9.11 local stories

Datestamp: 09/12/2001

AREA RESIDENTS STUNNED

MANY WORRYING ABOUT WHAT WILL FOLLOW THE ATTACK

By KEVIN NANCE Staff Writer

Two words flashed into 88−year−old Mamie Walton's mind when she turned on her television yesterdaymorning: Pearl Harbor.

For Cheryl Wathen, 45, it was another word: Doomsday.

Visions of war and apocalypse beset people all over Middle Tennessee yesterday when they watched newscoverage of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

"I'm stunned, walking in a daze," Wathen said. "I've been at the World Trade Center, and it was spectacular.To think that it's all rubble now.

It's like our whole country has been attacked."

To many Nashville−area residents, the morning's events seemed as significant and foreboding as the mostinfamous chapters of American history.

"It's of the magnitude of Pearl Harbor or the Oklahoma City bombing," said Pam Kemp, 44. "Just as thepeople who were alive when JFK was assassinated remember exactly where they were and what they weredoing, we will have the same recall."

The emotional reactions had four main categories:

Shock: "It didn't seem real, more like a bad dream," said Willie Murray, a cashier at the Kroger on EighthAvenue North. Added Kim Brown of Brentwood: "It was like an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie."

Sadness: "I made a sign of the cross, and said a prayer for those who just died," attorney Grant Glassford saidafter watching TV coverage of the first World Trade Center tower collapsing. Nashville musician RickSchell, who visited that building with his wife last week, burst into tears. "It's chilling to think, 'Who's onthose planes?' "

AREA RESIDENTS STUNNED 1

Anger: "It's like someone has raised a pistol to your face," said Jack Jernigan, a LifeWay employee. "Thelandscape of our country and all of the world has changed in less than five minutes."

Fear: "My first thought was, 'Where are my kids?' " said Carolyn German, who immediately picked up herson from kindergarten in the Donelson area. "I thought, 'If they hijack a plane and drop it in Pennsylvania,anything could happen anywhere.' "

Several Nashvillians had fears for friends and relatives living in or traveling to New York and Washington,D.C. "I have friends in Manhattan, including one who usually works at the World Trade Center," Germansaid. "I talked to his wife, and listening to the fear in her voice just made me more afraid. It turned out that hewas away from the office today."

Vickie Thomasson, who works for the Nashville Public Libraries, was trying to reach her sister−in−law andher husband, who work in the nation's capital. "We can't get in touch with them," she said. "The lines, wecan't get through. It makes you wonder: Do you go home and protect your family, or do you stay on yourjob?"

And many people who work in downtown Nashville, especially in the taller buildings, were concerned abouttheir own safety.

"I have a view of planes coming and going from the airport," said Glassford, who works on the 29th floor ofthe SunTrust building. "I did more than one look out my window to see if a plane was headed for downtown."

Jim Hoobler, art curator for the Tennessee State Museum in the Tennessee Performing Arts Center building,had similar concerns.

"The country has been attacked, and working in government buildings as I do, you're always nervous," hesaid. "We're just trying to go on with things we need to do."

For many people glued to the horrific images on TV, everyday routines suddenly seemed trivial. "I really hatebeing here. I feel like I should be home," Robyn Gilliam, a hairstylist in Hillsboro Village, said from heroffice. "There are people calling in, making appointments like nothing is going on in the world, and thatsomehow feels shallow and irreverent."

Others found their minds leaping ahead to what might happen next: how President Bush's administration willrespond to the attacks, and whether that response will provoke further terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.

"I have two concerns," said Scott Jones of Arrington in Williamson County. "Are they really going to figureout who is responsible for this? And if the U.S. retaliates, then what if there's a chain reaction from that?You're dealing with these Middle Eastern countries, and they seem very volatile to me. We could be gettinginto a real war, and it's going to be very hard to control."

Sharon Hill, a Nashville office administrator, agreed: "Just the horror of hearing about this, and fearing apossible war, turns my stomach," she said. "Terrorist attacks have been going on all around us in othercountries. Now it's happened here. Our security is shaken. But there are no winners when we have a war.Everybody loses."

Vanderbilt's nursing school dean, Colleen Conway−Welch, arrived yesterday morning in Washington, D.C.,for a meeting, only to be greeted by great cloud of smoke rising from the Pentagon.


She said in a phone interview that while she observed no panic in the capital, the mood was one of"controlled concern."

Back in the Midstate, Mamie Walton, who was a young wife in Charleston, S.C., during the attack that drewAmerica into World War II, found herself remembering that other day that will live in infamy. "My husbandworked at the Navy yard," she said. "There were rumors that Japanese submarines were in the harbor, andimmediately they got very conservative about where we could go. Watching the TV, it just made me live overall that, and I was afraid they were going to start bombing us again. It's a sad, sad day."

