Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 33

2 SPECIAL EDITION Tuesday, September 11, 2001 decatur, Illinois TERROR STRIKES 'jff IIP Herald 8. ReviewKelly J. Huff SILENCE: Damon Nixon of Clinton sits with other students and faculty in the commons area at Richland Community College this morning watching the aftermath of the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City. Chaos unfolds on national TV Other major attacks on U.S. targets By The Associated Press Some recent terrorist attacks on U.S.

targets: Oct. 12, 2000: Terrorist bombing kills 17 U.S. sailors aboard the USS Cole as it refueled in Yemen's port of Aden. The United States says Saudi exile Osama bin Laden prime suspect. Aug.

7, 1998: Car bombs explode outside U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, within minutes of each other, killing 224 people and wounding thousands. Bin Laden is again blamed. June 25, 1996: Truck bomb explodes outside the Khobar Towers in Dharan, Saudi Arabia, killing 19 American servicemen and wounding hundreds of other people. Members of a little-known Saudi militant group, Hezbollah, were indicted for the attack.

Nov. 13, 1995: Car bomb detonates at a U.S. military headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing five American service personnel. April 19, 1995: Bomb rips through the Alfred P. Mur-rah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 and wounding more than 500.

Former U.S. soldier Timothy McVeigh is convicted of carrying out the attack; he was executed this year. Feb. 26, 1993: A bomb explodes in a parking garage below the World Trade Center in New York, killing six people and wounding more than 1,000. Six Islamic militants were convicted in the bombing and sentenced to life in prison.

Dec. 21, 1988: Pan Am Boeing 747 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland, on a flight from London to New York, killing 270 people, including residents of the town. Sept. 5, 1986: Hijackers seize Pan Am jumbo jet carrying 358 people at Karachi airport. Twenty people killed when security forces storm the plane.

Oct. 8, 1985: Crippled American Jew Leon Kling-hoffer is killed by Palestinian militants who had seized the Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro. June 14, 1985: Shiite Muslim gunmen seize a TWA Boeing 727, forcing it to Beirut, Lebanon. They demand the release of 700 Arabs held by Israel. A U.S.

Navy diver is killed and 39 Americans are held until they are released July 1 that year after Syrian mediation. Sept. 20, 1984: Car bomb at U.S. Embassy annex in east Beirut kills 16 and injures the ambassador. Dec.

12, 1983: Shiite extremists set off car bombs in front of the U.S. and French embassies in Kuwait City, killing five people and wounding 86. Oct. 23, 1983: Shiite suicide bombers blow up the French military headquarters and a U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 Marines and 58 French paratroopers.

April 18, 1983: Suicide car-bomber blows up U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing 17 Americans. Nov. 4, 1979: Islamic students storm U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, holding 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.

Viewers mesmerized by destruction NEW YORK (AP) A chaotic scene of devastation unfolded on national television today with cameras catching a plane crashing into the World Trade Center and the subsequent collapse of both of the towers. Television networks began live coverage of a morning of terrorism at the time the first plane hit the New York City landmark. With cameras trained on the smoking skyscraper, television caught the second plane crashing into the other tower, footage replayed several times. As the terror spread, CNN showed a split-screen view of the smoking World Trade Center and the Pentagon, where smoke billowed from another plane crash. Reports spread as fast as television could detail them planes grounded across the country, the White House evacuated, planes unaccounted for while commentators tried to keep calm.

"This is the most serious attack on the United States since Pearl Harbor," said NBC's Tom Brokaw. A producer from CNN, Rose Arce, reported people jumping from the World Trade Center and described the chaos gripping lower Manhattan. Cameras then caught the collapse of both of the twin towers, showing white smoke billowing throughout the streets of lower Manhattan. A shaken Ash-leigh Banfield reporting on MSNBC described debris showering around. "I've never seen anything like this," a breathless and sobbing Banfield said.

"This whole place looks like a war zone. When the cloud came out, I could feel the force of it." Fox News Channel ran a continuous crawl of news bulletins summarizing the series of events. C-SPAN took phone calls from shaken citizens. One caller from California said: "This is a sign to America: We think we are the strongest country and they hit us; they knew where to hit us." Other television networks suspended normal programming. The ESPN sports networks showed ABC News reports; VHl showed CBS News programming; TNT showed CNN coverage.

