How Terrorism Affected YOUR State.... - Big Big Forums

Jolie Rouge · 09-11-2002, 12:32 AM

Ground zero may have been in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, but the 9/11 terrorist attacks reverberated across all 50 states and the District of Columbia--from the dramatic to the ordinary. Read below to find out how terrorism has changed your state in the past year.

ALABAMA: More than 3,000 soldiers from Alabama's National Guard and reserve units have been activated in the war on terrorism, one of the largest mobilizations of any state. A section of highway was named in honor of Alabama native Johnny Micheal Spann, a CIA officer who was the first American killed by opposing forces in Afghanistan. While tourism fell off in many parts of the country, it was up in Alabama, which many tourists visit by car, not on airplanes; for the 10 months beginning Oct. 1, 2001, the state's lodging tax revenue was up nearly 3 percent over the same period the year before.

ALASKA: Security was increased along the 800-mile trans-Alaska oil pipeline, which supplies 17 percent of the nation's supply. Thirteen new agents were added to patrol the 1,538-mile border with Canada, and Immigration and Naturalization Service officers who used to work alone now work in pairs. Customs ports once staffed only during the vacation season are now staffed year-round. Lt. Gen. Norton A. Schwartz at Elmendorf Air Force Base remains one of two Air Force generals authorized to order civilian airliners shot down if they appear to be threatening U.S. cities.

ARIZONA: Struggling Tempe-based America West Airlines stayed in business and later improved its performance after $380 million in loan guarantees and $120 million in direct cash infusions from the federal government. Flight schools, including some where suspected terrorists trained before the attacks, rebounded after more than a month of closed airspace as more executives sought ways to fly without depending on commercial airlines. Bus visits at the Grand Canyon, one of the tourism-dependent state's biggest draws, initially dropped by up to 65 percent and remain 39 percent below pre-attack levels.

ARKANSAS: Gov. Mike Huckabee quashed plans by the state Department of Emergency Management to restrict access to documents deemed a security risk. Emergency officials locked down an underground bunker 20 miles from the capital of Little Rock. Highways officials hope to develop alternate traffic routes at all bridge sites in case of terror attacks on a river crossing.

CALIFORNIA: Potential threats against high-profile sites including the Golden Gate Bridge and Disneyland led to tightened security, and a warning about terrorists seeking scuba-diving training prompted official dive teams to conduct regular searches for explosives in San Diego Bay, home to the West Coast's largest Navy port. Coast Guard patrols also were strengthened outside the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which combined create the world's third-busiest port. Travel, meanwhile, is down nearly 20 percent at some of the state's airports, which are raising fees for airlines and passengers to pay for extra security measures that are costing tens of millions of dollars. One benefit of the government's anti-terror campaign: more work for Southern California defense contractors, especially those developing high-tech surveillance equipment.

COLORADO: The Pentagon based its new Northern Command for homeland defense at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. NorthCom, scheduled to begin operations Oct. 1 with an annual budget of roughly $70 million, is the first military command responsible for defending the entire country from any enemy. It also is charged with assisting civilian authorities overwhelmed by a terrorist attack or disaster. The command will share a building--and a leader, Air Force Gen. Ralph "Ed" Eberhart--with the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD. Ultimately, 400 to 500 people will work for the command, with additional forces available on call.

CONNECTICUT: The mental health crisis teams that fanned out to train stations and commuter parking lots in the first hours after the attacks have become permanent. Thousands of residents work in New York City, though the state's final toll--65--was far lower than initially expected. Among many memorials planned, firefighters in West Haven are stenciling the engine company and precinct numbers of New York fire and police department units onto red, white, and blue hydrants. Water restrictions still in place include the Thames River near the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London.

