Mark Langlois THE NEWS-TIMES
Published: 01:00 a.m., Thursday, May 20, 2004
9-11 survivors make education a memorial
David Levine NEWS-TIMES CORRESPONDENT
Published: 01:00 a.m., Sunday, June 13, 2004
Sept. 11 memorial nears completion
Mark Langlois THE NEWS-TIMES
Published: 01:00 a.m., Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Town plans small 9-11 anniversary ceremony
Kamilla Gary THE NEWS-TIMES
Published: 01:00 a.m., Monday, September 6, 2004
COPING With The LOSS
Brian Saxton THE NEWS-TIMES
Published: 01:00 a.m., Saturday, September 11, 2004
Easton panels still looking for 9/11 memorial site
By Meg Barone, CORRESPONDENT
Published: 08:18 p.m., Monday, August 31, 2009
Greenwich to open up its 9/11 memorial to former residents and other victims with ties to town
By Neil Vigdor, Staff Writer
Published: 10:38 p.m., Monday, August 31, 2009
Greenwich's 9/11 memorial mired in controversy, dedication in doubt
By Neil Vigdor, Staff Writer
Published: 04:10 a.m., Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Officials still haggling over who should be listed on Greenwich's 9/11 memorial
By Neil Vigdor, Staff Writer
Published: 03:20 a.m., Tuesday, September 1, 2009
New Milford to hold 9/11 memorial ceremony
Published: 06:31 a.m., Thursday, September 3, 2009
Mom who lost family members on 9/11: Healing comes hard
By Frank Juliano, STAFF WRITER
Published: 03:40 p.m., Saturday, September 5, 2009
9-11 memorials are lasting tribute to people lost in an instant
By Frank Juliano, STAFF WRITER
Published: 02:44 p.m., Saturday, September 5, 2009
Ceremony pays tribute to 9/11 victims
By Meg Barone, Correspondent
Published: 06:03 p.m., Wednesday, September 9, 2009
No memorial for Easton to mourn 9/11 losses
By Susan Silvers, STAFF WRITER
Published: 05:56 p.m., Friday, September 11, 2009
Greenwich honors those who died in terror attacks
By Frank MacEachern, Staff Writer
Published: 05:07 p.m., Friday, September 11, 2009
Easton 9/11 panel considers new site
By Susan Silvers, STAFF WRITER
Published: 12:02 p.m., Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Hanson: Get 9/11 memorial debate 'over with'
By Susan Silvers, STAFF WRITER
Published: 12:31 a.m., Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Easton group reviews options on stalled 9/11 memorial
By Susan Silvers, STAFF WRITER
Published: 05:18 p.m., Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Easton 9/11 memorial delays frustrate victim's friends
By Susan Silvers, STAFF WRITER
Published: 11:00 p.m., Sunday, November 1, 2009
Easton's 9/11 memorial heads to voters
By Susan Silvers, Staff Writer
Published: 11:46 p.m., Thursday, November 5, 2009
Letter: Easton voters invited to Town Meeting on 9/11 memorial
Published: 04:14 p.m., Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Stalemate continues on 9/11 memorial
By Susan Silvers, Staff Writer,
Published: 07:56 p.m., Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Editorial: Time for delay is past in Easton
Published: 04:06 p.m., Friday, November 20, 2009
Letter: Commission unpersuasive on 9/11 memorial
Published: 04:51 p.m., Thursday, January 7, 2010
Editorial: Build the memorial
Published: 11:52 a.m., Friday, January 8, 2010
Fight over placement of Easton memorial continues
By Susan Silvers, STAFF WRITER
Published: 09:13 p.m., Sunday, January 10, 2010
Editorial: It's hard to understand Easton's fight of 9/11 memorial
Published: 11:03 p.m., Saturday, January 16, 2010
Town vote on 9/11 memorial challenged
By Susan Silvers, STAFF WRITER
Published: 10:15 p.m., Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Recount finds no change in vote on 9/11 memorial
By Susan Silvers, STAFF WRITER Published: 10:52 p.m., Thursday, January 21, 2010
Members sought for memorial building committee
By Susan Silvers, STAFF WRITER
Published: 11:09 p.m., Sunday, January 24, 2010
Letter: Expedite Easton's 9/11 memorial
Published: 04:17 p.m., Thursday, March 4, 2010
Easton 9/11 memorial meeting gets heated
By Noelle Frampton, STAFF WRITER
Published: 10:09 p.m., Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Editorial: Build 9/11 memorial and move on
Published: 03:50 p.m., Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Easton P&Z approves 9/11 memorial plans
Noelle Frampton, STAFF WRITER
Published: 11:21 p.m., Monday, March 22, 2010
Editorial: Make Easton 9/11 memorial reality
Published: 05:38 p.m., Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Holdup plagues completion of Greenwich 9/11 memorial
Neil Vigdor, Staff Writer
Published: 09:16 p.m., Monday, April 26, 2010
Editorial: Moving ahead on memorial
Published: 05:50 p.m., Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Committee seeks funds for memorial
Mark Langlois THE NEWS-TIMES
Published: 01:00 a.m., Thursday, May 20, 2004
DANBURY - The city's 9/11 Memorial Committee has picked a spot in Elmwood Park for a memorial honoring Connecticut's victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
They've chosen a design for the memorial. Now, they need to raise the money. The city gave the committee about $45,000, but the memorial, complete with a granite base and lighting, will cost about $100,000. The committee chose a 12-foot glass sculpture by Massachusetts Artist Henry Richardson. The glass tower would be engraved with the names of Connecticut victims. The Danbury-area victims would have a prominent location on the sculpture. "I'm very pleased with the whole project," said Sherri Williams, a committee member who lost her daughter, Candace, when terrorists crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center. "The Danbury names will be highlighted. I'm proud of our city." Mayor Mark Boughton set up the committee in the spring, and the city provided the $45,000 to help fund the project. In addition to the 12-foot rectangular tower, the memorial would be set on a granite and glass pedestal shaped like the Pentagon. "We need about $60,000 more than we have," said the Rev. Albert Audette, pastor of St. Peter's Church in Danbury. "It's important for the people of Danbury and the corporations to step up," Boughton said. The committee worked out details Wednesday, including exactly where in Elmwood Park the monument would stand. The committee is leaning toward a spot in front of the old courthouse on Main Street. Another detail the committee discussed was the Pentagon-shaped pedestal, which in drawings appeared to be as long as 15 feet in some directions. Committee members said the pedestal should not be larger than the monument itself. "The tower gets lost on this big base," said Jane DiDona, the landscape architect and committee member who designed Elmwood Park. "I think the Pentagon is just too big. What you're trying to get here is that soaring feeling." The committee agreed to make the pedestal smaller. "We have a few things to work out before we know exactly where everything goes," said city planner and committee member Dennis Elpern. "What we managed to do is come up with a site that will provide a terrific setting for the memorial." Vycki Higley Pratt, a committee member who lost her husband, Robert Higley, in the World Trade Center attacks, said the committee and city have come up with a great design and a great plan. Pratt was about to give birth to her second child, Robyn, when Robert was killed. "I was pregnant and gave birth 54 days after 9-11. Rob was on the 92nd floor." Pratt said it's important to remember the people who died on Sept. 11, even though the people left behind continue to live their lives. She said one day her daughter will bring her friends to see the monument and she'll point to her father's name in the glass tower. "All of the people have importance on earth. We're keeping their memory alive," Pratt said.
9-11 survivors make education a memorial
David Levine NEWS-TIMES CORRESPONDENT
Published: 01:00 a.m., Sunday, June 13, 2004
EASTON - A couple who lost three family members in the 9-11 attacks is turning their tragedy into a learning opportunity for children.
Lee and Eunice Hanson, of Easton, donated money to the Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport to build the "Hanson Exploration Station," a classroom building, in honor of their son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter who were killed in the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
"We were looking for something to memorialize our kids," said Eunice Hanson.
At first, the couple wanted to have a memorial bench for the family at the Easton Library, but there was no room for it. A librarian friend, who had ties to the Beardsley Zoo, told them about a memorial bench program at the zoo.
The couple donated a bench to the zoo and met zoo director Gregg Dancho, who "is so enthused about the zoo, it's contagious," Eunice Hanson said.
After a while, the Hansons decided that they wanted some sort of larger memorial to their lost family members, who were on one of the airplanes that hit the twin towers. They decided that the zoo should be the site for the memorial.
"It was a perfect fit for them," Eunice Hanson said.
The Hansons' son, Peter, had been an animal lover since he was very young, his mother said, choosing to become a vegetarian when he was just a child.
Peter, his wife Sue and 2½-year-old daughter Christine all loved plants, Eunice Hanson said. "They had a great appreciation for all things living and life in general."
The young family was always in the garden, Eunice Hanson said. "Christine was right there working with them. When Peter would plant a tree, she would hug it and say, 'I know you're hungry, so we'll feed you,' and she would go and get the water," she said.
At first, the Hansons planned to have the memorial focus on Christine, who was the youngest person killed on 9-11. "We thought of a playground because, naturally, our little Christine was just 2½."
Dancho steered the family toward an education center instead. "We've really run out of space to run programs for children," Dancho said. He added that about 50,000 children a year go to the zoo on school trips.
So, the Hansons gave the zoo $150,000 - the largest donation it has ever received - to help build the Hanson Exploration Station. The building will be a single-story log cabin structure, Dancho said. It will hold up to 80 students, tripling the zoo's educational programming facilities. The zoo employs five educators.
Dancho said the building will be in the zoo's parking lot, not the main zoo area, which means that pets will be allowed and it will be more handicapped-accessible. After zoo hours, the building will be used for community events.
Dancho hopes the Hanson Exploration Station will eventually have a "Front Yard Habitat," which would be a yard conducive for native species. He said the zoo is looking for donations to help build the yard.
Construction on the building is scheduled to begin in the next few weeks, once all permits are cleared, and "we hope to have this thing up and running by Sept. 11," to hold a memorial ceremony, Dancho said.
Eunice Hanson said the facility's mix of education and nature fits their needs perfectly. "Our family was really into education, nature and all that good stuff that makes life worth while."
Peter Hanson graduated from Joel Barlow High School in Redding, and his parents started a scholarship there in his memory, the "Peter Burton Hanson Memorial Award for Humanity."
Eunice Hanson said the zoo is a worthy recipient of charity. "It's great. The city needs repair and the zoo is the last treasure Bridgeport has right now."
Sept. 11 memorial nears completion
Mark Langlois THE NEWS-TIMES
Published: 01:00 a.m., Wednesday, August 11, 2004
DANBURY - Workers cleared the path and began setting pavers toward the 9-11 memorial that will be revealed in a ceremony at Elmwood Park on Sept. 11.
Local firm after local firm donated time or materials to the city's memorial. Others donated money to the $100,000 memorial. The city covered nearly half of the cost. The glass tower itself is being built by artist Henry Richardson in Brewster, Mass. "I'm partial to the 9-11 cause," said John Durso, a partner in NYCONN Landscaping and Design, which is donating some of its general contracting expenses on this project. "My college friend worked at Cantor Fitzgerald, and he was killed in the attack. He went to my 40th birthday party before the attacks, and his wife was planning a big surprise party for him a few months after the attack." Durso's friend, Jim Kelly, had started to work his way up in the firm. He also coached sports for his four daughters' teams. "It's important to me," Durso said. "We're helping the city, and what we did was call the subcontractors and asked for help. I said, 'Anything you can do for the cause,' and they all stepped up." Workers on Tuesday were placing the individual pavers on the path leading from the intersection of Main and Wooster streets to the memorial inside Elmwood Park. The base of the memorial is going to be two pentagons. The larger will be a paver pentagon that visitors will walk on as they approach the smaller, center pentagon that is six inches taller and made of granite. The glass sculpture will stand on the center of the granite pentagon. "Even though we don't have much time, I feel confident we'll be ready," said City Planner Dennis Elpern. Green Acres of Newtown is resetting sprinkler heads on Elmwood Park at a reduced cost, and Rizzo Electric is reducing the cost of the lighting. O&G Industries is donating the granite the monument will stand on, while Perform Concrete is donating the concrete and labor. Testcon of Danbury donated tests on the concrete. Mariano Brothers of Bethel is moving the 4,000-pound sculpture from Massachusetts to Danbury for free, said the Rev. Albert Audette, who chaired the city's committee on building the memorial to honor the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Audette said person after person and company after company stepped forward to help. "What it is is the heart of Danbury. It's the spirit of Danbury. Do you remember the one-year anniversary when 1,000 people filled the streets for the memorial service?" Audette asked. "I feel this wonderful sense. It's a good process." The ceremony unveiling the monument will take place at 11 a.m. on Sept. 11 at Elmwood Park. The ceremony will close Main Street at Elmwood Park for about 90 minutes. The city will place seats in the road and bleachers on one side of Main Street. The Danbury High School band will perform, as will the high school Madrigals. The Immaculate High School chorus will perform, as will the Danbury Police Department bagpipers. "We're closing Main Street, and we'd like residents to turn out for what will be a special morning," Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton said.
Contact Mark Langlois
Town plans small 9-11 anniversary ceremony
Kamilla Gary THE NEWS-TIMES
Published: 01:00 a.m., Monday, September 6, 2004
NEW MILFORD - The town will hold a subdued remembrance for the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, marking the third anniversary of the event.
