thedrifter
09-12-07, 06:01 AM
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
9/11: Six years later
O.C. residents remember 9-11 attacks and reflect on today’s new world.
By MICHAEL MELLO, GREG HARDESTY, HEATHER IGNATIN and ELLYN PAK
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Allen Stubblefield took note of the crisp, flawless blue sky above Fullerton’s Troy High School on Tuesday morning.
“It was the same that morning,” the Navy JROTC commander said, solemnly. Stubblefield was in New York the morning of the 9-11 attacks. “It was real easy to see the smoke.”
Like many around the county and nation, hundreds of Troy students and faculty gathered around the school’s flagpole on Tuesday morning to remember the destruction – and heroics – of that day six years ago.
With members of the school’s Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps saluting, a moment of silence was held as the flag rose and was then lowered to half-staff.
Abner James, 17, senior chief petty officer for the corps, said it was important to remember that day and saw his participation in the ceremony as honoring the U.S. troops now fighting abroad.
In 2001, he was a sixth-grader in Yorba Linda and remembers his classmates getting upset when a plane flew overhead that morning.
“That’s why I thought I’d like to join the military,” James said, “so that nothing like this will ever happen again.”
That one day in September changed the lives of every person in Orange County, whether they lost a loved one, sit longer in an airport security line, wait for a family member to come home from overseas military service. The California Highway Patrol watches trucks closely. Orange County Fire Authority rigs now carry radiation detectors.
Orange County at the ready
Across Orange County, security measures have changed dramatically in the past six years: Police patrols have increased at popular tourist spots, the California Highway Patrol has stepped up enforcement at freeway bridges and near the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.
CHP Lt. Glen Dominguez said more scrutiny is given to something as simple as an abandoned vehicle or someone hanging a banner on an overpass.
“There is a heightened awareness and additional training (for the officers),’’ he said. “They’re going to take measures and steps that they wouldn’t have taken before.”
Sheriff Mike Carona said his department has built on its terrorism program – identifying potential county targets and increasing its intelligence and investigative units.
“We are very safe and we are doing things better than we’ve done before,” Carona said, adding that he is working with Anaheim Police Chief John Welter – plus local, state and national authorities – to come up with a database to track criminal patterns.
At John Wayne Airport, the number of screening lanes has doubled from eight to 16.
Today the airport spends $16 million a year on security – versus $4 million before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Other airport changes: Cars are randomly searched and entrances occasionally closed during higher-level terrorist alerts. The number of sheriff’s deputies assigned to the airport has grown from less than 50 to more than 100. The agency has also added three bomb-sniffing dogs and trained handlers.
Capt. Stephen Miller of the Orange County Fire Authority said his department was already examining ways to deal with terrorist attacks before New York and Washington got hit but is now better prepared.
“It opened up the gates to get the federal funding for some of the equipment we needed,” Miller said. “I never thought there would there be a day where we would have to have radiation monitors on our trucks.”
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks caused area transportation agencies to re-think their safety and security policies.
The Orange County Transportation Authority completely reviewed the county's entire transportation system, including the freeways and Metrolink services.
"I think we'll always be forever wary," said Paul Taylor, an OCTA executive. "It'll be wise to be wary. There's no such thing as paradise on earth. There are risks and hazards everywhere."
There were more measures taken to protect and restrict access to Metrolink structures, bus yards and transit centers. Employees were trained on the fundamentals of security and disaster recovery.
The train bombings in Madrid three years after Sept. 11 forced local officials to examine the vulnerability of Southern California's transit system. Recently, the Buena Park Metrolink station opened, the first one in Orange County with video cameras.
"We've been both sufficiently vigilant and sufficiently lucky," Taylor said. "The worst you can do is to say it can't happen here, because then it will."
Has it made a difference?
"The security is way up and I feel a lot safer," said Kyle Parant, 16, of Lake Forest. "When you come into the airports from out of the country, they do electronic monitoring on the passport and make sure it's really you."
Debra Burch, 49, of Dana Point isn’t so sure.
"I never felt unsafe and I don't today," said Burch. "I feel less patriotic, because our government is just chaotic."
A day to remember
Many people around the county participated in remembrance events.
Fifty Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines at Camp Pendleton visited St. John's Episcopal School in Rancho Santa Margarita for a flag ceremony and classroom visits – a week-and-a-half before their scheduled deployment to Iraq.
The elementary and middle school has forged close ties to the Marines since the terrorist attacks, organizing pen-pal exchanges with servicemen and -women who have been deployed, collecting holiday gifts for their children and recording digital-video messages for their loved ones.
Parents said the visit helped bring the global fight against terrorism down to a level youngsters easily could grasp.
“It's almost like the Marines are all of their dads, out there protecting them,'' parent Wendy Ruiz said of the students who gathered in bright sunshine in a courtyard decorated with tiny U.S. flags and banners welcoming the Marines.
As the students quietly stood in their uniforms of blue shorts and skirts, white shirts and red sweaters, the Marines stood at attention, facing them. Cub scouts from Pack 618 led a color guard and patriotic songs, and took turns reciting reasons they were proud to be Americans.
Staff writer Erika I. Ritchie contributed to this report.