DELAWARE: The governor was given the ability to declare a public health emergency, which would let the state seize and destroy property, quarantine people who refuse vaccinations or medical testing, and control the distribution of medicine. Health care providers, pharmacists, and animal custodians also are now required to report symptoms of illness and other information that might signal a potential health emergency. State employees called to National Guard duty won new supplemental pay. However, lawmakers failed to pass a plan supported by Gov. Ruth Ann Minner to require people applying for driver's licenses to prove legal residency.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: The tourists who abandoned the nation's capital immediately after Sept. 11 have largely returned, but what they find is often far different. Tours of the White House are now off-limits except for school and veterans groups. Visitors can tour the Capitol only with tickets and without items such as large bags and spray cans. Getting around town or parking can be a chore. Fearing truck bombs, the Secret Service barred trucks from eight blocks of 17th Street, which runs past the White House. Several federal agencies also created security zones near their buildings. That blocked access to nearly 200 parking meters, costing the city more than $580,000 a year.

FLORIDA: Because several Sept. 11 hijackers had Florida driver's licenses, even though their visas had expired, a law was passed to make foreigners' licenses expire in four years or when their federal papers expire, whichever happens first. The cornerstone tourism industry took a huge hit, leading to thousands of layoffs and a jump in unemployment from 4.3 percent to 6 percent.
The 1st Air Force headquarters, responsible for air defense of the 48 contiguous states, has more than tripled in size at Tyndall Air Force Base, in the state's panhandle.

GEORGIA: Argenbright Security of Atlanta, once the nation's largest passenger-screening company, retreated from airline security after Sept. 11 hijackers bypassed its guards in New Jersey and Washington. Heightened security slowed air traffic, from the nation's busiest airport in Atlanta to the tiny airport in coastal St. Marys, which was closed for 11 weeks because it sits next to a Navy nuclear submarine base. The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in coastal Brunswick projected its workload will double as it trains agents for the new Transportation Security Administration.
Home to two-thirds of the elite 75th Ranger Regiment, Georgia sent more than 400 Army Rangers to fight in Afghanistan and suffered five deaths overseas.

HAWAII: A quarter of the state economy depends on tourism, which all but disappeared immediately after the attacks; even Waikiki Beach was empty for a time. Asian tourists are still staying away, but overall visitors are now flying in at nearly pre-attack levels to the state that 60 years earlier suffered the only other major attack on U.S. soil, Pearl Harbor. Unemployment remains well below the national average. With their state headquarters for the far-reaching U.S. Pacific Fleet and a variety of military installations, residents live with stepped-up military security.

IDAHO: State lawmakers increased punishment for acts of terrorism, including the use of weapons of mass destruction, and the state can now keep secret emergency planning documents, records on facility vulnerability assessments and evacuation routes. Civil court proceedings also can be delayed for National Guard members when they are called into active duty.

ILLINOIS: When the World Trade Center fell, the Chicago skyscrapers that for so long were points of pride suddenly became sources of concern. Concrete barriers designed to thwart car bombers sprang up. People kept coming to work at the Sears Tower, but worried about reports that the nation's tallest building was on a videotape made by the al-Qaeda terrorist network. Security at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport was tightened, though a man nearly made it onto a plane carrying knives and a stun gun. Illinois became a focal point of a nationwide terrorism investigation. Federal authorities raided Muslim charity organizations in suburban Chicago and one group's leader, a man said to be an associate of Osama bin Laden, was charged with perjury.

Jolie Rouge · 09-11-2002, 12:37 AM

INDIANA: Among efforts to address terrorism, state lawmakers designated some vehicle transaction fees to help pay for a statewide, $100 million wireless system to let emergency personnel communicate during a crisis. More identification also is required for those seeking drivers' licenses, a change criticized as unfair to Hispanics and immigrants. Shortly after the attacks, an Evansville woman told authorities her Egyptian husband had threatened to die in a crash, leading them to detain him and seven Egyptian friends who had also migrated to the area. No one was charged.

IOWA: The heavily agricultural state looked for ways to protect its food supply from terrorism. A comprehensive anti-terrorism plan unveiled in August includes exploring the development of a Midwest regional animal pharmaceutical stockpile to respond to animal disease outbreaks, as well as state and regional animal vaccination plans using rapid-response veterinary teams. Among concerns is the trend in American agriculture toward concentration, with larger grain farms and giant livestock production facilities with thousands of animals under the same roof, techniques that could speed the spread of disease.