Resident Peter Orenski, who had been vocal in the past about continuing commemorations of the day, is heading up the town's Sept. 11 committee. "We want to make it a town activity," Orenski said. He will donate a new flag to fly over the granite, pentagon-shaped memorial installed last year on Patriots Way. This year's memorial event will be about a half-hour long. "It will be a small, family affair to replace the flag," Orenski said. This year, a contingent of motorcycle riders will travel from New Milford to Ground Zero in New York City, the site of the World Trade Center towers where 3,000 people lost their lives when terrorists flew two airplanes into the buildings. The fire department, emergency medical services, police department and the VFW honor guard rifle squad will participate in the event. The Rev. Michael Moran will have the bells toll at the First Congregational Church and the Rev. Mike MacInnis will offer the prayer of St. Francis. Participants in the ceremony are asked to gather at the Patriots Way Memorial at 8 a.m. on Sept. 11. The formal start time will be 8:30 a.m., rain or shine. "We remember all the victims of terror, it's the plague of our generation," Orenski said. "We don't wrap ourselves in our anguish, we remember all."
Contact Kamilla Gary
COPING With The LOSS
Brian Saxton THE NEWS-TIMES
Published: 01:00 a.m., Saturday, September 11, 2004
Peter Hanson loved collecting things.
Over the years, the business executive accumulated many keepsakes. Baseball cards. Model cars. Cigarette lighters.
In one room of his home, empty commemorative Wheaties boxes towered to the ceiling. In another room sat his vast collection of cassette tapes of Grateful Dead concerts, recorded before he was married.
During Hanson's life, they were objects of joyful reminders of times gone by. After Sept. 11, 2002, his parents found them poignant remembrances of their only son.
Hanson, 31, his wife, Sue, 33, and their 2½-year-old daughter, Christine Lee, were headed for California aboard United Airlines Flight 175 when it plunged into the south tower of the World Trade Center in New York.
Only minutes before the crash, Hanson used his cell phone to tell his father the plane was hijacked. His parents watched Flight 175's fatal moment live on TV.
On this third anniversary of the terrorist attacks, Hanson's parents - Lee, 71, and Eunice, 68, of Easton - like thousands of other family members of those who died, are still dealing with the emotional aftermath.
It's hard to put the sadness aside when every place, every day - even three years later - carries reminders. It's hard to stop grieving when you are constantly working to tidy up the loose ends of your son's life, when you are still fighting for a more dignified resting place for his ashes.
Recollections of rediscovering their son's collectibles and receiving their granddaughter's belongings from her day-care center often reignite the pain.
Lee Hanson talks of finding a roll of unexposed film used while Peter and his family were visiting Boston. On it were perhaps some of the last pictures taken of them.
Before Sept. 11, Peter and Sue lived for three years in a white, four-bedroom colonial in Groton. By all accounts, they were a handsome, happy and hard-working couple with many friends.
Peter, a graduate of Joel Barlow High School in Redding and of Northeastern University and Boston University, was employed as vice-president for sales at TimeTrade, a software engineering company in Waltham, Mass.
Sue was studying for a Ph.D. in immunology and pathology at Boston University.
Christine Lee was their only child.
Their trip on Sept. 11 was a combination of business and pleasure. Peter had work to do in California. Later, they planned to visit Sue's family on the West Coast.
Last week at his Easton home, Lee Hanson talked about being the appointed administrator of his son and daughter-in-law's estate and the first time he had to visit their property after their death.
"It was a horrible feeling,'' said Hanson. "The house was just as it was. It was very clean and very neat, but it was a horrible feeling.''
Lee Hanson, a retired corporate finance executive, had to deal with their mortgage account and other household bills.
"I found it very emotional . . . There were times when I'd work for half a day and then cry for a couple of hours. It was only when I began to work on the estate that I realized they were really dead.''
By the end of 2002, the house had been sold.
Hanson also remembered the New York City medical examiner's office asking for DNA samples from his son's house.
"They asked for things such as hair from a hairbrush and a toothbrush,'' Hanson said. "It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.''
Hanson especially remembers the day he found a will signed by Sue Hanson but not witnessed.
In it, Sue had expressed her wish that Peter's parents should become guardians of their daughter if anything happened to her and her husband.
"We knew she loved and trusted us, but that was really something - that she would want us to take care of her child,'' Hanson said. "It just cemented everything for us.''
Hanson personally honored Sue's memory in May 2002 by accepting her Ph.D. degree at Boston University School of Medicine.
"I tried not to cry, but when I got to the platform I saw all the professors were crying,'' Hanson said. "Then I cried.''
In the three years since the family's death, Lee and Eunice Hanson have done much to help perpetuate their memory and that of other Sept. 11 victims.
Among a long list of memorials they've financed is a bench at Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport and an annual prize in humanity at Joel Barlow School.
The Hansons also contributed to a state-supported exploration station and backyard habitat at the zoo and matched nationwide donations that established the Christine Lee Hanson Treatment Room in the pediatrics department at Boston Medical Center.
Other projects also bear the names of Peter, Sue and Christine Lee Hanson.
Today, as the nation commemorates the third anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, the Hansons are involved in a new quest for closure.
Last week, a group of victims' family members, including Lee Hanson, rallied at ground zero to urge New York City to remove the ashen remains of their loved ones from a landfill on Staten Island, where debris was sorted after the attack.
The group, WTC Families for Proper Burial, was formed after the city's Department of Planning announced plans to develop the landfill into the city's largest park.
With 47,000 signatures calling for "a more dignified resting place'' for the remains, the group wants the city to remove the fine-dust deposits from the landfill and take them back to the World Trade Center site as part of the memorial planned there.
"The thought of their bones, as small as they may be, or their ashes, as spread out as they may be, being in a dump hurts us very much,'' Hanson told one reporter during the rally.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration has opposed the idea, citing the enormous cost involved in moving a million tons of material. City officials insist that all identifiable human remains have already been removed.
At his home last week, Lee Hanson, who received only one small bone identified as his son's, defended the group's action.
"What if other small bones are there?'' Hanson said. "No matter how small they are, we want them. It's going to take money and planning in New York to make people aware of the situation.''
After spending the past Sept. 11s at commemorative ceremonies in New York and Boston, the Hansons plan to stay close home this weekend and attend a 9 a.m. memorial service at Easton Library.
With them will be their only daughter, Kathryn Lee Barrere, 39; her husband, Mark; and their children, Alexandra, 6, and Nicole, 4; who live in Southbury.
"Sept. 11 was really tough on siblings," said Hanson. "Kathryn loved him and was distraught by it all.''
Hanson looked to the future cautiously.
"Someone once told me, 'You're never going to forget your kids' - and why should you? I was also told that although in time you will eventually live with the pain, the pain will never go away."
Easton panels still looking for 9/11 memorial site
By Meg Barone, CORRESPONDENT
Published: 08:18 p.m., Monday, August 31, 2009
EASTON -- Two weeks from the eighth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the town still has no home for its 9/11 memorial, but has moved a step closer when the Board of Selectmen voted unanimously Monday to make a referral on a location to the Planning and Zoning Commission.
After holding a joint meeting between the selectmen and the P&Z, at which members of the 9/11 Memorial Planning Committee and the public offered their recommendations, selectmen voted to refer to the P&Z that the memorial be placed on town-owned property by the library. The selectmen did not get more specific, although members of the zoning and memorial panels did.
Mark Halstead, the Fairfield architect who designed the memorial, said the committee thinks the memorial should be visible and easily accessible to the public, making the green near the front entrance of the library the best choice. "It could be a jewel in front of the library; something very special," he said.
In addition to a pergola with three benches, the proposed memorial includes stones walls, and Halstead said he plans to use native stone "so it's part of the town," just as Peter Hanson was. Hanson, who grew up in Easton and whose parents, C. Lee and Eunice Hanson, are still residents, died in the terrorist attacks. Peter Hanson, his wife Susan and their 3-year-old daughter Christine were passengers aboard the hijacked United Airlines Flight 175, which was flown into the south tower of the World Trade Center in New York.
"I think it's a beautiful concept." I like the design and the town has a need for this," said P&Z member Milan Spisek.
But Spisek acknowledged that the P&Z and memorial committee are "not on the same page" regarding location.
The P&Z last December turned down a site for the memorial on the library green recommended by the memorial committee.
P&Z Chairman Rob Maquat said he recognizes the importance of the memorial, and takes the project as seriously as the memorial committee, but differs on a location, although he agreed it should be in the general area of the library. Maquat said an investigation into alternative sites conducted by Town Planner John Hayes identified the north or Center Road side of the library by the community room as a "superior location."
"We found that that particular site has wonderful exposure." It would be very, very accessible," he said.
Maquat added he has problems aesthetically with placing the memorial on the green because that area has a distinct character. "We would be very reluctant to build a structure there. It would be different if we were talking about a (memorial) garden," he said.
Committee members, however, said the memorial would enhance the green rather than detract from it. "The green is really nothing right now. It's just a big traffic island and not much to look at. It's a divider between two sections of the parking lot right now," Halstead said.
The committee members said they rejected the north side of the library because of its distance from the library entrance and other reasons. Halstead called it "a pretty site," but said there are downsides, including posing an impediment to future expansion of the library and drainage problems.
"If that isn't wetlands down there, it is wet land. I sank up to the top of my shoes and it wasn't a terribly rainy day," Halstead said.
Maquat said the P&Z got input from Town Engineer Ed Nagy about the drainage and believes it is not an issue. Further, he said, there is flexibility regarding the layout.
Sal Santello, chairman of the memorial committee, said the memorial would not be immediately visible to the public if it were built near the community room. "We didn't want to have people go find this. We wanted them to come across it naturally. The front of the library is used more often than the community room. That's why we'd like to place it there. That is the hub," he said.
Committee member Paula Barker said Halstead's design was created specifically for the green between the Town Hall and library, as initially charged two years ago. "To consider another site at this point will mean the memorial will have to be redesigned," said Barker, who also fears the north library site will require more revenue to install paths and stairs to the memorial.
"At least we've zeroed in on the library site," Halstead said.
The P&Z will have 35 days from the date they receive the selectmen's referral in writing, sometime this week, to vote on memorial location.
Greenwich to open up its 9/11 memorial to former residents and other victims with ties to town
By Neil Vigdor, Staff Writer
Published: 10:38 p.m., Monday, August 31, 2009
Bowing to pressure from victims' families and politicians, Greenwich will open up its 9/11 memorial to former residents and others with ties to the community -- not just those who were living in town at the time of the attacks.
Located on Great Captains Island and part of a larger project to renovate the lighthouse there, the memorial has been bogged down in controversy.
"The darn thing should be open. Anybody who feels they have a tie to Greenwich should be on the list," said Ed Bragg, chairman of the nonprofit group Return the Light.
Working with the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce, the group raised $305,000 in private donations toward the nearly $1.3 million to renovate the lighthouse and to incorporate the memorial. The town paid for the rest.
Bragg took a 180-degree turn from his position of a week ago that the memorial should be limited to those victims who expected to take the train home to Greenwich on Sept. 11, 2001, and did not.
Those comments hit a nerve with some victims' family members.
"I'm really fed up with this controversy of who gets on the memorial and who doesn't," said Susan Fisher, who lost her husband Ben in the attacks. "I think it's so incredibly small-minded. This is a time to be as open as possible. Everybody's suffered enough, for heaven's sake."
Most of the donations to the Return the Light fundraising appeal were made in the name of Fisher's husband, a senior vice president of Fiduciary Trust Co. International, an asset management firm that had offices on the 97th floor of the World Trade Center. An experienced sailor who was raised in Greenwich and lived in Stamford, the 58-year-old had an interest in the lighthouse restoration before his death on Sept. 11.
If residency was a prerequisite, the names of only 12 of the 25 victims with ties to Greenwich would be listed on the memorial, according to obituaries and articles published in the newspaper at the time. Most of those victims worked at the World Trade Center. Two were killed on the hijacked planes.
First Selectman Peter Tesei lamented that the controversy happened in the first place.
"It's unfortunate that it even came to this, and that's the result of efforts on their part," Tesei said of the nonprofit group and the chamber. "We're talking about a horrific tragedy of monumental proportions in the history of the U.S., and we're splitting hairs."
Mary Ann Morrison, the chamber's president and chief executive, said the business organization is sensitive to the suffering the families have gone through.
"Let's don't cause these people any more pain," said Morrison, who urged family members of local victims to come forward to make sure their loved ones are listed.
Both Morrison and Bragg reached out this week to the family of Jason Sabbag, a colleague of Fisher's who also died in the attacks, to ensure that their son's name will appear on the memorial.
"I think they finally got the message," said Sabbag's father, Ralph Sabbag, a longtime town resident.
Except for the year-and-a-half he had moved to New York City for work, Sabbag's son had spent most of his life in Greenwich.
Sabbag, 26, was a state tennis champion at Greenwich High School who went on to graduate from Georgetown University with honors. He volunteered for Meals-on-Wheels of Greenwich and Safe Rides.
Earlier in the week, the elder Sabbag vowed to fight to have his son's name included on the memorial.
"It was very, very upsetting," Sabbag said. "He was a Greenwich boy."