Contact the writer: 714-704-3796 or mmello@ocregister.com
Ellie
9/11: Six years later
O.C. residents remember 9-11 attacks and reflect on today’s new world.
By MICHAEL MELLO, GREG HARDESTY, HEATHER IGNATIN and ELLYN PAK
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Allen Stubblefield took note of the crisp, flawless blue sky above Fullerton’s Troy High School on Tuesday morning.
“It was the same that morning,” the Navy JROTC commander said, solemnly. Stubblefield was in New York the morning of the 9-11 attacks. “It was real easy to see the smoke.”
Like many around the county and nation, hundreds of Troy students and faculty gathered around the school’s flagpole on Tuesday morning to remember the destruction – and heroics – of that day six years ago.
With members of the school’s Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps saluting, a moment of silence was held as the flag rose and was then lowered to half-staff.
Abner James, 17, senior chief petty officer for the corps, said it was important to remember that day and saw his participation in the ceremony as honoring the U.S. troops now fighting abroad.
In 2001, he was a sixth-grader in Yorba Linda and remembers his classmates getting upset when a plane flew overhead that morning.
“That’s why I thought I’d like to join the military,” James said, “so that nothing like this will ever happen again.”
That one day in September changed the lives of every person in Orange County, whether they lost a loved one, sit longer in an airport security line, wait for a family member to come home from overseas military service. The California Highway Patrol watches trucks closely. Orange County Fire Authority rigs now carry radiation detectors.
Orange County at the ready
Across Orange County, security measures have changed dramatically in the past six years: Police patrols have increased at popular tourist spots, the California Highway Patrol has stepped up enforcement at freeway bridges and near the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.
CHP Lt. Glen Dominguez said more scrutiny is given to something as simple as an abandoned vehicle or someone hanging a banner on an overpass.
“There is a heightened awareness and additional training (for the officers),’’ he said. “They’re going to take measures and steps that they wouldn’t have taken before.”
Sheriff Mike Carona said his department has built on its terrorism program – identifying potential county targets and increasing its intelligence and investigative units.
“We are very safe and we are doing things better than we’ve done before,” Carona said, adding that he is working with Anaheim Police Chief John Welter – plus local, state and national authorities – to come up with a database to track criminal patterns.
At John Wayne Airport, the number of screening lanes has doubled from eight to 16.
Today the airport spends $16 million a year on security – versus $4 million before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Other airport changes: Cars are randomly searched and entrances occasionally closed during higher-level terrorist alerts. The number of sheriff’s deputies assigned to the airport has grown from less than 50 to more than 100. The agency has also added three bomb-sniffing dogs and trained handlers.
Capt. Stephen Miller of the Orange County Fire Authority said his department was already examining ways to deal with terrorist attacks before New York and Washington got hit but is now better prepared.
“It opened up the gates to get the federal funding for some of the equipment we needed,” Miller said. “I never thought there would there be a day where we would have to have radiation monitors on our trucks.”
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks caused area transportation agencies to re-think their safety and security policies.
The Orange County Transportation Authority completely reviewed the county's entire transportation system, including the freeways and Metrolink services.
"I think we'll always be forever wary," said Paul Taylor, an OCTA executive. "It'll be wise to be wary. There's no such thing as paradise on earth. There are risks and hazards everywhere."
There were more measures taken to protect and restrict access to Metrolink structures, bus yards and transit centers. Employees were trained on the fundamentals of security and disaster recovery.
The train bombings in Madrid three years after Sept. 11 forced local officials to examine the vulnerability of Southern California's transit system. Recently, the Buena Park Metrolink station opened, the first one in Orange County with video cameras.
"We've been both sufficiently vigilant and sufficiently lucky," Taylor said. "The worst you can do is to say it can't happen here, because then it will."
Has it made a difference?
"The security is way up and I feel a lot safer," said Kyle Parant, 16, of Lake Forest. "When you come into the airports from out of the country, they do electronic monitoring on the passport and make sure it's really you."
Debra Burch, 49, of Dana Point isn’t so sure.
"I never felt unsafe and I don't today," said Burch. "I feel less patriotic, because our government is just chaotic."
A day to remember
Many people around the county participated in remembrance events.
Fifty Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines at Camp Pendleton visited St. John's Episcopal School in Rancho Santa Margarita for a flag ceremony and classroom visits – a week-and-a-half before their scheduled deployment to Iraq.
The elementary and middle school has forged close ties to the Marines since the terrorist attacks, organizing pen-pal exchanges with servicemen and -women who have been deployed, collecting holiday gifts for their children and recording digital-video messages for their loved ones.
Parents said the visit helped bring the global fight against terrorism down to a level youngsters easily could grasp.
“It's almost like the Marines are all of their dads, out there protecting them,'' parent Wendy Ruiz said of the students who gathered in bright sunshine in a courtyard decorated with tiny U.S. flags and banners welcoming the Marines.
As the students quietly stood in their uniforms of blue shorts and skirts, white shirts and red sweaters, the Marines stood at attention, facing them. Cub scouts from Pack 618 led a color guard and patriotic songs, and took turns reciting reasons they were proud to be Americans.
Staff writer Erika I. Ritchie contributed to this report.
Contact the writer: 714-704-3796 or mmello@ocregister.com
Ellie