KANSAS: An anti-bioterrorism law that made it a felony to knowingly expose livestock to a deadly disease was expanded to include plant disease, such as Karnal bunt in wheat. It also became a felony to contaminate a raw agricultural commodity, processed food, or animal feed to cause damage, unrest, or injury. The governor was given the power to quarantine plants, animal feed, and processed food during a food-safety disaster.

KENTUCKY: For the first Kentucky Derby since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, officials doubled the usual police force and screened patrons with metal-detecting wands. Items including coolers and bottles were banned, though others such as small pocket knives and folding chairs were allowed. The crowd was the fifth largest in Derby history, but the wait to enter Churchill Downs was only about 10 minutes longer because buses unloaded fans in bulk. The security plans were developed locally because the Derby was not granted the same federal status as National Security Special Events, as were the Super Bowl and the Salt Lake City Olympics.

LOUISIANA: Fears of anthrax prompted the state to buy equipment that can analyze the bacteria's DNA in three hours rather than 24. The Office of Public Health, which had wanted for decades to update its 50-year-old laboratories, will move into a new building, probably in 2004. A national tourism ad campaign scheduled for the week after Sept. 11 urging people to come party in Louisiana was scrapped because it was deemed too upbeat for Americans still in mourning.
Locals responded to a campaign calling on them to eat out to help offset the drop in tourist revenue when air travel halted.

MAINE: Coast Guard employees, who previously had focused on making sure fishermen weren't working in restricted areas or spending too many days at sea, turned much of their attention to security. Along the 611-mile border with Canada, new workers were being hired to help stop illegal entries at both official points and the roughly 140 unstaffed back-road crossings. Traffic from Canada at four key entry ports fell 25 percent between October and June.

MARYLAND: National Guard members from this state, which lost more than four dozen residents in the attacks, continue to provide security at the Pentagon, where they first secured the crash site and helped gather victims' remains. The state spent $400,000 to link mismatched emergency communications systems used by police, fire, and rescue agencies. A proposal to let government officials deny access to documents if they felt public safety would be jeopardized was modified to define which documents could be kept private.

MASSACHUSETTS: Boston's Logan International Airport, where terrorists boarded the two planes that were flown into the World Trade Center, underwent dramatic changes. In June, the airport became the country's first to win federal approval of a system to screen all luggage loaded onto planes. It also tested facial recognition technology, with mixed results, and was the first to give security officers hand-held computers that directly access public-safety databases. Under scrutiny for hiring politically connected administrators in the past, Massport also switched leadership when its executive director, who had little aviation experience, resigned soon after the attacks. The new leader was selected by a special consultant, hired to keep politics out of the employment process.

MICHIGAN: In a state that's home to an estimated 350,000 Arab-Americans, the federal Justice Department interviewed more than 300 people as part of its terrorism investigation. In separate investigations, several people were detained or charged, including an Ann Arbor man from Lebanon who is a board member of the Global Relief Foundation, which is suspected of funding terrorist activities. With four nuclear reactors, 3,250 miles of Great Lakes shoreline and a shared border with Canada, the state spent at least $12.7 million in federal and state money to beef up security. No- and low-interest loans were offered by Detroit's Big Three automakers, which some economists said propped up the economy and saved jobs.

MINNESOTA: The Rochester-based Mayo Clinic developed a 30-minute anthrax-detection test for people or environments after a rash of letters with anthrax spores hit the East Coast. A Polish ?migr? changed his will shortly before he died in October to leave $1 million to New York City in honor of terrorism victims. Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, serving a life sentence for conspiring to blow up landmarks in New York and Washington during the 1990s, was moved from the Federal Medical Center in Rochester to the federal penitentiary in Florence, Colo. Politicians argued he should be moved for security reasons.

MISSISSIPPI: Lawmakers, aware of rekindled patriotism, required that the U.S. flag be displayed in every public school classroom and that students study flag history and etiquette. The law, which took effect in July, also mandated a daily reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance, though students who choose not to participate are not to be punished. "Sometimes these things happen and you have a patriotic moment in time and it's gone. This would be a way to remind us every day what the flag means to people," said Sen. Terry Burton, a Democrat who was one of the bill's principal authors.