During his conversation with Morrison and Bragg, Sabbag also requested that the memorial be opened up to all victims with Greenwich ties.
"I just wanted the other families to see I didn't only fight for my son, I fought for everybody," Sabbag said.
Bragg said the controversy was regrettable.
"Nobody should be fighting over this," Bragg said. "There shouldn't be discord. It should be a very inclusive effort."
Morrison emphasized that the ultimate decision will be the town's since the memorial was mostly paid for by taxpayers and is located on public property.
"I would like the town to step in here and set the criteria so we can resolve this issue," Morrison said.
Tesei said he is inclined to open the memorial up to anyone with a Greenwich tie, including one victim, Gregory Wachtler, who never lived in town but is buried in St. Mary's Cemetery on North Street.
"Frankly, I would say, 'Yes, include him,' " Tesei said. "We want to end this. We want to pay respect and homage to those who died."
Greenwich's 9/11 memorial mired in controversy, dedication in doubt
By Neil Vigdor, Staff Writer
Published: 04:10 a.m., Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Less than three weeks away from the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, a planned town memorial to the Greenwich victims still has no names.
Planners of the memorial, part of a larger project to renovate the Great Captains Island lighthouse, remain at a stalemate over who should be listed on its plaque.
"I would suspect you're not going to have the plaque done in time for 9/11," said Ed Bragg, chairman of the nonprofit group Return the Light.
Working with the town's Chamber of Commerce, the group raised $305,000 in private donations toward the nearly $1.3 million lighthouse renovation project.
Bragg said only the victims who were town residents when they died should be listed on the memorial, a view shared by the business organization's president and chief executive, Mary Ann Morrison.
Others who grew up in town, attended schools here or have family in Greenwich but lived elsewhere would be left off the memorial, which will be displayed on a granite slab next to the recently renovated lighthouse on the town-owned island.
"My feeling toward the whole thing is it was the people who got up that morning and expected to take the train home that night to Greenwich," Bragg said. "It wasn't people from Princeton (N.J.) or Bedford, N.Y."
Sixteen residents and seven others with ties to Greenwich died in the attacks. Most worked at the World Trade Center. Two were killed on the hijacked planes.
If residency is the deciding factor, victims such as Jason Sabbag might be in danger of being left off the memorial, a prospect that pains his father, Ralph Sabbag.
Except for the year-and-a-half he had moved to New York City for work, the younger Sabbag had spent most of his life in Greenwich, according to his father, a longtime town resident.
Sabbag, 26, was a state tennis champion at Greenwich High School who went on to graduate from Georgetown University with honors. He volunteered for Meals-on-Wheels of Greenwich and Safe Rides.
"It is unthinkable and unacceptable, especially in these kind of circumstances," Sabbag said of the prospect of his son being excluded from the memorial. "How much can one give to this town? Not to be recognized as a Greenwich resident? Come on."
Sabbag said he was disappointed to learn that the memorial probably won't be ready in time for the eighth anniversary.
Town officials empathized with Sabbag, saying that the town, not any other group, should be the final arbiter on who is memorialized.
"Who decides? The town paid for the bulk of that lighthouse. It seems ... the town at least ought to have a say. I think we need to get the town involved here," said Selectman Peter Crumbine, who was acting first selectman Friday in the absence of the vacationing Peter Tesei.
Crumbine said it would be awful if Sabbag's name were left off the memorial.
"I'm disappointed in not making the (anniversary)," Crumbine said. "I'm more concerned that we get the right names on the plaque. I believe the town has an interest here and should be heard."
Selectman Lin Lavery expressed similar frustration over the situation, saying that Sabbag's parents come to the town's 9/11 memorial service every year.
"There will never be closure for these people, but at least it might help a little," said Lavery, whose son Brian and Sabbag were friends.
Lavery said it was unfortunate that the completion of the memorial was mired in bickering.
"I really feel that they're doing a wonderful thing creating this memorial. If it will help people who are in pain and who are our citizens and have lost a loved one, we should be inclusive. We can't imagine the pain that these people live with," Lavery said. "It's time that we finish the memorial."
In addition to the plaque with the victims' names, a separate one with the names of major donors to the lighthouse renovation and organizers of Return the Light will be mounted on the granite slab. That plaque hasn't been made, either.
Most of the donations to the Return the Light fundraising appeal were made in the name of Ben Fisher, a senior vice president of Fiduciary Trust Co. International, an asset management firm on the 97th floor of the World Trade Center. An experienced sailor who was raised in Greenwich and lived in Stamford, the 58-year-old had an interest in the lighthouse restoration before his death on Sept 11.
Sabbag worked at the same firm as Fisher.
If the town were to loosen the qualifications for the memorial, Bragg asked where it would draw the line. He said many of the town's private schools attract students from neighboring communities.
"There have to have been any number of people in New Canaan or Darien that went to Brunswick (School) or something but resided up there," Bragg said. "They did not get on the train in Greenwich. There's endless numbers of ties to the town that somebody can conjure up."
Officials still haggling over who should be listed on Greenwich's 9/11 memorial
By Neil Vigdor, Staff Writer
Published: 03:20 a.m., Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Gregory Wachtler never called Greenwich home in the conventional sense.
He didn't go to school in town or have family here.
But in the eyes of his mother, he is very much part of the fabric of the community -- it's just that it's in death, not life.
Wachtler's sole connection to Greenwich is that he is buried in St. Mary's Cemetery on North Street next to his paternal grandparents, who were married in town.
Killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the 25-year-old grew up in Ramsey, N.J., and lived in New York City. He was a research analyst for Fred Alger Management Co. in the World Trade Center.
"For me, Greenwich will always be part of my life. They've got my kid. They've got his body. For me, his soul is there," said Nassima Wachtler, who travels several times a week from her home to visit her son's grave.
Wachtler is making an emotional appeal to the town to include her son's name on a new memorial that it is looking to dedicate to local victims of the attacks on the eighth anniversary of the tragedy on Great Captains Island.
Sixteen residents and seven others with ties to Greenwich died in the attacks. Most worked at the World Trade Center. Two were killed on the hijacked planes.
Officials are still haggling, however, over who should be listed on the memorial plaque, which will be displayed on a granite slab next to the recently renovated lighthouse on the town-owned island.
"It's not a memorial to everyone who lost their life. It's a memorial to Greenwich residents who lost their life on 9/11," said Mary Ann Morrison, president and chief executive officer of the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce.
A nonprofit group called Return the Light, working in cooperation with the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce, raised $305,000 in private donations toward the nearly $1.3 million lighthouse renovation project.
Morrison said some victims have loose ties to Greenwich at best.
"If we start including the names of extended family members, then where do we draw the line?" Morrison said. "Did the person grow up in Greenwich? Did they go to school here and is their family still here?"
Asked whether a resident who lost a sibling in the attacks could get their brother or sister's name put on the memorial if that person lived elsewhere, Morrison said no.
"The bottom line is he has no connection to Greenwich personally," Morrison said.
Selectman Peter Crumbine, who was acting as first selectman Friday in place of the vacationing Peter Tesei, said he disagreed with Morrison that the memorial should be strictly limited to residents.
"We have to think carefully where we draw the line, but I would not limit it to only those who were living in Greenwich at the time of the disaster," Crumbine said.
Susan Wohlforth, a town resident whose husband, Martin, was killed in the attacks, echoed those comments.
"I always feel that it's better to be inclusive rather than exclusive," said Wohlforth, whose husband was a managing director at Sandler O'Neill & Partners, an investment banking firm in the World Trade Center. He was 47.
Wohlforth said she could understand why the chamber would want to limit the memorial to residents and would respect the final decision.
"I'm just grateful that Greenwich will have finally a memorial," Wohlforth said.
Next month's dedication of the memorial could be in jeopardy, however. The plaque has yet to be ordered by the town from the casting company.
"I'll be more than happy to do a plaque as long as I have some names," said Alan Monelli, the town's building superintendent.
Crumbine said the ultimate decision on whose names are included on the plaque should rest with the town.
"Well, the town paid for most of the lighthouse, so I would think the town should have the final say," Crumbine said.
For example, Crumbine said there's no question that the names of Ben Fisher and Jason Sabbag should be included on the memorial.
Fisher was a senior vice president of Fiduciary Trust Co. International, an asset management firm on the 97th floor of the World Trade Center. An experienced sailor who was raised in Greenwich and lived in Stamford, the 58-year-old had an interest in the lighthouse restoration before his death. Most of the donations to the Return the Light fundraising appeal were made in Fisher's name.
Sabbag, 26, a state tennis champion at Greenwich High School who went on to graduate from Georgetown University with honors, worked at the same company as Fisher on the 94th floor of the World Trade Center. His parents are longtime town residents.
Morrison said the listing of the names should be handled on a case-by-case basis.
"I would think we would look at someone whose family still lives here and they graduated from the schools here," Morrison said.
Wachtler said she will not fight the decision if her son is left off the memorial.
"I would leave it to their sensitivity," Wachtler said. "From an emotional point of view, I wish he was part of the group."
New Milford to hold 9/11 memorial ceremony
Published: 06:31 a.m., Thursday, September 3, 2009
The New Milford 9/11 Memorial Maintenance Committee will host a memorial ceremony next Friday, Sept. 11 at 8:48 a.m. in remembrance of the people who lost their lives in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
The ceremony will be held the memorial site located in Patriots' Way Plaza west of the Railroad Street parking lot.
Participants are asked to assemble at 8 a.m.
Mom who lost family members on 9/11: Healing comes hard
By Frank Juliano, STAFF WRITER
Published: 03:40 p.m., Saturday, September 5, 2009
EASTON -- As another anniversary approaches, Eunice Hanson, of Easton, watches America's response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks that took the lives of her son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter with growing frustration.
While she finds little comfort in the observances that are held to mark the date every year, Hanson said attending the trial of an alleged 9/11 perpetrator later this month at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will "give my husband and I the opportunity to see first hand what is going on. I can't say that it is healing -- there is no pain that compares to the loss of a child. And in my case I also lost my daughter-in-law, who I couldn't have loved more if I gave birth to her myself, and to my little angel Christine, the youngest victim that day."
Peter Hanson would have been 40 in January and Christine would be 9. "I think of all the things they would be doing as a family now; they were young and there likely would have been more grandchildren," his mother said wistfully.
"All that is gone."
C. Lee Hanson, Peter's father, testified at the 2006 trial al-Qaida terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui in Alexandria, Va. Moussaoui expressed no remorse at all for the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans on 9/11. But what bothers Eunice Hanson even more is what she said was the failure of media outlets to show the terrorist in a true light.
"When people got up to testify, he said, 'You should have died too.' Then he'd sit there, picking his nose, with contempt on his face. Nobody ever mentioned how crude and rude he was, and now we have to Mirandize these people?"
Eunice Hanson said she feels for the families of the victims in the Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, after a Scottish official granted a "compassionate release" to the only person convicted in that attack. "I don't think we should be investigating our own CIA either.
"I'm tired of (President) Obama telling us that we've been bad people or that we in any way deserved this. That is like saying Daniel Pearl deserved to be beheaded. 9/11 happened and we have to have justice.
"We have to find the people responsible and hold them accountable," Eunice Hanson said.
Fairfield University will continue to place photos of the 13 men and one woman who died in the attacks on the altar at the annual memorial Mass, an official said. The university keeps in contact with their families and invites them to the memorial, but over the years some have moved away from the area or moved on, alumni director Janet Canepa said. "We let them know that we will always remember them at the Mass," she said.
The official state observance, headed by Gov. M. Jodi Rell, is scheduled for Wednesday at 5 p.m. in Sherwood Island State Park.
"We have always held ours earlier, to allow flexibility to the families who might want to attend services in New York or in their hometowns," organizer Brian Mattiello said.
For years the family of Michael Miller had a Mass for him said on the 11th of every month at St. Agnes Church in Milford, where Miller was baptised and confirmed. Miller's father James, died last year. But the Cantor Fitzgerald employee who was killed when the twin towers collapsed will never be forgotten in his hometown, close friend Tim Attolino said.
9-11 memorials are lasting tribute to people lost in an instant
By Frank Juliano, STAFF WRITER
Published: 02:44 p.m., Saturday, September 5, 2009
Eight years after the terrorist attacks, the area's 9/11 memorials are a source of comfort for residents, a place to reflect and pray, and tangible evidence of the promise not to forget those who died that day.Ceremony pays tribute to 9/11 victims
"I see people who work at the courthouse sitting there, eating their lunch," Joseph Della Monica Jr. said of Milford's black granite memorial. "The seniors who live across the street have told me that they appreciate having it there, and the mayor now includes it in his City Hall tour. It gives the kids a perspective on history."
The twisted, charred hunk of metal that came from the World Trade Center in New York City always elicits a reaction from people seeing the memorial on the Fairfield University campus for the first time. The steel fragment rests on a granite slab in front of the university's Alumni House and honors the memory of 14 Fairfield graduates killed when the twin towers collapsed.
"It's amazing when people come to Alumni House for the first time; they stop dead in their tracks,'' said Janet Canepa, director of alumni relations. "You can see the reaction on their faces: 'Oh, my God."'
In Greenwich, there remains uncertainty over the town's planned 9/11 memorial.
