Family and friends were also concerned for the safety of former Livingstonian Kelly Kohrman, who lived in Northern Virginia and worked for one of the federal government agencies right outside of Washington, D.C. She talked of being given orders to evacuate her office building and heading home, driving right by the Pentagon on the side in which the attack had occurred and seeing the tragedy.
Jim Turner, Polk County’s U.S. Congressman at the time, sat on the House Armed Services Committee, which released a series of reports by the General Accounting Office examining the federal government’s progress in its efforts to combat tourism.
“Due to the recent bombings at the Pentagon and World Trade Center complex, we are unquestionably faced with a pressing need to better organize and marshal the various federal capabilities responsible for combating terrorism. We must rethink our entire organizational and strategic posture and approach,” Turner said.
“To see firsthand the destruction caused by the will of those terrorists fills one’s heart with both sadness and anger. Sadness to know the suffering that lies in this wreckage and anger at those whose twisted minds could carry out such a devastating attack,” Turner said, after visiting the Pentagon to assess the damage to the nation’s national security headquarters.
A member of the U.S. Army, Karen Burks Alexander, a Big Sandy ISD graduate, was a staff sergeant assigned to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans at the Pentagon. She would have been there at the time of the attack were it not for a shift change that week. “If you look at that black hole, that was where her desk was. She told me later that if she’d been sitting there, the plane would have been in her lap,” Earline Burks, Alexander’s mother, said.
An estimated 2,000 people decked out in red, white and blue turned out for Polk County’s “Proud to be an American” rally and candlelight service at Lions Stadium on Sept. 30, an event that included a community choir, an essay contest, a tribute to citizens, a tribute to fire/rescue/law enforcement/military, prayer and a fireworks display.
In the aftermath of this national tragedy, people came together like I had never seen before. We were one cohesive body, neighbors helping neighbors, us against the terrorists. The division and unrest that unfortunately seem to be the norm for our nation today often make it seem as if we’re living in an episode of The Twilight Zone. It makes me long for the fourth quarter of 2001 when we were truly a united nation. I wish we still were.
If only we could listen to each other, work together, and find common good in our daily actions – not just after a disaster – maybe we could once again be the citizenry we were on Sept. 12, 2001.