MISSOURI: Missouri became the first state to create a full-time post of homeland security director. New anti-terrorism measures included the ability to close some public records, such as those on government computer systems and public building security. Lawmakers decided against new penalties for businesses that price-gouge, however. Immediately after Sept. 11, at least four dozen gas stations raised prices to at least $2.50 a gallon. Branson, long a destination for tourists who prefer driving over flying, continued to flourish.

MONTANA: Tourists wanting to travel between Glacier National Park in Montana and Waterton Lakes National Park on the Canadian side of the border have found tighter security at the crossings. At one crossing popular with day hikers who start on the Canadian side of the border, National Park Service rangers on the Glacier side have been ordered to turn away people who do not have documentation proving they are U.S. citizens.

Jolie Rouge · 09-11-2002, 12:45 AM

NEBRASKA: Before Sept. 11, the telephone seldom rang at the nation's only institute specifically focused on Afghan affairs. In the year since, hundreds of news reporters and government researchers have descended upon the Center for Afghan Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, which houses 12,000 Afghan books, manuscripts, and artifacts--the largest collection outside Afghanistan. The center's director has given more than 1,500 media interviews, compared with 20 interview requests the year before.

NEVADA: The already wobbly Las Vegas economy collapsed after the attacks as air travel and hotel bookings plummeted, and within days nearly 16,500 workers lost their jobs. The drop in gambling revenue and taxes led to a state hiring freeze and spending cuts. Many workers were rehired when tourism rebounded, but about 2,000 union workers remain out of work and are unlikely to be rehired because most hotel-casino operators have streamlined operations since Sept. 11. A memorial of T-shirts hanging on a fence outside the New York-New York hotel-casino is expanding as dozens more arrive weekly. A permanent memorial is planned.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: A shipment of automobile tail-lights to a Hillsboro factory marked the nation's first test of a system intended to prevent tampering with cargo containers sent from overseas. The cargo container arrived at the Osram Sylvania factory in June, 2-1/2 weeks after being shipped from Slovakia. Protected by safety seals and intrusion-detection equipment and electronically monitored along the way, the container traveled through the Czech Republic, Germany, Canada, and Vermont. Officials called the test a success. The goal of Operation Safe Commerce, a public-private partnership, is to inspect and seal cargo at its point of origin so it can move quickly through a U.S. border checkpoint. About 12 million cargo containers are shipped to the United States annually.

NEW JERSEY: The state lost more residents in the World Trade Center attack--about 700--than any except New York, and housed most of the 1,100 detainees rounded up as part of the ensuing investigation. Jersey City, directly across the Hudson River from Ground Zero, served as a staging center for rescue and evacuation operations, and several lower Manhattan businesses relocated there. New Jersey also became a center of the anthrax investigation, as several tainted letters were found to have been mailed from the Trenton area. At least six of the 19 hijackers lived in Paterson, which has one of the nation's largest Arab-American populations.

NEW MEXICO: The state's two nuclear research labs shifted priorities to work against biological threats like anthrax and smallpox and to develop ways to detect bombs, radiation, and land mines. Jason Cunningham, a senior airman from New Mexico who was killed while treating wounded servicemen in Afghanistan, became only the 22nd recipient of the Air Force Cross, the service's highest decoration. An old church in Albuquerque is using steel beams from the World Trade Center to help replace its demolished bell tower.