A battle has been raging over which victims' names would be included on the memorial, planned for Great Captain's Island and part of a large project to renovate the lighthouse there. Just last week, after pressure from victims' families and politicians, it was decided that the memorial will be open to former town residents and others with ties to the community -- not just those who were living in town at the time of the attacks.
Twenty-five people with ties to Greenwich died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to obituaries and articles published in the newspaper at the time. Most of those victims worked at the World Trade Center. Two were killed on the hijacked planes.
Working with the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce, the nonprofit group Return the Light raised $305,000 in private donations toward the nearly $1.3 million to renovate the lighthouse and to incorporate the memorial. The town paid for the rest.
Though the controversy over which names to include has been resolved, it is still unclear when the memorial will be erected.
The memorial at Sherwood Island State Park in Westport looks toward Ground Zero, but also to the future and the hope of peace. "The sound of the water is calming, and when you are sitting on the marble benches your eye is directed toward the New York City skyline," said Brian Mattiello, one of two state officials who oversee the memorial.
"Its relationship and its juxtaposition to New York, and the fact that most of the 152 Connecticut victims were from that area made the site particularly appropriate."
Architect Shauvan Towers designed markers for each Connecticut victim with a large granite slab and marble benches within a perimeter. The site is near the water, a location that had been popular with fishermen but was otherwise unremarkable. "The memorial beautified its location," Mattiello said.
But not every 9/11 monument has had a peaceful or serene start.
Easton officials are only now firming up plans for a memorial there, eight years after town native Peter Hanson, his wife and their young daughter were killed when their plane was crashed into the World Trade Center by al-Qaida terrorists. The design by Fairfield architect Mark Halstead of a graceful pergola has been approved by the Board of Selectmen, but the Planning and Zoning Commission, after rejecting a site for the memorial last year, is considering another site for it in front of the library.
"I don't know why Planning and Zoning has created this delay, but I am more optimistic now than I've been before that it (the memorial) is going to happen,'' said Eunice Hanson, Peter's mother. "It got to be a turf war for some reason, and the arguments have been so stupid, but the site chosen is quite nice, in the center of Easton's activities.''
Hanson noted that the town memorial would not be just dedicated to the memory of Peter, his wife Sue Kim and their 3-year-old Christine, but to all of the 9/11 victims. "It is as close as you can get to being part of history, as awful as it was. I feel sorry for the 9/11 Memorial Committee; I'm sure it has taken a lot more of their time than they expected. But I love the pergola. My daughter-in-law was Korean and this brings a bit of an Asian touch to it. It's not overwhelming; it won't swallow up that piece of land.''
Della Monica, a Milford police sergeant who chaired the city's 9/11 Memorial Committee, recalled opposition to the plans there, and to earlier proposed sites on the downtown Green or at the Lisman Landing Marina at the harbor.
"People said there were too many monuments on the Green already and they didn't want another one," he said. "At the harbor, the plans for the property weren't allset, they weren't sure what they'd be doing down there.''
Three former Milford residents, all of whom attended elementary school there, died in the collapse of the WTC towers. Michael Miller, who had been a football standout at Joseph A. Foran High School, Avnish Patel and Seth Morris were at work in their offices when the buildings fell.
The loss was keenly felt, and Della Monica's committee was formed to create a suitable memorial.
"When we went to the spot next to City Hall, the historical society (actually, the Historic District Commission) was concerned that it would overwhelm the site," Della Monica recalled. "We scaled it back some and removed the Greek columns. To keep the same height we sunk it into the ground and built a ramp down to it. The Rev. Andrew Osmun, when he was volunteering at Ground Zero, filled two cups of dirt and ash from the site, and we mixed it into the concrete," the chairman said. "This is hallowed ground.''
By Meg Barone, Correspondent
Published: 06:03 p.m., Wednesday, September 9, 2009
WESTPORT -- Eight years after the terrorist attacks that leveled the World Trade Center and took the lives of nearly 3,000 people, the grief is almost as palpable as it was on Sept. 11, 2001, for the families and friends left behind.
They gathered Wednesday at Sherwood Island State Park, site of the state's September 11th Memorial, to honor the 156 people with Connecticut ties who died in the towers and on commandeered planes that day. The park is only 53 miles from Manhattan, and many people gathered on the peninsula, where the memorial now sits, to watch smoke billowing into the skyline on that fateful day.
"We can't snap our fingers and make the grief go away. ... We can only accept it, share it and endure it," Gov. M. Jodi Rell told an audience of about 300 people at the Sept. 11th anniversary ceremony. Rell urged those gathered to remember and mourn, but also to gain a renewed purpose and resolve; "renewed strength to do those things and to be those people that the missing would want us to do and want us to be.
"Today is much more than remembering. It's about living. ... We will remember them and we will go on in strength," said Rell, whose voice cracked with emotion when she spoke about a young man who witnessed the attacks in New York and cried "because he didn't know what he could do."
Rell later joined Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, memorial organizers and clergymen in a reception line at the entrance to the memorial. Loved ones left white and red roses, seashells and other mementos at the granite markers bearing the names of those they lost.
At the stone for Timothy John Hargrave someone left a packet of M&M candies. Three white roses and pieces of sea glass were left on Scott J. O'Brien's marker. Kathy and Dale Maycen, of Branford, left a bouquet of sunflowers for their daughter, Lindsay Morehouse.
"This memorial is very meaningful," Kathy Maycen said. Morehouse's remains were never recovered, so the Westport memorial is the only place where her name is inscribed in stone and where they can come to mourn her, Dale Maycen said.
The ceremony was punctuated by speeches from two family members, prayers offered by a rabbi and priest, and musical selections, including "The Star Spangled Banner," and "America the Beautiful," performed by the U.S. Coast Guard Cadet Chorale, and "Amazing Grace," sung by Tony Harrington, of Bloomfield, accompanied on guitar by Tony Lee, of Niantic.
Several family members recited the names of Connecticut's 9/11 victims. Alex Blackwell, of Brewster, N.Y., was the first to read, including the name of her father, Christopher J. Blackwell, a New York firefighter who was born and raised in New Fairfield.
"My sister, Candace Lee Williams," said Cory Williams. Candace Williams was a 20-year-old college student from Danbury, who was on one of the airliners that hit the Trade Center.
Jack Goldberg, the nephew of Joel Miller, said the Westport memorial location is "comforting and calming."
Alex Blackwell, who works at the park, said she prefers attending the Westport memorial ceremony rather than the one in New York on the actual anniversary because "It's smaller, it's quieter, and you can get more personal with the memorial itself."
Elaine and Frank Young, of Shelton, said they attend the memorial every year to honor their son-in-law Derek Statkevicus, especially since other family members can't make it because they live out of state. Statkevicus' parents live in Arizona and their daughter has since moved to North Carolina.
Nancy Nuzzo and Maria Giunta, both of Westport, said they knew no one who perished on 9/11 but come to the memorial every year out of respect and "to show them we have not forgotten," Nuzzo said.
Family members not only expressed sadness for their loss but anger about the remains that were shipped to a garbage dump in New York. Paul Kerwin, formerly of Weston, is one of the 1,100 families who never received their loved ones' remains. "Our sons and daughters and wives and husbands are not garbage," said Kerwin, whose son, Glenn Kerwin, was killed on 9/11.
"To think of all those people there is just wrong," said C. Lee Hanson, of Easton, who wore around his neck a photograph of his son, Peter, daughter-in-law, Sue Kim, and 3-year-old granddaughter Christine Lee Hanson, who were on Flight 175, one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center.
No memorial for Easton to mourn 9/11 losses
By Susan Silvers, STAFF WRITER
Published: 05:56 p.m., Friday, September 11, 2009
EASTON -- Jason Curtis wanted to take time Friday to remember the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He'd grown up with Peter Hanson, an Easton native who perished with his wife and daughter on one of the planes that was flown by terrorists into the World Trade Center.
But eight years after the attacks, Curtis, who lives in Shelton now but whose parents still live in Easton, said he can't believe that Easton has not yet resolved its plans for an official memorial to the 9/11 victims.
"It's time for Easton to step up and honor the Hanson family," he said after nearly 20 Hanson friends, town residents and employees gathered at the Easton Library for a brief memorial ceremony. "Not only the Hanson family, but all the families," he said, referring to the thousands who lost their lives that day at the Twin Towers in New York City, the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., and a field in Pennsylvania.
Members of the 9/11 Memorial Committee organized Friday's event, hoping that a display of the planned Easton memorial would help persuade the Planning and Zoning Commission to approve its recommended site in front of the library.
Although heavy rain -- so unlike the cloudless beauty of Sept. 11, 2001 -- forced the ceremony inside, scores of small flags outlined the spot on the library green where the memorial would be located under plans backed by the committee.
Though Friday's event was not the town's official 9/11 commemoration, which was held at Hanson's alma mater of Joel Barlow High School in Redding, Dr. Sal Santella, the committee chairman, said it was important for his panel and other supporters to make their case for their preferred memorial site by demonstrating that the design wouldn't intrude on the open feeling of the green.
"I hope that people see it's very low key," said Mark Halstead, the architect who designed the memorial.
The design includes a flagpole, which Halstead said he couldn't believe was absent from the site in front of a public building, as well as two low stone walls to symbolize the Twin Towers; three benches bearing the names of Peter Hanson, his wife Sue Kim, and daughter Christine; a pergola opening to the sky, and a plaque with an inscription from the late Easton resident Helen Keller.
Halstead said he specifically designed the memorial to be open to the sky, recalling the beauty of the day. He recalled driving over the George Washington Bridge from New Jersey that day when he saw a black cloud and wondered what was happening. "It was horrible," he said. "We could see it from Yonkers."
Santella and Halstead said the memorial would take only 37 feet of the library green's 150-foot length and 12.5 feet of its 45-foot width.
The proposed location, however, has encountered resistance, with some locals calling for the memorial be built on other sites. The PZC, which turned down an earlier plan last year, is expected to address the matter again Sept. 21.
In a brief message, the Rev. Thomas Driscoll of Notre Dame of Easton Church paid tribute not only to the more than 3,000 people killed eight years ago, but the emergency service workers who lost their lives responding to the attacks and those who have suffered residual effects.
Anne Fiyalka, an Easton resident who knows the Hansons, said she was home listening to a recitation of all the victims' names before she came to the local ceremony. "I just feel sorry for all the people who lost their dear ones," she said.
Greenwich honors those who died in terror attacks
By Frank MacEachern, Staff Writer
Published: 05:07 p.m., Friday, September 11, 2009
The father of a former Greenwich resident who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, was "touched" that First Selectman Peter Tesei tapped him to lay the official wreath at a ceremony Friday honoring Greenwich residents who died on that tragic day.
Ralph Sabbag joined Tesei in placing the wreath at a memorial in the Town Hall Meeting Room. The ceremony is traditionally held outside Town Hall, but Friday's rain pushed the event indoors.
Even so, about 125 attended the solemn 36-minute ceremony.
"It was a good feeling, I was touched he (Tesei) asked me to lay the wreath," Sabbag, 70, said in comments after the event. "That was a classy thing for him to do."
Controversy erupted last month when a planned 9/11 memorial on Great Captains Island to residents who died in the terrorist attacks didn't include some with Greenwich ties such as Sabbag's son Jason. Ultimately it was decided the memorial would include those with town ties who were not living in Greenwich at the time.
Tesei said he decided to choose Sabbag to lay the wreath because he wanted him to know the town honored his son. Tesei said he knew the younger Sabbag, when they use to work out at the same fitness club in town.
Ralph Sabbag, whose son was 26 at the time of his death, said the controversy is finished for him, adding that it's important to join with others in remembering the victims.
"It's very appreciated to see everyone here and to have the residents of Greenwich who observe this and to see that this will be a day that will never be forgotten," Sabbag, who was joined by his wife Brigitte, said in comments after the ceremony.
State Rep. Livvy Floren, R-149, read the names of 23 people with Greenwich ties who were killed in the attacks. Twenty-three candles were lit in remembrance of them.
The names of two others connected to the town who died in the 9/11 attacks -- Erik Hans Isbrandtsen, who attended Greenwich High in 1986 and 1987, and Gregory Wachtler, a New York City resident who grew up in Ramsey, N.J., but is buried next to his paternal grandparents in St. Mary's Cemetery -- were not on the town's list.
Chris Hughes, an organizer of the event, said the list of 23 names read aloud are the official ones compiled by the American Red Cross.
Although Tesei said the official list is one the organizers had to go with, he said it was important to remember Isbrandtsen and Wachtler as well.
In his remarks, Hughes said the attacks failed in their efforts to make Americans "cower in a hole." Americans have instead "grown closer as a nation, closer as a community and closer as friends and families," Hughes said.
Tesei said the pain felt by the families of those who lost loved ones is shared by all.
"The loss we feel is immeasurable and will never go away," he said. "We are here for them and comfort them in their sorrow and join with them in resolve to never forget them."
Many, including Brendan Cummins, 11, and Chase Cummins, 8, nephews of Brian Cummins, 38, who died in the attack, laid flowers at a flag-draped memorial.
Also in attendance at the event were, Sen. L. Scott Frantz, Reps. Lile Gibbons and Fred Camillo, along with Selectmen Lin Lavery and Peter Crumbine.
