Feelings intense 3 years later
Tamika Davis of McClellandtown watched the events of Sept. 11, 2001, unfold while comforting her daughter, who was sick with the flu. Kevin Hansen of Brownsville was sitting in his high school science class doing a lab experiment when he first heard about the downed twin towers of the World Trade Center, the plane that crashed into the Pentagon and the other that fell from the sky into a field in Somerset County.
Roy Fuller learned of the attacks while at work as the Perryopolis Borough police chief.
James Cornish of Uniontown was at California University of Pennsylvania watching videos on MTV when a report about the World Trade Center interrupted the show.
He still remembers where the song was when the music channel interrupted with breaking news.
All of the dozen people interviewed Thursday remembered where they were on Sept. 11, 2001. They remember how they felt – be it confused, scared or helpless – about what was going on around them.
And, as the third anniversary of the terrorist attacks approaches, people also remember what it felt like to have this largely rural area touched by the events that somehow seemed out of the realm of possibility in such a quiet place.
“Stuff like that you read about in the papers, and it was right in our back yard,” said Fuller.
An Associated Press survey of 1,000 American adults indicated that 98 percent remember exactly where they were when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon. About four in 10 said they worry about becoming a victim of terrorism.
Fuller said he realized something was wrong when he heard women from the Perryopolis Area Ambulance Service, housed in the same building as the police department, screaming and crying.
By the time he made it to the other end of the building, the first plane had already hit. He saw the second one strike, and when rumors surfaced about aircrafts possibly going down in Pittsburgh, he called his wife to check on their son, who was attending college in the city.
Unlike many, Fuller couldn’t spend countless hours in front of the television watching footage of the attacks. The nature of his job put him on standby in case something else happened. And while he was never called upon to help in this case, Fuller said the events of Sept. 11, 2001, paved the way for better communication with local police when such a disaster occurs.
“It was pandemonium. I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said.
Bonnie Umbel of Fairbank was working at the mall information desk when employees from one store told her about what happened. She watched some of the attacks from work, and then got concerned when she heard rumors that terrorists were targeting schools. It’s a concern Umbel said she still carries with her.
Ronnie Jo Antal said she was sleeping when she got a telephone call from her mother, who was at a meeting in Somerset County, about five miles from where Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville.
Antal said her mother was “on lockdown” from leaving the area, but sneaked away to make that call.
The day after the attack, Antal said, she called off work, a moot point since her place of business was closed. That night, she met with a group of friends, and they consoled one another over a loss the entire nation felt.
Mike Burdette, who now lives in Uniontown, was in Kentucky, working at a mobile home plant. There, they shut down operations for an hour, while workers watched the events unfold. Two workers went home because they had family in New York, Burdette said.
Three years later, Burdette said terrorism continues to be a threat, but not as big as it was directly after the attacks.
Dawn Campbell of Connellsville agreed, but said she still worries about the what-ifs when she goes out.
Women were more likely than men to worry about being victimized by terrorists, according to the poll, and only one in five of those who worry about a terrorist attack said it affects how they live.
Fuller said terrorism continues to threaten the nation, and always will.
“It’s unfortunate people don’t have any respect for life,” he said.
But others, like Hansen and Davis, said the threat of terrorist attacks has been blown out of proportion.
“I feel no more or less safe than I did three years ago, and three years before that,” Davis said. “The only thing I have to do differently now is go through more to board an airplane.”
Hansen said the war on terrorism is something President Bush has beefed up to make it seem bigger than it really is.
According to the AP poll, those most concerned about terrorist attacks are more like to support Bush in his bid for re-election, while those less concerned are more likely to support Democratic Sen. John Kerry.