NEW YORK: The terrorist attacks tore at the city's revenue base as the financial markets staggered, tourism slumped, and many downtown businesses shut down at least temporarily, creating a $5 billion budget shortfall. Mayor Michael Bloomberg--elected two months after the attacks--looked for cuts across the board, including the much-lauded fire and police departments. The state government also had to cut spending to close a budget deficit expected to hit $8 billion by March.
Cleanup of Ground Zero ended in May, and street vendors now sell Twin Towers' trinkets yards from the fenced-off site. A final redevelopment plan, including commercial space and a memorial, is expected by spring. The attack also left invisible scars on many of the estimated 18,000 people who escaped the towers, thousands more who witnessed the horror from the ground, and countless others, from relief workers to television viewers; terror-induced psychological problems were expected to eventually lead 1.5 million New Yorkers to seek therapy.
The State Museum in Albany created a permanent exhibit with artifacts from the World Trade Center, including a fire engine crushed by one of the falling towers.
A state office of security was established and immediately restricted what state offices post on Web sites. It also started to build a $2 million computer network to simultaneously alert all local police and sheriff's offices of federal terrorism warnings.

As a lasting memorial, the state created scholarships for all children and spouses of victims and service members killed while fighting terrorism.

NORTH CAROLINA: Thousands of troops were dispatched overseas from Camp Lejeune Marine Base and the Army's Fort Bragg, two of the largest ground combat bases in the country. As of early August, at least five North Carolina-based personnel had died in Afghanistan, and the brother of one of them said he would start a foundation for military families who lost loved ones in the war on terrorism. The already-bankrupt Midway Airlines, based in Morrisville, ceased operations for three months after the attacks; in July it grounded its planes and announced plans to become part of US Airways.

NORTH DAKOTA: Three North Dakota Air National Guard pilots stationed in Virginia were the first scrambled to protect Washington on Sept. 11. A year later, while they no longer patrol the state airports, North Dakota National Guard soldiers continue to work with the Customs Service to guard the 360-mile border with Canada. School officials in Fargo said they no longer would officially back student trips overseas because of security fears, meaning the district would not help organize such trips, allow official fund-raising, or insure participants.

OHIO: The air traffic control center that had the last contact with United Airlines Flight 93 before it crashed in Pennsylvania dedicated a monument to the "heroic actions" of the passengers, crew, and controllers. The small granite monument in Oberlin is surrounded by flowers, granite benches, and a flagpole. Although some attacks-related legislation is stalled, lawmakers gave National Guard members and reservists more time to pay property taxes and increased what the state pays to make up the difference between the military pay and normal salaries of state workers. Lawmakers also increased penalties for people convicted of hoaxes such as last fall's anthrax scares.

OKLAHOMA: The Oklahoma City National Memorial, which had been the site of the worst terrorist attack on American soil, created a museum exhibit exploring the similar experiences of victims in New York, Washington, D.C., and Oklahoma.
Many who lost loved ones in the 1995 bombing went to New York to comfort grieving families and escort them to Ground Zero. Residents donated thousands of teddy bears for New York children and bought a fire truck for the city's fire department.
The truck, presented in May, bears the names of 10 rescue workers who helped after the Oklahoma City bombing and died Sept. 11.

OREGON: Two charitable organizations based in the state, Mercy Corps and the Northwest Medical Team, vaulted to international prominence through their work in Afghanistan after the U.S. assault on the Taliban regime. Mercy Corps, which has worked in Afghanistan since 1986, lost access to its office in Kandahar for nearly three months after the ruling Taliban kicked out local workers in the wake of the attacks.

[b]
PENNSYLVANIA:]/B] In rural Somerset County, hundreds of people still come each day to see the field where hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 crashed Sept. 11, killing all 44 aboard. Passengers are believed to have struggled with the hijackers, forcing the plane down into the bare hillside instead of into a target in Washington, D.C.

RHODE ISLAND: The Naval War College, created more than a century ago, is helping that military branch decide how to fight terrorists who lurk under the usual radar. Its war-gaming department also has been helping New York's firefighters, police and other workers prepare for any future attacks.

SOUTH CAROLINA: In a state that zealously guards individual rights, legislators expanded wiretapping powers for law enforcement, bringing South Carolina in line with 42 other states. Gov. Jim Hodges says the law has adequate safeguards to reflect "a healthy balance" between freedom and security. The wiretaps must be approved by the attorney general and a judge, and breaking the rules brings civil and criminal penalties.