Easton 9/11 panel considers new site
By Susan Silvers, STAFF WRITER
Published: 12:02 p.m., Tuesday, September 22, 2009
EASTON -- Members of a committee charged with arranging a memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks agreed to consider a site north of the Easton Public Library on Center Street after their preferred site in front on Morehouse Road was effectively rejected Monday by members of the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Dr. Sal Santella, chairman of the 9/11 Memorial Committee, suggested his group walk the north side with the town's consultant, John Hayes, and other officials to see how the design by Fairfield's Mark Halstead might fit in.
"We're not happy," he said of the PZC's adverse reception to the location on the green. But uncertain at prospects for reversing it, he added of the north: "I think we have to walk that land."
"Great idea," said PZC Commission Chairman Robert Maquat, who suggested such an inspection take place by month's end.
Although the PZC didn't repeat its action of last December by taking a formal vote to reject the green in front of the library as the memorial site, members indicated agreement with a memo from Hayes, who said the town's two-year-old Plan of Conservation and Development intended for the area to remain free of any structures. At the same time, Hayes rejected several other alternative sites initially proposed to the committee, saying they wouldn't provide the desired visibility or accessibility.
Hayes said that although the committee thought that the north side would prove too wet, after consultation with the town's engineer, he didn't agree, and added that necessary septic facilities would not be compromised. He said that only some minor regrading would be necessary.
"We think we have a very feasible and even preferable site," said Hayes, who added it was quieter and "more contemplative" than the spot in front of the library.
The memorial is intended to honor the more than 3,000 victims of the 9/11 attacks, and especially native son Peter Hanson, who perished with his wife, Sue Kim, and their daughter, Christine, on one of the planes flown into the World Trade Center. His father, Lee, is a member of the Board of Finance and mother, Eunice, is Republican registrar of voters.
Halstead's design calls for two low stone walls symbolizing the Twin Towers, a bench in memory of each of the Hansons and a pergola open to the sky along with a flagpole and inscription by longtime resident Helen Keller.
However, although Hayes' analysis apparently removed some fears, for example that the memorial might be located on ground lower than the library, where it wouldn't be easily visible, Halstead said he still had concerns. He said his chief one would be that the memorial would likely look out not on greenery, but "140 feet of blacktop," referring to the parking spaces in front of the site.
Still, Hayes said there were several orientations that could be used for the memorial.
PZC members said they understood that the committee members had their hearts set on the green, but that other applicants might want them to deviate from the conservation plan, too. "Our concern is that we treat everyone the same," PZC member Steve Carlson said.
First Selectman Thomas Herrmann said he sensed a new "spirit of cooperation" between the two panels, who have been embroiled in a dispute for nearly a year.
The PZC has until Oct. 20 to respond to the Board of Selectman's referral to consider a memorial on library property.
Santella said it was not clear how much the memorial would cost, especially if there were adjustments such as additional grading. He said private funds, and perhaps a contribution from the town would be involved.
But he said that was premature.
"The day we're approved I get on the phone and start seeking money," he said.
Hanson: Get 9/11 memorial debate 'over with'
By Susan Silvers, STAFF WRITER
Published: 12:31 a.m., Tuesday, October 20, 2009
EASTON -- The father of the native son killed when his jetliner was flown into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, broke his silence Monday on the town's proposed memorial to the attacks, pleading with the Planning and Zoning Commission to get the town's protracted debate of the issue "over with."
"If you don't want to do it across the street, tell the selectman," said Lee Hanson, referring to a site in front of the library where a committee wants to memorialize his son, Peter, a resident of Groton, Mass., who perished with his wife, Sue Kim, and young daughter, Christine, aboard one of the hijacked airliners, as well as the thousands of other victims of the attacks.
Hanson, a member of the Board of Finance, made his remarks as members of the 9/11 Memorial Committee and their architect, Mark Halstead, of Fairfield, renewed objections to the site north of the library, where they said grading and septic issues could undermine the planned design and reiterated pleas to place it on the green instead as the commission members considered the request from the Board of Selectmen as to whether to place the memorial on part of the town library site.
Hanson said it was unseemly that the Easton discussions, lagging for about two years, have taken so long.
He spoke of the residents of his son's adopted hometown, who started off raising money simply for a tree and won official blessings for a more permanent memorial, all in 40 days.
He spoke of the Boston Public Garden, where no structures had been allowed for a good century after a few initial ones went up, but where the overseers said "yes because it's the right place" for such a memorial tribute.
He said he was dismayed that commission members were citing the town's Plan of Conservation and Development as a basis for advising against the placement of the planned memorial on the green in front of the library without a precise clause banning such a memorial.
"If the interpretation of the town plan is gonna be what's in your head and not what's on paper, you're gonna have a problem with me," Hanson declared.
After more than two hours of discussion, Hanson, Halstead, and various committee members and others supporting the planned memorial concept stalked out of the session, as Chairman Robert Maquat read from a memo by John Hayes, the town's land use consultant, that rejected the site on the green linking the Town Hall and library and instead called for the memorial on the northern site along Center Road instead.
But the matter was not over so quickly, with other members of the commission suggesting that perhaps the location on the green should not be rejected out of hand.
More than three hours after the discussion began, the debate was still ongoing, as commission members discussed the possibility of sending it back to the selectmen and having them pick a particular site.
Indeed, Hayes, Town Engineer Ed Nagy, and commission members acknowledged they didn't know how much space would have to be kept open for septic facilities, something they acknowledged could interfere with adjustments that would make their preferred site to the north, along Center Road, preferable.
Speaking to the PZC, committee member Beverlee Dacey wondered how long it would take to win their approval for the committee's desired site. "It's like a gazebo," she said, referring to the facility just erected after more than 30 years of efforts. "Wait long enough in this town and you finally get something done."
Easton group reviews options on stalled 9/11 memorial
By Susan Silvers, STAFF WRITER
Published: 05:18 p.m., Wednesday, October 21, 2009
EASTON -- The chairman of a committee trying to win approval for a memorial to victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the green in front of the town library said Tuesday the group would reassess options after the Planning and Zoning Commission decided late Monday another site is "more consistent" with the Town Plan of Conservation and Development.
"I think we have to meet as a committee," said Sal Santella, referring to the PZC decision. He said that Mark Halstead, the architect of the proposed memorial, is convinced his plans would not work on the site to the north of the library, which the PZC prefers.
Responding to a request from the Board of Selectmen, which asked the PZC to consider placing the memorial on town library property, the PZC said, "It appears that the site to the north of the library is most consistent with the Town Plan of Conservation and Development for a 9/11 memorial."
However, though the PZC said another site is preferable to the committee's recommendation, the decision did not state absolutely the commission would not consider placing a memorial on the green.
The resolution was approved by a vote of 3-2, with Chairman Robert Maquat, Wallace Williams and Russell Leggett in favor, and Marje Tracey and Paul Dominianni opposed.
Their vote followed a Monday night meeting that lasted more than four hours, during which members of the memorial committee strenuously argued for the green site as the one that would be more accessible to the community and more visually desirable.
At the meeting, Lee Hanson, whose son Peter, daughter-in-law Sue Kim and granddaughter Christine were killed when their hijacked airliner was flown into the World Trade Center, was critical of the lengthy decision-making process.
He said the world is watching Easton, and that many educational materials are becoming available about the events of that horrific day. "Easton's going to be well known and people are waiting to see what happens here," he said.
However, John Hayes, the town's land-use consultant, said the green was envisioned as open property to provide a sort of town center. Those voting for the resolution said they felt compelled to maintain the character of the site.
It was the second time in a year the PZC failed to embrace the memorial committee's vision. Last Dec. 23, the commission definitively rejected a prior proposal for the 9/11 memorial from the selectmen.
Easton 9/11 memorial delays frustrate victim's friends
By Susan Silvers, STAFF WRITER
Published: 11:00 p.m., Sunday, November 1, 2009
EASTON -- With his generous spirit, maybe Peter Hanson would understand the standoff between the Planning and Zoning Commission and the 9/11 Memorial Committee, which for two years has planned a lasting tribute in town to all the victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks -- and, most particularly, Hanson himself, his wife, Sue Kim, and their 2-year-old daughter, Christine.
But those who grew up with Hanson, who died on that cloudless Sept. 11 morning when hijackers flew the airliner on which he and his family were traveling into the World Trade Center, are not so understanding about the delays.
"I'm baffled," Chris Clark, one of Hanson's closest friends since their freshman days at Joel Barlow High School, said of the stance taken by the PZC, which has objected to using the green in front of the Easton Library for the memorial as originally proposed by the Board of Selectmen.
"I'm just discouraged," said Paula Barker, a neighbor and schoolmate from Hanson's Easton days. Barker is also a member of the memorial committee.
And Heather Linardos, another Barlow classmate who co-chairs the committee, was reduced to tears last week when her late friend's father, C. Lee Hanson, rose at the PZC meeting to speak of his frustration that plans for the memorial have moved so slowly here, while tributes to victims of the terrorist attacks abound elsewhere.
"I hate what this family has gone through," she declared.
Now, committee members are making what they say is a last-ditch effort to win support from Easton residents for the memorial plan drawn up by architect Mark R. Halstead, of Fairfield. The effort is designed to show that the project wouldn't interfere with the town's 2006 Plan of Conservation and Development.
Members of the memorial panel plan to erect a tent on Election Day outside Samuel Staples School, where voters will be able to view the renderings and speak with committee members about the proposal. The memorial, as now designed, would be set in front of the library because that's what the selectmen had suggested.
To those who knew Peter Hanson, the public remembrance is a fitting tribute to his personal character and the longtime community commitment by his parents, Lee, a member of the town's Board of Finance, and Eunice, the Republican registrar of voters.
"I guess it was his integrity," Clark said of his late friend's outstanding characteristic.
For example, Clark, his roommate through their college years at different schools in Boston, recalled how another man once cut the line while Clark was waiting for a bus to visit Hanson. Clark griped about what a "jerk" the man was, expecting Hanson would agree.
"Instead he gave me a lecture about how the guy might have had something happen to him that day -- maybe his mother died, maybe he was just so out of it because of a personal tragedy," Clark recalled. Hanson added: "'You never know when something like that happens to somebody, you always have to give people the benefit of the doubt.'"
Then there was the time Linardos threw a gum wrapper out a car window.
"He is solely responsible for teaching me the wrongs of littering," she said. "He would not let it go. It was weeks of torture."
Barker, several years younger than Hanson, said he was "wise beyond his years."
As high school students, he chaperoned her and a friend when they went to Boston to attend a Grateful Dead concert. "He took us under his wing," she said. "He promised our mothers. We were like the little tag-alongs."
Even his devotion to the Grateful Dead, Clark said, reflected Hanson's championship of the underdog. "It was the garage band playing concerts in stadiums," Clark explained.
The latest disagreement over plans for the 9/11 memorial took place last week when, by a 3-2 vote, the PZC said land north of the library, and not the green, is "more consistent" with the master plan, even though the document doesn't specifically bar a memorial on the green, a narrow strip in front of the library. The master plan refers to open space at "the municipal center" for the "enhancement" of social, civic and other goals. It has a map with a "landscaped" area, though no developed plan.
Halstead said the memorial he designed could not be built as planned elsewhere because grading isn't sufficient and septic areas would interfere. He said a new design would be required for the site favored by the PZC.
As the review goes on, the two selectmen on the board when the memorial committee was appointed reacted to the wrangling.
"These folks have really gotten entrenched in the concept that that's the only place," Republican Scott Centrella said of the committee's support for the site on the green.
"We probably should have done a little more advance planning and consulted with P&Z," Democrat Robert Lessler agreed.
But Dr. Sal Santella, co-chairman of the memorial group, said the committee is standing by its proposal. "We know we are right in following our original charge in 2007," he said.
Easton's 9/11 memorial heads to voters
By Susan Silvers, Staff Writer
Published: 11:46 p.m., Thursday, November 5, 2009
EASTON -- Faced with the fervent pleas from a determined committee of boosters and the signatures of perhaps 1,000 residents who viewed renderings on Election Day, the Board of Selectmen decided Thursday to let local voters have their say as to whether to allow a memorial to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the Easton Library green.
By unanimous vote, the selectmen called a town meeting on Nov. 23 for the electorate to formally weigh in on the plans as designed, and also whether to overturn a 4-1 December 2008 decision by the Planning and Zoning Commission that rejected, or gave a "negative" report, to the board's request to use the green in front of the library for the purpose.
The town meeting is to take place at 8 p.m. at a location to be determined.
"We're very happy," said Beverlee Dacey, one of the 9/11 Memorial Committee members, after a discussion of more than 1 hour with the selectmen that led to the double-barreled compromise agenda for the meeting.
Committee members are hoping the session sweeps away the obstacles the commission has placed in front of the memorial plans by maintaining the green must be kept clear of structures. Overturning the PZC decision would virtually clear the way for the memorial to native son Peter Hanson, his wife and daughter, who were on one of the hijacked airliners flown into the World Trade Center, as well as the other victims. Peter Hanson was talking to his father, C. Lee Hanson, describing the unfolding hijacking at the time of the crash.
The design by Fairfield architect Mark Halstead, calls for a pergola open to the sky, three benches in memory of Peter, his wife Sue, and daughter Christine, a flagpole, and a monument with a quote by the late local resident Helen Keller, and two low stone walls. Halstead said it won't work on property north of the library, as called for by the PZC last month.