Staff writers Gloria Ballard, Elizabeth Betts, Alan Bostick, Patrick Connolly, Peter Cooper, CatherineDarnell, Mary Hance, Bill Snyder, Stacey Hartmann, Susan Leathers, Sylvia Slaughter, Carol Stuart andThayer Wine contributed to this article.

Graphic: PHOTO BY ADRIANE JAECKLE / STAFF

Caption: Amanda Potter, left, prays with Mary Beth Pratt outside Belmont University's Student Center. Pratthad been unable to locate a family member who was in one of the areas hit by terrorist attacks.



SOME LOCAL IMMIGRANTS FEAR REPRISALS INAFTERMATH

By ANITA WADHWANI Staff Writer

With televised images of Palestinians jubilantly dancing in the streets and speculation that yesterday's attacksmay have been masterminded by terrorists from the Middle East, some Nashville−area immigrants say theyfear a backlash.

"It's a time for being cautious," said Dr. Awadh Binhazim, a spokesman for the Islamic Center in Nashvillewho is an immigrant from Kenya. "We as a Muslim community mean no harm. There are 7 million AmericanMuslims who don't subscribe to this madness."

No one has yet claimed responsibility or been accused in the attacks.

Many pointed the finger at Middle Eastern terrorists in the hours after the 1995 bombing of the federalbuilding in Oklahoma City. Those suspicions turned out to be untrue.

During the 1991 Gulf War, dozens of Arab−American's homes and businesses were fire−bombed.

Binhazim said yesterday that a member of his congregation wearing traditional Muslim dress was told to goback to her home.

"But she was an American, so she said she was home," said Binhazim, who plans to follow up with police.

Immigrant and refugee advocates said they hope that there is no retaliation against the area's internationalcommunities because of yesterday's attacks.

"Refugees and immigrants come here because they love the idea of America and want to be here to escapethe kinds of terror abroad that have been brought home here today," said Carter Moody, who heads theNashville Task Force on Refugees and Immigrants.

Even if the perpetrators turn out to be from the Middle East or profess to be motivated by devotion to Islam,immigrants here should not be held responsible, said Tahir Hussain of Kurdish Human Rights Watch inNashville.

SOME LOCAL IMMIGRANTS FEAR REPRISALS IN AFTERMATH 1

"I believe the people of the United States understand that these people do not represent our people here,"Hussain said.

Staff writers Michael Cass and Ray Waddle contributed to this

story.

SOME LOCAL IMMIGRANTS FEAR REPRISALS IN AFTERMATH 2


'I'LL REMEMBER IT FOREVER,' 10TH−GRADESTUDENT SAYS

By DIANE LONG Staff Writer

For 10th−grader Kevin Caldwell, there's a new and devastating connection between generations.

"This is our JFK," said Caldwell, a sophomore at Hunters Lane High School in Nashville.

Students were glued to the news, just like their counterparts were back in 1963 when President John F.Kennedy was assassinated. They struggled with shock and disbelief at the terrorist attacks.

"I didn't believe it at first," Caldwell said. "I thought it was some silly rumor. Terrorism was something youread about in textbooks."

The pictures of fire, smoke and falling buildings are now permanent images for Stephanie Binkley, a10th−grader at Hunters Lane.

"I'll remember it forever," she said. "So many innocent people were hurt."

Senior Josh Moore also was devastated by the thousands of deaths.

"Nobody deserves to die like that," he said. "Those people were just at work trying to better their lives."

At Glencliff High School, the sound of TV sets wafted out of every room along the hallways. Students inteacher Jeff Hudgins' psychology class were watching the news intently.

"They're watching in disbelief at the unfolding horror," Hudgins said.

Quintessa Hathaway felt dread for the days ahead.

"It seems as if things were going too well for America," the senior said. "I think there's going to be a thirdwar. The U.S. has too many enemies."

The specter of war also haunts senior Rusty Castleberry, 17.

'I'LL REMEMBER IT FOREVER,' 10TH−GRADE STUDENT SAYS 1

"At first we thought, 'That can't be happening,' " he said. "Then we saw the towers collapsing and, oh, mygosh, people were dying. Then people starting talking about war and asking each other if they were 18.

"I don't want to go to war."

Diane Long covers education. Contact her at [email protected] or 726−5931.

