Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 37

6 SPECIAL EDITION Tuesday, September 11,2001 decatur, Illinois TERROR STRIKES towers. A witness said he saw bodies falling and people jumping out. About an hour later, the southern tower collapsed with a roar and a huge cloud of smoke; the other tower fell about a half-hour after that, covering lower Manhattan in heaps of gray rubble and broken glass. Firefighters trapped in the rubble radioed for help. "I have a sense it's a horrendous number of lives lost," Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said.

"Right now we have to focus on saving as many lives as possible." "Today we've had a national tragedy," Bush said in Sarasota, Fla. "Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country." He said he would be returning immediately to Washington. The crashes at the World Trade Center happened minutes apart, beginning just before 9 a.m. Heavy black smoke billowed into the sky above one of New York TRADE cont nued from page 1 tinians celebrated Tuesday's attacks, chanting "God is Great" and distributing candy to passers-by. American Airlines identified the planes that crashed into the Trade Center as Flight 11, a Los Angeles-bound jet hijacked after takeoff from Boston with 92 people aboard, and Flight 77, which was seized while carrying 64 people from Washington to Los Angeles.

In Pennsylvania, United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco, crashed about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh with 45 people aboard. United said another of its planes, Flight 175, a Boeing 767 bound from Boston to Los Angeles with 65 people on board, also crashed, but it did not say where. The fate of those aboard the two planes was not immediately known. Evacuations were ordered at the United Nations in New York and at the Sears Tower in Chicago. Los Angeles mobilized its anti-terrorism division, and security was intensified around the naval installations in Hampton Roads, Va.

Walt Disney World in Orlando, was evacuated. At the World Trade Center, "everyone was screaming, crying, running, cops, people, firefighters, everyone," said Mike Smith, a fire marshal. "It's like a war zone." "I just saw the building I work in come down," said businessman Gabriel loan, shaking in shock outside City Hall, a cloud of smoke and ash from the World Trade Center behind him. Nearby a crowd mobbed a man on a pay phone, screaming at him to get off the phone so that they could call relatives. Dust and dirt flew everywhere.

Ash was 2 to 3 inches deep in places. People wandered dazed and terrified. The planes blasted fiery, gaping holes in the upper floors of the twin Associated Press FROM THE MIDEAST: A group of children near east Jerusalem's Old City wave Palestinian flags and chant anti-United States slogans as they hear of a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City today. Ride to work turns into bedlam City's most famous landmarks, and debris rained down on the street, one of the city's busiest work areas. When the second plane hit, a fireball of flame and smoke erupted, leaving a huge hole in the glass and steel tower.

John Axisa, who was getting off a commuter train to the World Trade Center, said he saw "bodies falling out" of the building. He said he ran outside, and watched people jump out of the first building. Then there was a second explosion, and he felt heat on the back of neck. WCBS-TV, citing an FBI agent, said five or six people jumped out of the windows. Witnesses on the street screamed every time another person leaped.

People ran down the stairs in panic and fled the building. Thousands of pieces of what appeared to be office paper drifted over Brooklyn, about three miles away. Several subway lines were immediately shut down. Trading on Wall Street was suspended. New York's mayoral primary election Tuesday was postponed.

All bridges and tunnels into Manhattan were closed. David Reck was handing out literature for a candidate for public advocate a few blocks away when he saw a jet come in "very low, and then it made a slight twist and dove into the building." Terrorist bombers struck the World Trade Center in February 1993, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others. "It's just sick. It just shows how vulnerable we really are," Keith Meyers, 39, said in Columbus, Ohio. "It kind of makes you want to go home and spend time with your family.

It puts everything in perspective," Meyers said. He said he called to check in with his wife. They have two young children. In New York, "we heard a large boom and then we saw all this debris just falling," said Harriet Grimm, who was inside a bookstore on the World Trade Center's first floor when the first explosion rocked the building. "The plane was coming in low and it looked like it hit at a slight angle," said Sean Murtagh, a CNN vice president, the network reported.