The committee had initially sought the town meeting for the electorate to ratify their plans, and pointed out they had collected the 50 signatures -- they didn't bother to have the town clerk verify the others -- to demand such a session. But First Selectman Thomas Herrmann said that would fall short of their goal, simply setting up a situation where the selectmen would have to refer their proposal to the PZC for reconsideration.
But if the PZC's rejection is overturned, "it comes back to us and we make application for a special use permit," he explained "It goes to them regardless," Herrmann added, though selectmen explained if the town meeting overturns the rejection, PZC members can no longer prohibit the structures and would have control only on matters such as setbacks.
The compromise agenda was recommended by Herrmann's predecessor, William Kupinse, who formally appointed the committee more than two years ago. "They are not mutually exclusive items," he said.
Until he spoke, committee members said that even though their petitions may have been poorly drawn, they felt that the town meeting should address the designs they presented last Tuesday, taking advantage of voter turnout. "It's important for people to feel invested," Dacey said.
Herrmann said even without PZC permission, the selectmen could have named the green a "memorial," installed some stationary, though not permanent benches, and even hedges to replicate Halstead's low stone walls.
Paula Barker, another committee member, wasn't impressed.
"Memorials are not meant to be moved," she said. "We all have to commit to one place."
Letter: Easton voters invited to Town Meeting on 9/11 memorial
Published: 04:14 p.m., Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Dear Easton citizens:
The Easton 9/11 Memorial Committee wishes to express our deepest gratitude and thanks to all of Easton's citizens for your overwhelming support of the 9/11 Memorial we were charged with designing by Easton's Board of Selectmen more than two years ago.
After many years of indecision, denials and controversy, we felt the need to do what our Planning & Zoning Commission had not done -- ask our citizens for their opinions of this memorial and the place where it should be located. So, at the polling place for the recent Nov. 3 townwide election, we asked you, Easton's voters, for your opinions.
Your responses to both the memorial and the site were unanimously favorable. Overwhelmingly, you the electorate told us to construct the memorial as we designed it and place it on the site for which former First Selectman Bill Kupinse instructed us to design it.
Over and over again, you told us that this has taken too long, that you were impressed, touched and pleased with the design, that you found the location to be most fitting, and that this would be a truly worthy remembrance for the nearly 3,000 precious lives that were lost on that tragic day, including the lives of our native son Peter Hanson, his wife Sue, and their young daughter Christine.
We collected more than 1,000 signatures that day, a show of overwhelming support from Easton's voters. We then met with the selectmen and with their unanimous support moved the question of the memorial's design and site to a Town Meeting on Monday, Nov. 23 at 8 p.m. at the Samuel Staples School cafeteria.
All of Easton now has a forum to express their views to our town's leaders. We ask all Easton voters to come to this meeting and voice your approval for this memorial and the location that will serve as a truly worthy tribute to the victims of the 9/11 tragedy and a heartfelt reflection of your sentiments.
We are so proud of Easton!
Liz Maiorano
and The Easton 9/11 Memorial Committe
Stalemate continues on 9/11 memorial
By Susan Silvers, Staff Writer,
Published: 07:56 p.m., Tuesday, November 17, 2009
EASTON -- Some fervently want it.
Some are adamantly against it.
Others say they are undecided.
And there are even a few who don't care.
All those who are registered voters in this small town will eventually get their say on whether a memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- particularly native son Peter Hanson, his wife and young daughter -- should be built on the green in front of the Easton Library.
Although a Town Meeting convenes to take up the issue Nov. 23, a final decision will not be made at that session.
The latest development in the saga came Friday when the Board of Selectmen voted to convene a meeting on the subject as scheduled on Nov. 23 "with the understanding" that the chairman of the 9/11 Memorial Committee would postpone consideration of the issues until sometime in January at a mutually convenient time for the members of the Planning and Zoning Commission and the memorial committee. The session will take place at 8 p.m. in Samuel Staples School.
"Nothing's gonna happen," First Selectman Thomas Herrmann said, referring to the substance of the Nov. 23 meeting.
Only a few days ago, it looked like the Nov. 23 session would be moved up to Nov. 19 at the request of the Planning and Zoning Commission, which has resisted using the green for the memorial. The P&Z wanted the meeting date changed because it already had a meeting of its own set for that date. But its request caused an uproar among members of the 9/11 Memorial Committee, who have developed the plans for the local memorial and have collected more than 1,000 signatures from townspeople in support of the proposal.
The latest scheduling tug-of-war is a reminder that in Easton, where a community gazebo was finally installed this summer after more than 30 years of planning, a slow pace is a real art form.
The lengthy debate over whether to use the green -- a relatively pristine plot in the middle of the parking lot with some trees, grass, two benches, some lamp posts and parking signs -- has inciteded passions and controversy in a community often considered a calm and rural oasis in a hectic suburban region.
"I'm for it," Lisa Reck, a 1 1/2-year resident, said of the memorial the other day. But, she added, "I'm disgusted with how the town has reacted," referring to the commission's stance.
Bernadette Brady, who's lived in town for 14 years, said she's undecided, but more receptive to the prospect since she saw the renderings posted by the committee outside Samuel Staples on Election Day. "It helped to see a visual," she said, explaining she didn't have a good concept before. "I thought it was very tasteful," she added.
Yet others are less impressed.
"Basically, I'm not in favor of it," said Jim Harshbarger, a retired physician. He said this would recall a tragedy rather than any accomplishment, and that the victims of the attacks were different from those drafted into the military or volunteered for it.
Nanc Van Clief, who came to town 22 years ago, said that she had sympathy for those who lost loved ones, but that "9/11 has been beat to death and I'm ready to move on." Yet the attacks resonate with Terry Piazza, a resident for seven years, although, she said, she wouldn't like the memorial if it took up the whole green. But depending on how much the memorial would require, it could have value as an educational tool locals would notice, she added.
"That would thrust the citizens, especially the children right to it," she said. "I think it would be a plus."
The latest debate over dates prompted Peter Hanson's mother Eunice, the Republican registrar of voters, to shake her head as she expressed sympathy for the committee that has continued to fight for its vision. "They're very good people and caring," she said. Still, she said, she would never want this as just a memorial to her son and his family. "This is a 9/11 memorial for all those other victims," she said.
Interestingly, it was a gazebo that was originally envisioned on the green when the selectmen set up the committee. But as Fairfield architect Mark Halstead designed the project, it evolved into a plan for a pergola open to the sky, which was blue and cloudless on Sept. 11, 2001.
Halstead included three benches, one each dedicated to Peter Hanson, his wife Sue, and daughter Christine, a flagpole, two low stone walls and a plaque with an inscription written by the late Easton resident Helen Keller.
The PZC once totally rejected and more recently simply resisted using the site, maintaining the Plan of Conservation and Development, or master plan, doesn't allow a memorial there. The committee said if the plan doesn't allow the memorial on the green, it wouldn't allow it north of the library either, which the commission last month said was its "preferred" site, but where Halstead said various factors present insurmountable barriers.
Editorial: Time for delay is past in Easton
Published: 04:06 p.m., Friday, November 20, 2009
Easton is showing its residents a profound disrespect. It has to stop.
More than eight years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which, among 3,000 other people, killed town native Peter Hanson, his wife and their daughter, the town and his family are waiting for a resolution on a memorial. A committee was chosen to come up with an appropriate design for a remembrance not just for the Hanson family, but for all Americans killed on that awful day.
The committee performed with aplomb. Reaction from the public has been favorable. And still, town leadership, whatever the reasoning, offers nothing but delays.
After a public display of the proposed renderings on Election Day met with positive feedback, members finally thought they were getting somewhere. A Town Meeting is scheduled for Monday, where supporters hoped a resolution would at last be forthcoming.
Their hopes were for naught.
First Selectman Thomas Herrmann, who, along with the Planning and Zoning Commission, has done almost nothing to see this process to fruition, summed up a years worth of inaction: "Nothing's gonna happen," he said of the Town Meeting.
There's talk of delaying a decision until after the New Year, at a time when it's convenient for the Board of Selectmen and P&Z to consider the issue. It is simply another excuse to kick the can down the road, another incentive to do nothing.
It's far past time for a decision. If Herrmann and other town officials don't want the memorial, they need to reject it outright and end this process. It would be far more advisable to let the memorial be built as envisioned by the memorial committee, but, either way, the process needs a conclusion.
The people on Monday will have a chance to speak. Town leaders must heed them. There is no excuse for continued delay.
Letter: Commission unpersuasive on 9/11 memorial
Published: 04:51 p.m., Thursday, January 7, 2010
In the op-ed published in the Jan. 6 Connecticut Post, a majority of Easton's Planning and Zoning Commission members once again presented another example of this commission making up rules as they go to suit their petty, politically charged prejudices. With exhaustive but questionable detail, they outline arguments against the placement of the proposed 9/11 memorial in front of the town library.
While it is true that they are tasked with using the Town Plan as a general guide for making land-use decisions, a quick reference to the plan itself divulges that there is no explicit reference to the small, narrow strip of grass in front of the library as a "town green" -- nor a "park," as part-time Town Planner John Hayes has recently suggested. It is no way even treated as distinct from the land that lies to the north of the library, the alternate site they somehow think is preferable.
Easton voters -- please be sure to attend the Jan. 13 Town Meeting to show the world (you bet it's watching!) that a small New England town possesses the character, grit and compassion to make the 9/11 memorial a reality -- where it belongs, in front of the library.
Gowan Dacey
Easton
Editorial: Build the memorial
Published: 11:52 a.m., Friday, January 8, 2010
The issue: In August 2007, the Easton Board of Selectmen created a seven-member 9/11 Memorial Building committee and asked it "to explore" creating a memorial "most likely to be located on the green across from the Town Hall and to take the form of a small gazebo and to report back to the Board of Selectmen as soon as possible." The project has all the more poignancy and relevance in Easton because Peter Hanson, a town native, his wife and daughter were among the victims. Now, in January 2010, the matter has devolved into an embarrassing battle of wills, with the committee adamant that the memorial absolutely has to go on the little green between the Town Hall and the library, and the Planning and Zoning Commission equally adamant that it shall not go there.
What we wrote: "Easton is showing its residents a profound disrespect. It has to stop.... It's far past time for a decision. If (First Selectman Thomas) Herrmann and other town officials don't want the memorial, they need to reject it outright and end this process. It would be far more advisable to let the memorial be built as envisioned by the memorial committee, but, either way, the process needs a conclusion."
[Editorial, Nov. 22, 2009
Where it stands: The issue goes before a town meeting Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Samuel Staples School, 515 Morehouse Road. The building committee will offer a resolution to override an earlier P&Z rejection of the site and instruct the town's selectmen to move forward with building the memorial. And that is what should happen at the meeting. The green in question is a modest patch of lawn. The memorial will use only a fraction of it, and will be in a spot easily seen by residents and any other visitors to the library, town hall or police department. The green is the right location. It's time to put the bickering to an end and, most importantly, finally do what this is all about: honor the memory of those who died.]
Fight over placement of Easton memorial continues
By Susan Silvers, STAFF WRITER
Published: 09:13 p.m., Sunday, January 10, 2010
EASTON -- In Kent, a plan for a memorial to one of its native sons killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks has hit what may be a permanent roadblock over proposed wording.
In Milford, the original plan to locate the memorial at the Milford Landing Arena was scuttled by the Harbor Commission, with the memorial eventually redesigned and placed near City Hall.
Now, it's Easton's turn to be in the controversy spotlight, as voters gather Wednesday for a pivotal vote that may well determine the future of a memorial proposed for the Easton Library green.
A rare Town Meeting is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Wednesday in Samuel Staples School, where voters will be asked whether to overturn a December 2008 decision by the Planning and Zoning Commission in order to allow such a tribute on the property.
Like other communities that lost their own in the attacks, such a memorial is personal for Easton, whose native son Peter Hanson perished with his wife and young daughter that Tuesday morning.
Hanson was on the phone with his father, C. Lee Hanson, when the plane they were taking en route to a vacation in California was flown into the World Trade Center. But while the memorial would place emphasis on the Hansons, it would also honor all the other victims of the attacks.
The question is where it should be.
To the committee, the only suitable site is the green, which is now basically free of structures, save for some movable benches. It is the site to which they were pointed by the selectmen who originally appointed them.
Although it doesn't support that site, the commission issued a statement recently saying it "strongly supports" a memorial, but wants it on other library property.
"The 4.56-acre Library tract is a fitting site for this important memorial but the 0.13 acre green is highly important to the future of the Town as civic open space," it argues. "It should not be subject to permanent structures of any kind."
Yet committee members say that's the only site where their memorial, designed pro bono by Fairfield architect Mark Halstead, will work. It has three benches in memory of each of the Hansons, a pergola open to the sky, two low stone walls, a flagpole and a monument from the late Easton resident Helen Keller.
In order to bring the issue to a Town Meeting, the memorial committee had to collect at least 50 signatures. They said they collected, but did not submit for verification, more than 1,000 others. They are hoping those people turn up on Wednesday.
"I'm very confident that the citizens in the town will support this memorial and recognize its value to the future generations of our town. There is no better place to locate this memorial than flanked by our seat of government and a center of learning, that being the library and Town Hall," said Beverlee Dacey, a member of the committee.
