Communities plan to commemorate September 11

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(Host) A variety of organizations around the state are making plans to observe the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

VPR’s Steve Zind reports.

(Zind) Town officials and community groups say they’re still in the early stages of planning for the anniversary.

Many of the state’s fire departments are expected to participate in a nationwide September 11 observance organized by the International Fire Chiefs Association. The group has issued a detailed list of suggestions for local fire departments. Gail Walters of the association says departments are being asked to ring bells at the exact time each of the World Trade Center towers collapsed.

(Walters) “At about 10:00 a.m. East Coast time, you open the bay doors, you roll the fire trucks out. Personnel come out and local members of the community can be there. And then at 10:05 the bells and at 10:28, the last set of chimes. And then we just suggested at the end of it, throw your doors open and invite everybody in.”

(Zind) Vermont members of the International Fire Chiefs Association will meet in the next week to coordinate their plans for observing the anniversary.

Church services include an evening mass as St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Burlington. The mass will be officiated by Bishop Kenneth Angell, whose brother died in one of planes that struck the trade center.

In Montpelier, students from nine area schools will dedicate a twelve-foot monument carved from cedar. The American Friends Service Committee has been working with the students. Joseph Gainza of the committee says the students want the monument to carry a global message.

(Gainza) “It’s a dedication not just to the people who died on September 11, and to the people of Afghanistan who have been killed since the U.S. began bombing there, but in a larger sense it’s a monument to peace and justice.”

(Zind) According to the Vermont Principles Association, a number of schools are also planning events during classes to mark the anniversary.

For Vermont Public Radio, I’m Steve Zind.

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