In 1945, an Army Air Corps B-25, a twin-engine bomber, crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building in dense fog. In Florida, Bush was reading to children in a classroom at 9:05 a.m. when his chief of staff, Andrew Card, whispered into his ear. The president briefly turned somber before he resumed reading. He addressed the tragedy about a half-hour later.

Associated Press EXPLOSION: The northern tower of the World Trade Center collapses this morning. Associated Press EMOTION: Two women hold each other as they watch the World Trade Center burn following a terrorist attack on the twin towers this morning. Terrorists crashed two planes into the building, causing the towers to collapse. REACT continued from Page 1 By CATHERINE FITZPATRICK 2001 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel NEW YORK At 9:15 a.m. EDT, the zipper in Times Square is reporting the day's usual events: An unmanned surveillance plane was shot down over Iraq.

Then all hell breaks loose. 9:29 a.m.: The A-train headed downtown: A woman in a green floral dress is crying. She says it was two planes that flew into the World Trade Center. Sandra Whitfield is a procurement analyst trying to get to her job at the municipal building across from City Hall. "I saw it from the bus," she says, dabbing at her eyes.

"Everybody was saying my God, my God. "One plane went in and another went in right behind it." she says. "They hit that building and they just erupted." 9:40: On the A-train at 14th Street, a police department photo unit detective is headed south. Strapped across his shoulders are two Nikon cameras and in his carryall bag, 7 rolls of film. "I'm just doing this for myself," he says.

"This is a historic event." 9:43: Still on the A-train, stalled. A CNN producer and the police detective leave the immobile train as a disembodied voice announces, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have delays due to a problem at the World Trade Center." 9:45: Melody Malave, a fundraiser for the New York City public schools who works in Chinatown, is running down the street southward with her father. "I'm supposed to be at work right now," she said. "But forget it." In front of a bodega on Houston a young woman munches a croissant, tears streaming down her cheeks. "It's so intense." In the triangle at Hudson and Bleeker streets, 40 people stand around dumbstruck, staring at the top of the tower that is now billowing with smoke, so thick and black it looks like a thunderstorm approaching.

9:50: Rivers of people are northbound on the sidewalks, in the streets, dazed, crying, hugging one another. Looks like the end of the world. 10:16 a.m.: On the West Side Highway seven blocks from the World Trade Center, a firefighter named Jimmy stands by his truck buckling the last of his gear. "We're on our way to go in there," he says. "I can do this job, but I don't want to be a target when I do it." Then he climbs into the truck alongside his buddies, a truck with canvas hoses neatly bundled onto the side, and with that as protection heads south down the highway toward the inferno.

trying to do their jobs," Taylor said. "We obviously have a lot of sensitivity to what happens to firefighters elsewhere. We feel a lot of empathy with what they're going through." At Richland Community College, dozens of students crowded in the main lobby of the school to watch news coverage of the disasters. Several students huddled together talking quietly, their voices at a whisper. As the news began spreading of the apparent terrorist attacks, attorneys at the Macon County Courts Facility paused at the security office to watch the television.

Many had heard radio reports, had to see for themselves and many walked away in stunned silence. "It's horrifying," Macon County Sheriff Roger Walker Jr. said. "We're gravely concerned about the obvious loss of life. This just shows that as good as our national security is, some people, especially terrorists, can still slip through the cracks." B.G.

Nevitt, pastor of Glad Tidings Assembly of God, called for parishioners to come to his church to pray. A few responded Tuesday morning. In the youth sanctuary, images of the World Trade Building played on large video screens, while worship music played softly. Nevitt said believers are praying for the people who are suffering and their families, as well as for the nation's leaders. People who came in to pray expressed shock at the surprise attacks.