Editorial: It's hard to understand Easton's fight of 9/11 memorial
Published: 11:03 p.m., Saturday, January 16, 2010
Mention Easton to anyone who lives there or passes through this Fairfield County town, and these are the things that spring to mind: big trees, stone walls, winding rural roads.
It's a postcard-perfect Norman Rockwell vision of quintessential New England. Not a heck of a lot changes in Easton ever. It's as though the town is insulated in a bubble. A decision to erect a memorial to 9/11 victims -- including Peter Hanson, who grew up in Easton and where his parents still live, and his wife and 2-year-old daughter, the youngest child killed in the terrorist attacks that day seems like an easy one to make.
Who wouldn't want to pay tribute? The controversy in this bucolic Fairfield County community isn't over the who or the what. Rather, it's over the where to put it.
Easton's homage to the 9/11 victims belongs where its advisory committee believes it should go, not just because that's where residents overwhelmingly want it to go, but because there is nothing in the town's master plan that says this spate of land can't be used this way or must remain open space. Furthermore, there is nothing in Easton's master plan that states putting a memorial in this spot violates Easton's vision of enhancing its "social, cultural, governmental and public meeting facilities in a well-planned attractive civic campus" with "on-site pedestrian amenities and landscaping."
A town-established committee has recommended a 698 square-foot stretch of a 5,900-square foot grassy median in the parking lot outside the Easton Public Library. In a preliminary review, Easton's Planning and Zoning Commission recommended against the site, claiming it violated the town's master plan, and suggested an alternate site elsewhere on the same parcel. And in the latest spin of "As Easton Turns," residents, who make up the Town Meeting, overruled the zoning authorities this past week and urged that the memorial go where the 9/11 Memorial Committee says it should go.
Now the ball is back in the Board of Selectman's court. Town Attorney Ira Bloom says the legislative vote by town residents has no binding effect and would not force the Board of Selectmen to submit an application to modify the library's special permit clearing the way for the memorial. "They're not compelled to do it," Bloom says, adding that he's "not suggesting they won't do it. The Board of Selectmen will undertake a discussion and the make a decision how to proceed."
All together, the memorial designed by architect Mark Halstead for the committee with its stone walls, pergola, two benches, garden and sidewalks will occupy 11.8 percent of the grassy median. The pergola is an open arch that Halstead says he designed after recollecting how Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, started. "It was a sunny, beautiful day. And when I thought about how the sky looked, I realized that the structure for the memorial should be one where you can look and clearly see the sky," he says. "When this memorial is built, I want it to be a place where people can come and find comfort, where they can look up and see blue sky and realize that whatever tragedy befalls us, the sun and blue skies will return."
As designed, the memorial is expected to cost $40,000 to $50,000 -- a tab that the committee intends to cover with private donations and no taxpayer dollars. The rub is it can't begin any fundraising until it's certain that the memorial will be built. An alternate site on the library property that the P&Z Commission has suggested is fraught with obstacles, the chief one being the location is too close to the septic area of the library and would need substantial fill.
First Selectman Tom Herrmann declines to say whether the Town Meeting vote will influence the Board of Selectmen, what he might recommend to his fellow selectmen or whether the board would submit an application to amend the library's special permit.
"I've wanted the 9/11 memorial to be on that site from the very beginning, and am interested in working with the P and Z and the committee on it," Herrmann says, but "that doesn't presume that I thought this is the right place for this."
These two statements are hard to reconcile. Then why support this location in the first place?
"It's because the committee was so focused on this spot," he says, adding he had the impression it was "more concerned with the location of the 9/11 memorial than anything else."
A grassy median outside a library in a rural Connecticut community like Easton is hardly likely to spur bumper-to-bumper traffic to the memorial, create a safety hazard or threaten public health or morals -- the lens through which zoning commissions review projects.
This proposal has been on the drawing boards for long enough. It's time for all concerned to make it happen -- sooner rather than later.
Town vote on 9/11 memorial challenged
By Susan Silvers, STAFF WRITER
Published: 10:15 p.m., Wednesday, January 20, 2010
EASTON -- A town vote that endorsed the plans for a memorial on a grassy strip in front of the Easton Library to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks may not be settled.
Democratic Registrar of Voters Nick Soares said he was asked by Town Clerk Derek Buckley to audit the ballots at 10 a.m. Thursday.
"I don't understand why there's being an audit. There's no valid reason for it," Soares contended. But the registrar said he wanted the process to be "open and transparent."
Buckley couldn't be reached Wednesday. First Selectman Thomas Herrmann said he was unaware of the audit.
The problem might have to do with the number of ballots given out and collected. About 500 were given out.
The memorial would honor the memory of the nearly 3,000 victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, including native son Peter Hanson, who perished aboard one of the hijacked airliners with his wife and young daughter.
Hanson's mother, Eunice, is the Republican registrar, but Soares said she did not participate in any electoral activities during the Town Meeting Jan. 13 at Samuel Staples School.
Members of the 9/11 Memorial Committee have voiced fears that opponents may seek to undermine last week's vote.
Recount finds no change in vote on 9/11 memorial
By Susan Silvers, STAFF WRITER Published: 10:52 p.m., Thursday, January 21, 2010
EASTON -- No matter if you call it a recount or reconciliation or review of last week's Town Meeting vote, the results were the same: solid approval in favor of the memorial to the victims of the Sept.11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
A team of four counters, overseen by Democratic Registrar of Voters Nick Soares, reviewed the ballots Thursday morning under the terms of a memo from Town Clerk Derek Buckley.
They found that:
• 333 town residents checked in to vote at the Jan. 13 meeting at Samuel Staples School; in the vote to overturn the Planning and Zoning Commission's objection to putting the memorial on the so-called Easton Library green remained at 188-140, and; in the vote endorsing the committee's vision as designed by Fairfield architect Mark Halstead was endorsed by 186-115 instead of 185-115; in 14 ballots were torn or ripped or thrown out for the first of the two paper ballots, and 37 for the second.
In a Tuesday memo to the registrars of voters, Buckley said that "the first selectman" had requested what Buckley called an "audit" of the town meeting vote. First Selectman Thomas Herrmann, however, denied he had made such a far-reaching request, contending the only thing he had asked for was a count of how many residents had checked in to vote.
Regardless of what term was used to describe the nature of the review of the results, Buckley said it shouldn't be interpreted as something unseemly.
"We're validating the vote," he said. "The meeting was kind of chaotic so there's nothing unreasonable about that."
The recount came as a member of the 9/11 Memorial Committee, Liz Maiorano, expressed concern that Herrmann might try to undermine the results of the vote. She said he had not communicated to them plans regarding a planned discussion referring to the "formation and chairing of a building committee for a 9/11 memorial" planned at Thursday night's Board of Selectmen's meeting and did not know whether any committee members would be involved in future steps.
By phone, Herrmann said he would not address questions about the substance of the selectmen's discussion until the session, where it was listed late on the agenda.
Republican Registrar Eunice Hanson recused herself from the recount, as well as checking in voters last week, because among those the memorial would honor would be her son, Peter, who was killed, as well as his wife and daughter who perished with him when their hijacked plane flew into the World Trade Center.
Members sought for memorial building committee
By Susan Silvers, STAFF WRITER
Published: 11:09 p.m., Sunday, January 24, 2010
EASTON -- The "help wanted" sign is going up at Town Hall for volunteers to oversee the building of a memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks now that a formal vote of town residents has endorsed plans for the project.
But soliciting members for the new committee might be at the expense of those who have volunteered up to this point.
First Selectman Thomas Herrmann said he hopes to name a committee by late next month, which would then receive formal instructions from the Board of Selectmen.
Herrmann's comments came after the board on Thursday agreed unanimously to solicit volunteers. At the same time, the board voted to apply to the Planning and Zoning Commission to amend rules regarding the Easton Library grounds to allow a memorial. One of the votes at last week's Town Meeting overturned a previous PZC objection to building a permanent structure on the so-called green, and a second endorsed the concept as developed by the 9/11 Memorial Committee.
Members of that committee, which has shepherded the project until now under their 2007 appointment, said they were worried they were being left out in the cold and that new appointees would not have the same commitment lest new obstacles emerge.
"We are totally disgusted at how we're being treated concerning this matter," said Dr. Sal Santella, the co-chairman of the original panel, who was recognized to address the selectmen.
And another member, Paula Barker, wondered if original members would be given any priority on a new panel.
But Herrmann said their original work was done.
"I think your charge has been completed," he said.
"In order to move forward we do have to have a committee with the appropriate charge," he added.
Herrmann said it is not his intention to exclude all members of the committee, explaining he wanted some continuity. Still, he said, there might be other skills that would be useful on the new committee, such as those with particular knowledge of construction.
Meanwhile, Herrmann said he expected to apply to the PZC within the next two weeks or so.
Letter: Expedite Easton's 9/11 memorial
Published: 04:17 p.m., Thursday, March 4, 2010At a Jan. 13 town meeting, the citizens of Easton spoke to their leadership. They approved the plans as developed by the 9/11 Memorial Committee for a memorial to be constructed on the small grassy area in the library parking lot.
I am confused by what I have seen our leaders do since then. The Board of Selectmen is preparing to appoint a building committee for the memorial, which already has a committee overseeing its planning. This does not leave one with the impression that our leaders are rushing to carry out the will of the people.
It occurred to me that perhaps it would be a good idea to clarify what at least one citizen expects as a result of the Jan. 13 town meeting vote. So, here is what I expect of my leaders:
n Our selectmen and members of Planning and Zoning should display humility, good grace and responsible leadership by expediting the building of the Easton 9/11 memorial according to the plans as approved at the Jan. 13 town meeting.
• To that end, the Board of Selectmen should immediately appoint the current 9/11 Memorial Committee as the building committee for this project. The current committee members know the architect, the plans and the people who have offered to donate materials and services for the building of the memorial better than anyone else. To throw away their knowledge and experience is counter-productive, at best. Our school projects, senior center and dog kennel were all developed and built under the supervision of one continuing committee. Why the change in procedure for the memorial?
• The Planning and Zoning Commission should expedite the approval of all permits needed for the project, so that the building can begin as soon as possible.
The handling of this project has resulted in negative publicity for our town, at times appearing in the national news. The memorial consists of a pergola, two stone walls and three benches. The current committee stands ready to have the project complete in a matter of months and our citizens have clearly expressed their desire for this particular memorial. It is time for our leaders to move this project along to a speedy conclusion.
Sherry L. Harris
Easton
Easton 9/11 memorial meeting gets heated
By Noelle Frampton, STAFF WRITER
Published: 10:09 p.m., Tuesday, March 9, 2010EASTON -- Emotions ran high Monday night as residents, aggravated by delays plaguing plans for a memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, urged the Planning and Zoning Commission to let the project move forward.
The commission for the first time is reviewing an application to amend the Easton Public Library's special permit so the 9/11 memorial can be built in a tree-lined grassy area within the parking lot.
Advocates for the project say it is particularly appropriate to pay tribute to memory of the 9/11 victims since one of them was an Easton native. Peter Hanson, the son of longtime local public servants C. Lee and Eunice Hanson, was killed, along with his wife and young daughter, aboard one of the jetliners flown by terrorists into the World Trade Center.
If the application is approved, the memorial -- with three benches, two stone walls and a pergola -- could finally be installed on a site that has been the subject of debate for several years. It would occupy less than 10 percent of the median, according to architect Mark Halstead, who designed the memorial.
A Town Meeting in January overturned, by a 188-140 vote, the P&Z's former disapproval of that spot as the memorial location.
Many residents and leaders on Monday urged the appointed commissioners to "respect the will of the people," in the words of First Selectman Thomas Herrmann.
A crowd of nearly 50 gathered Monday at the P&Z meeting, many of them members of the 9/11 Memorial Committee that has spearheaded the yet-to-be realized project. Several spoke during the two-and-a-half-hour hearing of their disappointment and anger at recently discovering that another project, including a stone wall, had been approved, but never built, outside the library in the mid-1990s.
"I have been confused and frustrated many times," said Sherry Harris, a memorial advocate. "But nothing has confused me as much as this issue. It's not a school; it's not a dog kennel. It's a couple of walls and a pergola."
P&Z Chairman Rob Maquat responded by saying that most residents don't know the P&Z's broader vision for the town.
"With all due respect, it's not your vision that matters," Harris sallied. "We should not have to sit here as citizens and be lectured and talked down to."
Maquat urged critical speakers not to point accusing fingers at the volunteer commissioners, because "it will discourage other good people from coming forward because they don't want to be disrespected."
The commission, asked to weigh in twice previously in the 9/11 project, had favored another site on the north side of the library for the memorial, rather than the parking lot median, indicating that plans had not envisioned any structures for the grassy area.
"We trust that what you say is right, only to find out ... exactly the things you said we can't do, and a plan for a structure on the property, are there," said Bev Dacey, a committee member who criticized the P&Z for planting "false obstacles" in the path of the memorial.
"In the end, it's made us all feel rotten. We're all tired," Dacey said. "When this memorial finally gets built, it'll be so bittersweet in our gut."
Maquat told the crowd that the appointed commissioners are legally bound to follow a process, and may act on the memorial application now that it has been filed. He said a stone wall, as previously proposed, doesn't necessarily count as a "structure."