Jolie Rouge · 09-11-2002, 12:46 AM

SOUTH DAKOTA: Security was tightened for fertilizer and other agricultural products that could be used to make weapons, as well as for crop-spraying airplanes and emergency vehicles that could be used as weapons. Laboratories won enhanced abilities to handle suspected anthrax and other biological weapons.

TENNESSEE: Lawmakers created a new felony to help prosecutors seek the death penalty against terrorists and banned price gouging during emergencies, as well as possession or development of biological, chemical, and nuclear warfare agents except for legitimate research. Penalties for terrorism hoaxes also were increased, and the health department upgraded its computer equipment and hired more lab workers. A memorial sculpture using two 10-foot steel girders from the World Trade Center will be unveiled in Oak Ridge on the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

TEXAS: Fort Worth-based American Airlines, which had two planes crashed by Sept. 11 hijackers, and Houston-based Continental lost millions of dollars because of the steep drop in travel and were forced to lay off thousands of workers. A state task force evaluating homeland security recommended 10 regional hazardous materials teams and a streamlined response plan for bioterrorism. U.S. Customs inspectors turned up record drug seizures as a byproduct of heightened alert along the nation's southern border.

UTAH: The Winter Olympics, a testing ground for homeland security, came off successfully with the help of $310 million, miles of steel fencing, the National Guard, and a task force of local, state and federal agencies working in unprecedented cooperation. The event made Gov. Mike Leavitt an expert on homeland security; he chairs the president's senior advisory committee on homeland security for local and state governments.

VERMONT: Helicopters and armed National Guard troops now help patrol the state's border with Canada; the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service offered a signing bonus as it tried to boost its staff of 2,000 in Vermont to handle the increased focus on the border. The owners of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant beefed up security at the Vernon atomic reactor as opponents urged the closing of the plant in light of the possible terrorism threat.

VIRGINIA: Ten days after the Sept. 11 attacks, the state closed a loophole that let seven hijackers get identification cards without proof of residency or identity. The state is hiring 35 new epidemiologists to help identify and control communicable diseases such as those spread in a bioterrorism attack, and it also is stockpiling potassium iodide tablets in case an attack causes the release of radiation from a nuclear power plant. State police, with cruiser lights constantly flashing, and soldiers in Humvees with automatic weapons continue to patrol highways near the Pentagon.

WASHINGTON: Boeing Co. laid off nearly 30,000 commercial airplane workers, most in Washington state, when the aviation industry suffered after the attacks. Puget Sound ferry riders have grown used to the nation's first Coast Guard SWAT team zipping by in armed speedboats, while the Coast Guard has doubled the number of "security boardings" at Washington ports. Along the Canadian border, security aimed at stopping terrorists is yielding a bounty of small-time drug smugglers, who are starting to overwhelm local jails and courts.

WEST VIRGINIA: Lawmakers named bridges after two West Virginians killed in Afghanistan, National Guard Staff Sgt. Gene Arden Vance Jr., the first state guardsman killed on active duty since World War II, and Air Force Staff Sgt. Ann Shuttleworth Shero. The governor called in November for citizen watches to help monitor bridges, public facilities, and industrial complexes, but county coordinators have been named in only 15 of the 55 counties. About 2,500 state employees will be trained to help watch the Capitol complex in Charleston under a $900,000 security plan that also includes metal detectors and new door locks.

WISCONSIN: Less than a month after Sept. 11, the Madison School Board banned administrators from using the Pledge of Allegiance to comply with a state law requiring a daily dose of patriotism, but backed away after an outcry that included an unsuccessful recall effort against one board member. The seven agents assigned to a new domestic security unit have arrested three people accused of filing false documents and harassing government officials.

