The tenth anniversary of the worst domestic terrorist attacks in U.S. history was commemorated with solemnity at a brief ceremony at the Saucon Valley Farmers' Market in Hellertown Sunday. Exactly 10 years after hijacked planes struck the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and a rural field in western Pennsylvania, farmers' market volunteer Bud Prosser led market guests in observing a moment of silence, before delivering brief remarks about his recent visit to the site of the United Flight 93 crash in Shanksville, Somerset County. "If that plane was to crash, it was God's will that it crashed there," …
Editor's Note: Logan Tratnyek is a 2002 graduate of Saucon Valley High School. He is currently an active duty member of the U.S. Air Force stationed in Maryland. On Sept. 11, 2001 I was in my senior year at Saucon Valley High School. The previous April I had signed up to enlist in the Air Force as soon as I graduated. In June of 2001 I took a trip to Washington, D.C. with my recruiter for a tour of Andrews Air Force Base, the White House and the Pentagon. I was on my way to the Lower Saucon Police Department for my internship when on 95.1 WZZO the Bearman and Keith started talking about how a…
New York Police Lt. Cmdr. Vertel Martin, commanding about 100 Internal Affairs Bureau officers from Queens, arrived at the World Trade Center 25 minutes after the South Tower collapsed. Three minutes after their arrival, the North Tower came down. Not long after, something else terrifying happened: an airplane headed toward Ground Zero. “Is it the enemy?” Martin asked. “'Arm yourselves! Take cover!' We scatter. We hold on to the injured and with our bodies cover them. “Our adrenaline is pumping. Our hearts are about to jump out of our chests. And just when we thought we couldn’t take the …
As part of a September 11 Commemoration at the PBS39 Public Media and Education Center Plaza at SteelStacks in Bethlehem, a World Peace Flag Ceremony and Peace Pole dedication will be held Sunday from 3:30 to 5pm, PBS39 has announced. According to a press release issued by the public television station, the event will celebrate "11 Days of Global Unity" with prayers for peace, speakers and music, and is part of the grand opening of the station's new headquarters at 839 Sesame Street on the SteelStacks campus in South Bethlehem. The World Peace Flag Ceremony will feature a display of flags …
This Sunday, the normally festive atmosphere at the Saucon Valley Farmers' Market will briefly turn somber, as local residents remember the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Farmers' market chairperson Shelley Goldberg announced Friday that a moment of silence will follow the playing of "Taps" by trumpeter Herb Payung at 11:45am. Bud Prosser, a Saucon Valley resident and farmers' market volunteer, will also lead visitors in prayer during the short ceremony. This Sunday's live entertainment will be provided by Glenn Miller, who will perform musical selections (including patriotic …
Editor's Note: Paulette "Polly" Roberts has been a Hellertown resident since 1993. She is a member of St. George's Episcopal Church in Hellertown. Sept. 11 is my birthday, and I have not celebrated the day since. From 1983-1986, I worked in downtown NYC. Every morning, I took the subway from Penn Station to the Trade Center, then walked two blocks to my building, and the reverse for home. I saw those buildings every day, and once watched lightning go up the side of Two World Trade Center. I went to the first day of spring egg standing on end ceremonies, and there were concerts and other …
Penn State Lehigh Valley in Upper Saucon Township opened its special gallery exhibition "Reaction and Healing: The Tenth Anniversary of 9-11" with a free public reception on Sept. 8 from 5:30 to 7:30pm. Two of the artists whose work is on display--Denise Bankuti of Burbank, Calif., and Kathy Levine of Brooklyn, N.Y.--were in the area to attend the reception. “These are professional artists with international exhibition experience,” said Ann Lalik, Gallery Director and Arts Coordinator at Penn State Lehigh Valley. “We have several mediums--paper, bronze, fiber, paint and pastels; it’s a …
I was in Brooklyn that morning, being awoken by my then-fiance, who saw the first building up in smoke when he called me. His sister was in class a block away from the World Trade Center and saw the chaos unfold before her eyes. I saw the second plane hit the second tower live on TV. I tried to get into the city, desperately trying to do something, get to my sister, help in some way, but the subway was already shut down. My husband worked for a Japanese film crew and I didn't see him for a week, because of news coverage. He slept right on Church Street that night, amid ash and debris. I had …
A community interfaith gathering on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will give people in the Lehigh Valley an opportunity to continue healing and building relationships. “We’ve come a long way in the last decade in terms of understanding one another,” said the Rev. Christine L. Nelson, executive director of the Lehigh County Conference of Churches. “We believe this gives our community and the world hope.” “Come Together in Hope” will be the theme of the interfaith gathering at 3:30pm on Sunday, Sept. 11, at the Jewish Community Center at 22nd and Tilghman streets in …
A Hellertown girl who will celebrate her 10th birthday on the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks this Sunday is looking forward to her special day with mixed emotions, according to a story published on WFMZ.com Wednesday. In the story, nine-year-old Bridget's mom, Caitlin Henn, describes what it was like to give birth on the day of the attacks, and what life has been like for her daughter in the years since the day that changed life in the U.S. forever. Bridget is a Beatles fan and is hoping to receive an electric guitar for her birthday, according to the report.