"We're not looking to be problematic," he told residents. "We're actually looking to facilitate things. Without predisposing the commission, I think Mark did a good job (with) the technical aspects of the application."
Maquat said his goal is for the commission to review the application and make a decision at its next meeting in two weeks. He and others agreed they want to move forward.
C. Lee Hanson, Peter's father, attended the meeting, a tiny American flag pinned to his lapel, but did not speak. His wife, Eunice, the Republican registrar of voters, was not there.
Editorial: Build 9/11 memorial and move on
Published: 03:50 p.m., Tuesday, March 9, 2010It's time for the Easton Planning and Zoning Commission to put an end to what has been an unnecessarily disruptive chapter in town history and OK -- as town residents want -- construction of a 9/11 memorial on the little green outside the library.
That the proposal for a modest memorial, using only a sliver of the green, turned into such a contentious issue is still hard to fathom.
But now, that should be over.
At a town meeting in January, residents voted 188-140 put the memorial on the green. There are some lingering questions as to whether the vote is legally binding on the P&Z, which twice rebuffed the request.
It doesn't matter. There's no reason to argue over that and send this matter into court.
For the P&Z members to disregard the voices of their fellow townsfolk would be irresponsible, not to mention politically suicidal, even though at the moment, anyway, the P&Z is an appointed board.
The comments of board chairman Rob Maquat, though, were encouraging. "We're not looking to be problematic," he told residents at a Monday night P&Z meeting. "We're actually looking to facilitate things," he said.
The memorial is both modest and monumental: modest in that it consists of three benches, two stone walls and a pergola; monumental in that among the more than 3,000 victims it memorializes is Peter Hanson, the son of prominent Easton citizens, and his wife and young daughter.
The unseemly bickering has gone on long enough. Town leaders should name the memorial committee as a building committee and the P&Z should expedite whatever paperwork is necessary so that this memorial is in place by the next Sept. 11, if not sooner.
Easton P&Z approves 9/11 memorial plans
Noelle Frampton, STAFF WRITER
Published: 11:21 p.m., Monday, March 22, 2010EASTON -- Finally. After two and a half years of frustration for those who want to build a memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the town is an important step closer to getting it.Editorial: Make Easton 9/11 memorial reality
The town Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved Monday night in Town Hall an application to amend the Easton Public Library's special permit, effectively approving the plans to build the memorial in a tree-lined grassy area within the library's parking lot and removing the most substantial roadblock facing the project.
At their next meeting on April 1, the Board of Selectmen will charge a new building committee to oversee implementation of the plans.
In the meantime, members of the 9/11 Memorial Committee, who spearheaded the planning stages, are already talking about fundraising, because they've pledged not to use town funds and have already poured substantial amounts of their own dollars into the effort.
With three benches, two stone walls and a pergola, the memorial will be installed on a site that has been the subject of debate for several years. It would occupy less than 10 percent of the median, according to architect Mark Halstead, who designed it.
The P&Z approved the plans with two main changes, which Chairman Rob Maquat noted were not mandates.
First, they advocated moving the memorial site 10 feet west of its proposed location, to protect the existing trees. Second, they recommended a 4-foot-wide gravel or flagstone walk at the parking lot curb line and clear pedestrian marks at crossings, to address safety concerns raised by mothers who feared children may dart into traffic.
"We're giving flexibility to those that are going to be involved in its placement," Maquat said. "I respect the fact that the people voted the way they did."
Two weeks prior, after an application to amend was submitted to the P&Z for the first time, members heard emotional appeals and accusations from residents aggravated by delays, who urged them to let the project move forward.
Asked to weigh in twice previously on the 9/11 project, the P&Z had favored another site on the north side of the library for the memorial, rather than the parking lot median, indicating that plans had not envisioned any structures for the grassy area.
A Town Meeting in January overturned, by a 188-140 vote, the P&Z's former disapproval of that spot as the memorial location.
First Selectman Thomas Herrmann said the selectmen have not yet determined how many people will be on the new building committee, and who they will be.
In addition to every member of the memorial committee, three or four others have expressed interest, he said, adding that the selectmen will weigh potential members to ensure that appropriate skill sets are represented.
Memorial Committee Co-Chairman Sal Santella said he believes everyone from his group should be included in the building phase.
Bev Dacey, a committee member who criticized the commission at the public hearing for planting "false obstacles" in the path of the memorial, said Monday night's outcome showed what's right with Easton.
"At a time when maybe some of us Americans are feeling a little bit disenfranchised (referring to Sunday night's passage of a controversial national health care reform bill), it's inspiring to see this democratic process in a small town," she said. "It speaks to how, if we are persistent in this country ... the wishes of the people will speak loud and clear."
"There's no one who knows more about this than we do," he said.
Overall, committee members seemed pleased, and called out thank-yous to the P&Z after its vote.
Advocates for the project say it is particularly appropriate to pay tribute to memory of the 9/11 victims since one of them was an Easton native. Peter Hanson, the son of longtime local public servants C. Lee and Eunice Hanson, was killed, along with his wife and young daughter, aboard one of the jetliners flown by terrorists into the World Trade Center.
C. Lee Hanson, Peter's father, attended the meeting, but did not speak and left the room while the matter was still being discussed.
Herrmann said the process "can seem arduous and confusing ... but it's all defined by state statute" and came out the way he expected, following the town meeting.
"I'm relieved for the town," Dacey said after the P&Z vote. "I think the town has gone through a lot with this and ... shared a lot of the hurt that the Hansons felt. My personal mission is to flip this around now and just make it happy."
Published: 05:38 p.m., Tuesday, March 23, 2010With a unanimous 5-0 vote, the Easton Planning and Zoning Commission has cleared the way for construction of the 9/11 memorial that has unnecessarily consumed so much of the town's energy and drawn so much unwanted attention.
It's left now only for the town's selectmen to name a building committee to see the project through to completion.
That building committee should include anyone from the original six-member 9/11 Memorial Committee that was formed in August 2007 and charged with coming up with a memorial plan.
And so it did: a tasteful, modest grouping of three benches, two stone walls and a pergola dedicated to the memory of the more than 3,000 people killed in the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, and in particular to the memory of Peter Hanson, the son of prominent Easton residents, who died with his wife and young daughter on that horrible day.
That so much petty wrangling and rancor ensued regarding the proposal to place the tiny memorial on a green between the Town Hall and the library is sad.
The residents finally spoke at a town meeting, 188 to 140 voting in favor of the location on the green.
We congratulate not only the committee members and Chairman Sal Santella for their perseverance, but also P&Z Chairman Rob Maquat, who heard and respected the voice of the community.
It's now up to the selectmen, led by First Selectman Tom Herrmann, to do the same. Herrmann now says a building committee should be appointed to see the work through. That seems totally unnecessary. The committee and architect Mark Halstead, with volunteers from the community, would seem eminently capable of finishing what they started. This is not, after all, a nuclear power plant we're talking about.
But if adding someone with a particular set of skills will help move the project forward, then that's what ought to be done.
Let the committee that's carried the project this far finish it.
Holdup plagues completion of Greenwich 9/11 memorial
Neil Vigdor, Staff Writer
Published: 09:16 p.m., Monday, April 26, 2010You won't find it on any map, and there are no signs to speak of.
Paul and Nassima Wachtler searched all over Greenwich this past weekend for the town's 9/11 memorial, asking a police officer and then the newspaper for directions to the spot.
But directions are only good if there is transportation, which the Ramsey, N.J., couple found out isn't available to Great Captains Island until ferry service resumes June 12.
Even more upsetting to the Wachtlers, whose only son, Gregory, was killed in the World Trade Center attack and is buried in St. Mary's Cemetery on North Street, is that the memorial isn't finished.
"I have to say it's a little bit shocking to me," Nassima Wachtler said. "It seems like an unusually long time."
The memorial, part of a larger project to renovate the Great Captains Island lighthouse that was completed almost a year ago, has been bogged down by questions of whose name should appear on it.
Twelve residents and 13 other people with ties to Greenwich died in the attacks. Most worked at the World Trade Center. Two were killed on the hijacked planes.
Organizers of a nonprofit fundraising effort called Return the Light that helped pay for $305,000 of the $1.3 million lighthouse renovation said they have the list but are waiting for a symbolic milestone.
"What we're waiting on at this point is moving the light back into the lighthouse," said Mary Ann Morrison, president and CEO of the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce, which worked with the nonprofit group.
Built in 1868, the lighthouse has been dark since 1970, when the U.S. Coast Guard moved its beacon to a freestanding 30-foot structure on town-owned island. As soon as the Coast Guard returns the beacon to the lighthouse, Morrison said the memorial can be completed.
A message seeking comment from the Coast Guard was left Monday for a public affairs officer at its New Haven station.
Moving the beacon back into the lighthouse requires nautical charts to be updated, as well as new electrical wiring on the island itself, according to those familiar with the process. The existing beacon is powered by a solar array.
Ed Bragg, chairman of Return the Light, said the status of the memorial hasn't changed much from last September.
"I do think there was some hope or idea of getting geared for this Sept. 11," Bragg said.
A message seeking comment from First Selectman Peter Tesei, the town's chief elected official, was left Monday on his cell phone.
Selectman Drew Marzullo, who was elected last November, said those families disillusioned with the pace of the project have every right to feel the way they do.
"I want to see us put a move on this as long as it's done in a very thoughtful and sensitive way," Marzullo said. "In the end, we want the best possible memorial to honor these heroes."
At the time of his death, Gregory Wachtler was living and working in Manhattan as a research analyst for Fred Alger Management Co. in the World Trade Center. He was 25. Wachtler's sole connection to Greenwich is that he is buried in town next to his paternal grandparents, who were married here.
Some organizers of the fundraising appeal for the lighthouse project said only those victims who were residents at the time of the attacks should be listed on the memorial, sparking a firestorm among family members of other victims with local ties and politicians who argued that the town should have ultimate say since it paid for most of the renovation.
"You should make a big stink about whether Gregory is (on) there," said Nassima Wachtler, who travels twice a week to town to visit her son's grave.
If residency were a prerequisite, the names of only 12 of the 25 victims with ties to Greenwich would be listed on the memorial, according to obituaries and articles published in the newspaper at the time.
The memorial's planners ultimately bowed to the pressure last September, saying that they would open it up to former residents and other victims with ties to Greenwich.
The memorial will consist of two plaques on a granite slab behind the lighthouse, which has a view of the Manhattan skyline. One will have the victims' names. The other will list those of major donors to the renovation.
The Wachtlers said they wish the town would have considered another location for the memorial that is easier to get to than the island, which is two miles off the coast of Greenwich in Long Island Sound.
"It is an odd place to have a memorial," Paul Wachtler said.
Nassima Wachtler put it more bluntly.
"As I said, it's an afterthought. It's like, 'OK, let's just put them far away.' " Wachtler said. "I'm sure it's beautiful, and I'm sure it's angelic in a way, but it's an insult."
A number of the donations to the Return the Light fundraising appeal were made in the name Ben Fisher, a senior vice president of Fiduciary Trust Co. International, an asset management firm that had offices on the 97th floor of the World Trade Center.
An experienced sailor who was raised in Greenwich and lived in Stamford, the 58-year-old had an interest in the lighthouse restoration before his death on Sept. 11.
Fisher's widow, Susan, said that the Wachtlers had a point about the memorial's remote location.
At the same time, Fisher pointed out that there is a Connecticut 9/11 memorial at Sherwood Island State Park in Westport where she said the Wachtlers can try to get their son remembered as well.
"So it's not like this is the only place in Connecticut that you can pay respects," Fisher said.
Ferry service to Great Captains Island runs from about the second week of June to the second week of September.
"It's a summer kind of thing," Bragg said.
Marzullo said the Wachtlers have a legitimate concern about access to the memorial, however.
"If the discussion still needs to take place where the best place is, then that's worth looking into, too," Marzullo said.
Fisher did share some of the concerns about the drawn-out process of finishing the memorial.
"We've got to do something by the 10th anniversary," Fisher said.
Editorial: Moving ahead on memorial
Published: 05:50 p.m., Wednesday, June 9, 2010The issue: Since August 2007, the town of Easton has been planning a 9/11 memorial to commemorate the deaths of more than 3,000 people killed in the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, with particular note to the deaths of Peter Hanson, the son of a prominent Easton family, who died with his wife and young daughter on that day. The effort, though, got embroiled in an unseemly squabble over the location of the memorial that stalled the project until March, when the town's planning and zoning commission approved a location. Even after that, though, an issue flared when Fist Selectman Tom Herrmann said a new building committee would have to be formed to supplant the original committee to see the project through to completion.
What we said: "That seems totally unnecessary. The committee and architect Mark Halstead, with volunteers from the community, would seem eminently capable of finishing what they started. This is not, after all, a nuclear power plant we're talking about. But if adding someone with a particular set of skills will help move the project forward, then that's what ought to be done. Let the committee that's carried the project this far finish it."
Editorial, March 24, 2010
What's happening: The five-member building committee includes four of the original committee members, including the original committee's chairman, Sal Santella. Fundraising is about to begin for the memorial. Santella said the goal is $50,000. Should the fundraising proceed as hoped, the goal would be to complete the memorial before Sept. 11. Donations can be sent to the 9/11 Easton Memorial Fund, PO Box 414, Easton CT, 06612.
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