Caption: CALDWELL, HATHAWAY

'I'LL REMEMBER IT FOREVER,' 10TH−GRADE STUDENT SAYS 2


CROWD SHARES TEARS, PRAYERS ATMIDSTATE VIGIL

SHAKEN CITIZENS SHOW SUPPORT FOR DEAD, INJURED

By KATHY CARLSON Staff Writer

The 10 white Roto−Rooter vans snaked through Centennial Park last night, American flags waving. Theplumbers had come to the park with hundreds of other people to pay their respects at a prayer vigil dedicatedto those whom terrorists killed or injured Tuesday in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

"I'd like to think there was something like this going on all across the country," said plumber David Patterson.He and most of his co−workers in the Nashville office −− a few stayed behind to handle calls −− juggledtheir hours to attend the event with their boss' blessing, to show their support for victims and for the nation.

As the sun set on a warm night, families gathered in the grassy middle of the park for an hourlong program ofprayer and song. Some stood and prayed, Bibles in hands. Others sat on blankets and drank soft drinks, justas they might at a picnic.

Small children played with tiny American flags as their parents prayed and sang along with performers.

"I just wanted to show my respect for the victims and their families," said Holly Piela, who lives inCookeville and works in Nashville.

Her friend Mary Beth Rittenberry of Nashville said she was there because she wanted to be with others "whoare going through what I am going through shock, disbelief."

"I just feel so bad for those people," said Robin Warren, holding a baby in her arms. "I cannot believe thatthis has happened and there's so much evil."

Earlier, Christian musician Michael W. Smith told the audience that Tuesday's events were "too big" for allof us.

He recalled the April 1999 tragedy at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., in which two studentskilled 12 fellow students and a teacher before killing themselves.

CROWD SHARES TEARS, PRAYERS AT MIDSTATE VIGIL 1

That was hard for him to fathom, he said, because he loves children. Tuesday's terrorism was devastating,puzzling, the kind of event that makes people "cry out to God for some answers."

What's at stake "is more than just a war against terrorism," he said. He said he struggled to understand how ayoung man could get into an plane full of passengers and aim it at a building full of people believing hewould be rewarded in heaven for ending so many lives. "That's not the God I serve," he said. The crowdapplauded.

"There's a lot of kids whose dads did not come home last night −− or moms." We need to pray for them, hesaid.

The vigil also drew country singer Martina McBride, Mayor Bill Purcell and several members of the clergy.It was sponsored by the five Nashville radio stations operated by Clear Channel Communications.

Some attendees saw positive effects coming from the tragedy.

"We were on a dig job" Tuesday morning, when news of the attacks first surfaced, said Roto−Rooter plumberJohn Roberts. The person whose property the men were digging invited them, mud and all, into his home towatch the news on TV, he said.

Yesterday, Patterson said, people came out of a Waffle House to the parking lot to listen to his truck radio,over which President Bush was addressing the nation.

"We're going to stick together shoulder to shoulder," plumber Chad Morris said. "We're going to get throughthis as a country."

Graphic: PHOTO BY LARRY MCCORMACK / STAFF

Caption: Jan Bowman is comforted by her daughter Mackenzie King during a prayer vigil at Centennial Parkyesterday to remember those lost.

CROWD SHARES TEARS, PRAYERS AT MIDSTATE VIGIL 2


MIDSTATE FEELING IMPACT OF ATTACK

RESPONSES INCLUDE INCREASED SECURITY AND VOLUNTEERISM

By LEON ALLIGOOD Staff Writer

Middle Tennesseans shared the same emotions of anger and vulnerability with all other residents of theUnited States yesterday as the images of disaster from New York and Washington reached their homes andworkplaces.

"I'm just so sad and mad," said Russell Upton, 61, of Greenbrier.

"I feel for those people who lost their lives and are injured. But I'm angry. This was an act of war, and that'sthe way we need to respond. Somebody should have to answer for this."

Others began to do what Tennesseans have done traditionally in such times of national tragedy: volunteer tohelp in the recovery.

Many prayed. Dozens of churches opened their doors last night for hastily prepared services to remember theinjured and the dead. Several local institutions scrambled to help people cope with the national mourning.

Without a doubt, the terrorist acts affected everyone, especially those charged with keeping the peace.

Nashville government officials increased protection at the airports and other public buildings, includingschools.

State officials placed the Capitol and the War Memorial and Legislative plazas under "heightened security" asa precautionary measure, Safety Department spokeswoman Dana Keeton said. The measures are expected toremain in place indefinitely.

"It's simply precautionary. We have had no incidents. We are continuing to assess the situation."

As Keeton and other state officials stood by in the executive conference room on the ground floor of theCapitol for news briefings throughout the day, state lawmakers, lobbyists and legislative staffers gatheredaround televisions in Legislative Plaza, waiting for the next development.

MIDSTATE FEELING IMPACT OF ATTACK 1

"I'm scared," state Sen. Thelma Harper, D−Nashville, said when she was greeted with a "Good morning, howare you?"

