CREST HAVEN – In what has become an annual but somber tradition, Cape May County on Thursday marked the 24th anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in ceremonies outside the administration building.
County Commissioner Director Leonard Desiderio was the master of ceremonies for the event, which drew roughly 100 members of the public as well as county employees. The current class of police cadets from the county Police Academy also attended.
Desiderio began his remarks by mentioning Andrew Alameno, a Wildwood Crest native who at 37 died in the attack on the World Trade Center in New York, Cape May County’s only victim of the attacks. He went on to mention the first responders, who he said ran toward danger that day in an attempt to rescue people from the damaged, then collapsing towers, at the Pentagon and those aboard Flight 93, which crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. He also mentioned that nearly 3,000 people lost their lives at the three locations.
“9/11 always reminds us not only of what we lost but also of what we hold dear,” he said.
Desiderio said that out of the ashes of 9/11 rose a spirit of unity, which has been tested in recent years, but which he reminded people of, on both sides of the political aisle. He said that after 9/11 people chose an attitude of compassion rather than one of division.
Commissioner Melanie Collette gave the invocation, saying that out of the nation’s darkest hour, freedom still rang loudly. Commissioner Bobby Barr followed by leading those present in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Desiderio then referred to John Kostick, of Califon, who was an electrician working in the Trade Center’s north tower when the attack occurred. Kostick, despite having difficulty speaking due to the effects of the attack, was the keynoter in Sea Isle City on Thursday morning.
Kostick continued to work at the Trade Center site for the next 18 months before he contracted cancer. According to Kevin Slover of Edison, who has had a home in Cape May County for almost two decades, there are about 50,000 people who have suffered residual effects from the attacks, including cancer. Many of the victims were first responders and construction workers at the sites.
Slover said they are still identifying victims more than two decades later, using DNA technology. He said many of the families do not want them to be publicly identified at this point.
“9/11 is still haunting people,” he said. “9/11 did not end.”
Some of those attending the ceremony said they could recall exactly where they were when they received the news of the 9/11 attacks.
Middle Township Mayor Christopher Leusner, who is also the coordinator of the county Office of Emergency Management, was a Middle patrolman in 2001. He said he was off that day and had stopped in the Donut Connection in Middle Township to get coffee when he saw the report on a TV there.
He had been planning to work on the house they had just bought, but instead went to his parents’ home, where they watched the story develop through televised reports. He said the Middle Township Police Department, as well as other agencies, were told to get ready to go to the attack sites, but the call never came.
County Sheriff Robert Nolan was a sheriff’s officer at the time. He said he and Scott Mason, who has since retired, were out serving warrants as part of the Warrant Unit when they heard that a plane had struck the first tower. Like many at the time, Nolan thought it was probably a small, private plane that had made an unfortunate turn. When he got the news that another plane hit the second tower, he knew that it was no accident.
“As it evolved it was clear that it was intentional,” he said.
He said he went home and watched the rest of the coverage on TV news.
Thursday’s ceremony also included the placing of a wreath at the 9/11 memorial by Vice-director Andrew Bulakowski. The county 9/11 memorial consists of pieces of debris from the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and from Shanksville.
Desiderio asked for 60 seconds of silence and reflection before leading the crowd in the singing of “Amazing Grace.”
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or call 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