News networks dispensed with commercials for continuous coverage. The shopping networks QVC and ShopNBC network went dark, saying the tragedy had forced them to suspend programming. "We share with our customers and employees, our sadness as well as our thoughts and prayers," ShopNBC said in a message. Associated Press TERROR IN THE SKY: An aircraft, at right, is seen as it is about to fly into the World Trade Center in New York in this image taken from television. The aircraft was the second to fly into the tower this morning.

Schools shield children Prayer and comfort extended in effort from details to help students cope New York hospitals on ftill alert By VALERIE WELLS Staff Writer sary. "I will probably have something on the intercom at the end of the day to remember in our thoughts and prayers the people whose lives have been taken," Mooth said. "Our country will rise to the occasion. We recognize it's a dark day in history, but we've had other dark days and we got through them. It's a great shock to us." Harris School students left home this morning before the attack happened, said principal Paul Reed, and it wasn't until after classes began that the news came.

"I don't know if they really realize what's going on," he said. "Some teachers have had it on in the classroom. Some had it on for a while and shut it off. We're not doing anything as a school at this time." Superintendent Elmer "Mac" McPherson released a statement: "Decatur Public School District 61 is deeply concerned with the events of the nation today and realizes everyone's concern. Administration is monitoring the situation closely and will continue to do so." He said he would not close schools, though parents and guardians were welcome to pick up their children if they felt the need to do so.

"Our schools are probably some of the safest places for our children to be today," McPherson said. Valerie Wells can be reached at or 421-7982. NEW YORK (AP) Hundreds of people rushed to Manhattan hospitals today to give blood, and officials called in every surgeon and every nurse to deal with victims of the World Trade Center attacks. Ambulances screamed down major thoroughfares across the city. Injured people streamed into St.

Vincent's Catholic Medical Center in lower Manhattan as Army Humvees whizzed by. "We are on full alert," said Mark Ackermann, St. Vincent's chief corporate officer. "People are covered with concrete, soot, and other flying objects." "We are in desperate need of blood," he said. The hospital discharged all non-emergency patients.

Bellevue Hospital Center had one person dead on arrival, said spokeswoman Lorinda Klein. St. Vincent's had no fatalities. Bellevue had received 37 victims of the World Trade Center attacks by early afternoon, five in critical condition, Klein said. The injured included eight children and a pregnant woman.

Beth Israel had received 70 patients, said spokesman Jim Mandler. DECATUR In the halls, classrooms and offices of the Lutheran School Association this morning, every head was bowed as the Rev. Mike Damery led the school in prayer over the intercom. Even a little girl waiting her turn at the bathroom folded her hands and bowed her head. In a soft, sober voice, Damery prayed for comfort for the families of those killed in today's terrorist attacks, for the injured and for the rest of the country, ending by reminding the children that God is in control.

"As the pastor said in his prayer, we have no control over this; sin is a part of our lives," said Matt Heibel, principal of the LSA High School. "There's sin in the world and we're all touched by the sin in the world, but at the same time, we have to remember that Jesus came for all people, including the people who are doing these things. We have to keep in mind that no matter what might happen to them or us, that we're saved in him." In the first couple of hours of the school day, teachers tuned the televisions in their classrooms to news channels and followed the story along with the children, Heibel said, but then they tried 10 get back to the business of school. They plan to keep the students and staff informed of developments, but they don't want to overwhelm the kids. "Now, we'll try to keep people apprised if something major happens, but other than that let them go about their day," said LSA elementary principal Tom Jensen.

"It's like JFK or Pearl Community prayer service, 6 p.m. today. Central Park in downtown Decatur Special Catholic Mass, 6 p.m, Our Lady of Lourdes Church, 3850 Lourdes Drive American Red Cross has not called for more blood donations in the Midwest, but further blood donations may be needed here in the future. Call 872-1430 or 1-800-728-3543 for more information. Cash donations may be directed specifically for the bombings disaster.

Mail to American Red Cross, 500 E. Lake Shore Drive, Decatur, IL, 62521. Relatives of American Airlines passengers seeking information may call 1-800-245-0999. United Airlines said friends or family members seeking information on flights may call 1-800-932-8555. United also said it would post any information it has on its Web site, www.united.com.

Harbor. Watching the TV account is pretty scary. I don't know that we have to have that on TV for the kids. We're Christians. We put it in God's hands.

We don't understand it." At Eisenhower High School, many teachers had the news on in their classrooms, to keep students informed of what was going on, said principal Jim Thomas. "It's just devastating," said Rochelle Mooth, principal of Oak Grove School, but the staff was trying to keep the children from hearing more than neces.