WYOMING: The Wyoming Air National Guard received its largest activation order since the Korean War due to the battle against terrorism--more than 120 guard members and five C-130 transport planes. Gov. Jim Geringer created the Wyoming Homeland Security Council to prepare a state security plan addressing all domestic or foreign terrorism threats. The council has identified 27 potential terrorists targets in Wyoming. State tourism officials say more people appear to be driving, rather than flying, to popular tourist destinations such as Yellowstone National Park.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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Jcowgirl77 · 09-11-2002, 01:31 AM

ARIZONA: Struggling Tempe-based America West Airlines stayed in business and later improved its performance after $380 million in loan guarantees and $120 million in direct cash infusions from the federal government. Flight schools, including some where suspected terrorists trained before the attacks, rebounded after more than a month of closed airspace as more executives sought ways to fly without depending on commercial airlines. Bus visits at the Grand Canyon, one of the tourism-dependent state's biggest draws, initially dropped by up to 65 percent and remain 39 percent below pre-attack levels.

this is were i live now but was born and raised in good ole PA

Okiechick · 09-11-2002, 04:22 AM

Yes, it has affected me, my friends and family and EVERY State. Altus Air Force Base has been so good. I am very, very proud of them, as well as everyone in our armed forces.

GOD BLESS! 9-11-01 WE WILL NEVER FORGET

OKLAHOMA: The Oklahoma City National Memorial, which had been the site of the worst terrorist attack on American soil, created a museum exhibit exploring the similar experiences of victims in New York, Washington, D.C., and Oklahoma.
Many who lost loved ones in the 1995 bombing went to New York to comfort grieving families and escort them to Ground Zero. Residents donated thousands of teddy bears for New York children and bought a fire truck for the city's fire department.
The truck, presented in May, bears the names of 10 rescue workers who helped after the Oklahoma City bombing and died Sept. 11.

Yellow_Rose · 09-11-2002, 08:39 AM

PENNSYLVANIA In rural Somerset County, hundreds of people still come each day to see the field where hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 crashed Sept. 11, killing all 44 aboard. Passengers are believed to have struggled with the hijackers, forcing the plane down into the bare hillside instead of into a target in Washington, D.C.

God Bless America!

mannerswife · 09-11-2002, 08:44 AM

NEW YORK: The terrorist attacks tore at the city's revenue base as the financial markets staggered, tourism slumped, and many downtown businesses shut down at least temporarily, creating a $5 billion budget shortfall. Mayor Michael Bloomberg--elected two months after the attacks--looked for cuts across the board, including the much-lauded fire and police departments. The state government also had to cut spending to close a budget deficit expected to hit $8 billion by March.
Cleanup of Ground Zero ended in May, and street vendors now sell Twin Towers' trinkets yards from the fenced-off site. A final redevelopment plan, including commercial space and a memorial, is expected by spring. The attack also left invisible scars on many of the estimated 18,000 people who escaped the towers, thousands more who witnessed the horror from the ground, and countless others, from relief workers to television viewers; terror-induced psychological problems were expected to eventually lead 1.5 million New Yorkers to seek therapy.
The State Museum in Albany created a permanent exhibit with artifacts from the World Trade Center, including a fire engine crushed by one of the falling towers.
A state office of security was established and immediately restricted what state offices post on Web sites. It also started to build a $2 million computer network to simultaneously alert all local police and sheriff's offices of federal terrorism warnings.

As a lasting memorial, the state created scholarships for all children and spouses of victims and service members killed while fighting terrorism.

I do not live in New York City but it got us all know matter where we were or what we were doing.

Moonmama · 09-11-2002, 09:31 AM

WASHINGTON: Boeing Co. laid off nearly 30,000 commercial airplane workers, most in Washington state, when the aviation industry suffered after the attacks.

The unemployment rate is one of the highest in the nation. It is so bad around here! The economy has sunk to an all-time low. So many people are hurting for money and/or a job, it's rediculous!

~MK~ · 09-11-2002, 12:06 PM

IOWA: The heavily agricultural state looked for ways to protect its food supply from terrorism. A comprehensive anti-terrorism plan unveiled in August includes exploring the development of a Midwest regional animal pharmaceutical stockpile to respond to animal disease outbreaks, as well as state and regional animal vaccination plans using rapid-response veterinary teams. Among concerns is the trend in American agriculture toward concentration, with larger grain farms and giant livestock production facilities with thousands of animals under the same roof, techniques that could speed the spread of disease.