New York to observe seventh anniversary of 9/11 attacksSeven years after the Sep 11 terrorist strikes, New Yorkers Thursday will remember the attacks that killed more than 2,700 people with the destruction of the World Trade Center's twin towers.
The city will observe the anniversary with renewed calls for vigilance against the constant threats of new terrorist attacks. Names of the dead will be read yet again.
The presidential nominees of both US major parties, Republican senator John McCain and his rival, Democratic senator Barack Obama, plan to attend ceremonies at Ground Zero, site of the destroyed towers.
Both candidates have agreed to call off their election rhetoric and suspend campaign television ads on that day out of respect for the dead from the 9/11 attacks, which targeted New York and Washington.
McCain and Obama issued a joint statement this week: "All of us came together on 9/11 - not as Democrats or Republicans but as Americans. We were united as one American family. On Thursday, we will put aside politics and come together to renew that unity."
The emphasis on the seventh anniversary has shifted to educating new generations about terrorist threats and the way families of victims survive the loss of loved ones.
The National Sept 11 Memorial and Museum this week unveiled programmes for classroom remembrances, distributed to selected schools across the United States. The outreach scheme will identify teachers to work in partnership with the memorial foundation to teach in classrooms about the attacks on September tember 11, 2001.
The memorial - for the nearly 3,000 victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks against New York and the Pentagon defence headquarters outside Washington, plus the prelude attack of the 1993 the World Trade Center truck bombing - is being built at Ground Zero, site of the original towers.
The memorial, designed and created by Michael Arad and Peter Walker, consists of two pools resting on the original two footprints of the 100-storey twin towers, which collapsed soon after being struck by hijacked airliners on September 11.
But construction costs have soared to nearly $1 billion, forcing several reviews of the plan and delay in the construction of the memorial.
Sonnet Takahisa, education director for the Memorial and Museum, said: "The record of the events of Sep 11, the significance of those events, and our understanding of their impact are still evolving. We know that teachers feel ill-prepared to address 9/11 in
their classrooms, and we hope to provide resources for teachers to use that will encourage and facilitate discussion."
Among material offered for classroom remembrances are documentaries recounting the events of 9/11 from the perspectives of family members, survivors and rescue workers.
US classrooms currently have no formal curriculum on 9/11.
The new World Trade Center, also besieged by soaring construction costs and constant reviews to make it an attack-proof fortress, will not be completed until after 2011, two years later than originally planned.
A Freedom Tower will adorn the center at 1,776 feet, a height chosen to recall the US Declaration of Independence of 1776.
The 9/11 attacks killed more than 2,700 people in New York, including 300 firefighters and police trapped after rushing into the towers to save the thousands of people working inside. The trauma has lingered with thousands of New Yorkers who lost friends or relatives or who continued to suffer mentally or physically.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently launched a programme to reach out to New Yorkers who still suffer health problems related to the terrorist attacks, with ads spanning television, radio and print media. The programme is part of a $5 million campaign to provide free health care to those who need help.
List of September 11th eventsIn addition to the ceremony at Ground Zero, here is a sampling of events on Thursday marking the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Point Lookout: 7:30 a.m., Town of Hempstead memorial ceremony, Point Lookout Beach, Lido Boulevard.
Rockville Centre: 7:45 a.m., memorial Mass celebrated by Bishop William Murphy, St. Agnes Cathedral, 29 Quealy Place.
Fire Island: 8-9:30 a.m., "Lonelyville to the Lighthouse Walk for Peace," Plank Walk, Lonelyville to Fire Island Lighthouse.
Share your thoughts about Sept. 11, 2001, and the ensuing five years.
If the media would stop giving this attention, maybe the 9/11 families could start spending the millions of dollars given to them, and stop costing the city and country millions more in construction delays.
Everyday we do not build they have won. It is time to for the families to accept what has happened and move on. Would those you are grieving about want it this way? Or would they want to show the terrorists that nothing can keep the USA Down. Let us all let them build a bigger better New York.
Albertson: 8:30 a.m., Town of North Hempstead ceremonies, Clark Botanic Garden, 193 I.U. Willets Rd.
Bellport: 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., wreath-laying ceremony honoring Eastern Suffolk BOCES alumnus Glen Pettit, police officer killed on Sept. 11, Brookhaven Technical Center, 350 Martha Ave.
Manhattan: 10 a.m.-7 p.m., public invited to sign steel beams to be used in construction of National September 11 Memorial and Museum, Battery Place, Greenwich and Washington streets.
Oakdale: 10 a.m.-11 a.m., remembrance ceremony at outdoor memorial garden by Connetquot students, faculty and administrators and local elected officials, Idle Hour Elementary School, 334 Idle Hour Blvd.
Manhattan: 11 a.m., 3 p.m., screening of documentary, "In Memoriam: New York City, 9/11/01," Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Ave., free with museum admission, $9 adults, $5 seniors and children. 212-534-1672, ext. 3395.
Mineola: 11:30 a.m., Nassau County Court System ceremony honoring Sept. 11 victims, with Court Officer Sgt. Frank Barry, a first responder on 9/11, to speak, Nassau County Supreme Court, central jury courtroom, first floor, 100 Supreme Court Dr.
Hempstead: 1 p.m., memorial service hosted by Hempstead Village Mayor Wayne Hall and the board of trustees, with the Hempstead High School choir, Denton Green (across from Village Hall), 99 Nichols Ct.
Central Islip: 5 p.m., memorial service, including reading of the names of 456 Long Islanders who died at the World Trade Center, followed by 6:35 p.m. game between the Long Island Ducks and the Somerset Patriots, Citibank Park, 631-940-3825.
Manhattan: 5 p.m., memorial service led by Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, at the site of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which was destroyed in the collapse of the South Tower, corner of Greenwich and Liberty streets.
Lynbrook: 6 p.m., memorial service, 9/11 Memorial Park, Lynbrook Village Hall, 1 Columbus Dr., 516-599-8300.
Freeport: 6 p.m., American Legion ceremonies on the "Miss Freeport," docked at Woodcleft Canal.
Commack: 6:30 p.m., candlelight ceremony honoring two Commack High School graduates who died at the World Trade Center. Commack High School, 1 Scholar Lane.
Seaford: 7 p.m., tribute to five Seaford High School graduates who died at the World Trade Center, Seaford High School, 1575 Seamans Neck Rd.
Manhattan: 7 p.m., "Hands Across The Sea," a special concert by the Oriel Choir of Oxford University, England, in tribute to victims and rescue workers. Soldiers', Sailors', Marines', Coast Guard and Airmen's Club, 283 Lexington Ave., between 36th and 37th streets.
Manhattan: 7:30 p.m., Concert for Peace, including U.S. premiere of "Iraqi Requiem" by Mohammed Amin Ezzat, Merkin Concert Hall, 129 W. 67th St., $35-$125, 212-501-3330.