Crystal Corley-Shoger of Decatur drove to the church to pray after attending a job interview. ttI just felt led to come in to pray for the families and all the people involved," Corley-Shoger said. "I just couldn't believe it, that something like this could happen in this country." Tina Nichols of Decatur, who came to pray because "the power of God is everything" echoed her reaction. "I just can't believe they were able to hit this close to home," she said. A community-wide prayer meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m.

today at Central Park. Nevitt said he told a Decatur Airport official that his church, located across Airport Road, would be available to accommodate passengers, if fUghts are diverted here. U.S. Rep. David Phelps, D-Eldorado, called his home just before leaving the Longworth Building near the Capitol, said his son Luke Phelps, 19.

"I just couldn't believe it when I saw it on TV. I just unnerved me," Luke Phelps said. Tim Butler, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Peoria, said La Hood was scheduled to preside over the House floor today, but Butler had no word of LaHood 's whereabouts this morning.

Nuclear power plants around the country heightened their security as a result of the attack. Ann Mary Carley, spokeswoman for Exelon Nuclear, said all six of its facilities in Illinois, including the power plant in Clinton, were taking precautionary measures. "We're monitoring what's happening on the news and are in continued communications to ensure that our security is at the proper level," Carley said. "We'll modify what we're doing as needed." The Federal Reserve, seeking to provide assurances that the nation's banking system will be protected following the terrorist attacks, said it stood ready to provide additional money to banks if needed. However, several local banks reported having minor problems Tuesday.

Tami Crouch, teller operations officer at First National Bank in Decatur, said she was unable to complete a foreign draft through Ruesch International in Washington D.C. "The person I talked to said (the explosion) at the Pentagon had just gone off and he wouldn't be able to help me because all of their systems were down," Crouch said. The few shoppers at the mall Tuesday gathered around the television section staring at the images from New York. Jerry McKee stood nearby changing stations to get the newest information from the bank of large television screens. "I feel a little nervous watching all this.

It's one thing to hijack one plane and crash it into a building, but for four, that's unbelievable," McKee said shaking his head. "I'm kind of shocked this type of thing has happened in America." At the Decatur Fire Department headquarters, firefighters kept updated on developments. Deputy Chief Jerry Taylor said he immediately thought of the countless firefighters at the scene when the World Trade Center towers collapsed. "I was looking at it from our point of view. There had to be firefighters there in close proximity just Trade Center in a coordinated series of blows today that brought down the twin 110-story towers.

A plane also slammed into the Pentagon, bringing the seat of government itself under attack. All flights were shut down today at Decatur Airport as officials awaited word from the Federal Aviation Administration on what would happen next. "This is something nobody has really experienced before," said airport manager Gene Marcinkowski. "We can only wait and see what happens." People in Decatur tried to go about their normal lives Tuesday but it was impossible to ignore the constant steam of horrific images and sounds from New York as TVs and radios blared in cafes and offices. Karla Miller, spokeswoman for Archer Daniels Midland said employees would be sent home at 2 p.m.

"Because the markets are closed and out of respect to the people affected by the situation," Miller said. At Kenny and Kim's diner on the corner of Locust and 22nd streets, the radio was turned up loud and patrons shook their heads in shocked disbelief at what they were hearing. Mark McKown, eating lunch, said the apparent terrorist attack should serve as a Pearl Harbor-style wake-up call for America. "It's time to start reorganizing our priorities and pull together in the face of this," said McKown, 33, a maintenance worker at ADM. "Our country is under attack." U.S.

Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville, attended a breakfast meeting in the Pentagon this morning but left before news of the New York bombings and well before the Pentagon bombing, spokesman Steven Tomaszewski said. During a phone interview from Shimkus' Collinsville office, Tomaszewski and other staff members gasped in shock when they realized he was scheduled to be at the Pentagon. Later, Tomaszewski said Shimkus had walked to his chief of staff's apartment near the Capitol to make a phone call. They numerous calls before getting through to Collinsville..