Gov. Don Sundquist ordered all flags at state buildings lowered to half staff. "Our hearts go out to those whohave been injured and those who have lost their lives. Their families are in our thoughts and prayers."

Some of the injured in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon inArlington, Va., near Washington may be transported in coming days to specialized medical facilities inNashville for treatment, officials said.

The 18−bed burn center at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, for example, prepared to accept some ofthe casualties for treatment.

"We're looking at hundreds or thousands of burn victims," said Dr. Jeffrey Guy, burn center director.Vanderbilt is one of 100 burn centers in the country, but it is one of the largest and could take up to 23 burnpatients if necessary, officials said.

The Nashville Veterans Affairs Medical Center, adjacent to Vanderbilt, also is preparing to accept victims,spokeswoman Jessica McAllister said. That's because it is a "federal coordinating center" designated by theVA and the Department of Defense to treat mass casualty or disaster victims, she said.

Area hospitals are trying to determine how many beds, operating rooms and health−care professionals theycan make available −− and whether they need to postpone elective surgeries and admissions −− in case largenumbers of casualties are sent to Nashville.

The treatment of burn patients is being coordinated by the American Burn Association, using a disaster plandeveloped during the 1990−91 Gulf War in anticipation of large numbers of burn injuries, Guy said.

Within 45 minutes of the attacks, Tennessee emergency officials moved to lock down all state and federalbuildings and military installations.

At the same time, a little−known team of emergency specialists based in Memphis prepared to leave bymilitary plane for New York City to help in rescue efforts there, said Cecil Whaley, spokesman for theTennessee Emergency Management Agency.

TEMA and federal officials also ordered the Memphis−based Tennessee Task Force One Urban Search andRescue Team onto high alert. Team members were summoned to Washington last night for their assignments.

"They're one of only about 20 federally trained urban search−and−rescue teams across the entire UnitedStates, and so they're going to be in the thick of it. We have doctors, trained nurses, dog teams, hazardousmaterials specialists and others on that team," Whaley said.

Troops from Fort Campbell streamed into the Army post throughout the day yesterday. Their vehicles andthose of civilians jammed the roadways for miles outside the installation, where there are more than 26,000military personnel.

TVA, which provides almost all the electricity used in Tennessee, staffed its emergency operations center asa precautionary measure and increased vigilance at its three nuclear plants, 11 coal−fired plants and 29hydroelectric facilities, TVA spokesman John Moulton said. That includes the Gallatin Fossil Plant just eastof Nashville and the Cumberland Fossil Plant to the west.


Because air traffic in and out of Nashville International Airport was canceled, hundreds of passengers werestranded without transportation.

A group of family and friends in Nashville to see the Grand Ole Opry hastily reworked their return travelplans yesterday morning.

Rather than fly back to Albany, N.Y., they managed to grab two vehicles from the airport's rapidlydiminishing pool of rental cars.

Overhead, the airport intercom kept reminding travelers that the airways were closed.

The outer lobbies and corridors were crammed with stranded passengers, but the gateways grew increasinglyvacant, and security officials hustled travelers away from the gates.

Gates, normally empty at this hour, were crowded with parked airliners.

A liver from a cadaver donor in Nashville, scheduled to be used in a transplant operation in Houston, wasdelivered by a military plane after the airport was shut down yesterday.

Averitt Air, a Nashville−based air cargo service, had a jet on the runway scheduled to take off with the liveryesterday morning when the FAA ordered a ban of all nonmilitary flights, Averitt spokeswoman RosemaryWalsh said.

"They were on the runway for about 10 minutes," Walsh said.

Averitt's pilots told the tower of its cargo. Flight controllers notified the military, and the liver was sent on aC−130 troop transport plane, she said.

Tennessee Donor Services spokeswoman Kathy Prescott, citing patient confidentiality, declined to commenton the matter

Local colleges and universities responded to the attacks by holding prayer services, making counselorsavailable and pondering the news in classes.

"I had a class this morning," said John Springer, director of institutional research and a professor of physics atFisk University.

"You just didn't feel like talking about things like computer science."

Vanderbilt, Middle Tennessee State University, University of the South and other schools offered counselingto anyone on campus who needed it. Vanderbilt also extended hours at several student gathering spots and setup a phone bank where students could make free long−distance calls to friends and family. The universityexpected many of its students, faculty and staff, who come from around the world, to have connections inNew York and Washington.

Fisk's new president, Carolynn Reid−Wallace, and five administrators in Reid−Wallace's cabinet had flownto the Washington area Monday night for executive training scheduled for yesterday, Springer said. Thesessions at the United Negro College Fund were canceled, and the Fisk officials were trying to decidewhether to drive back to Nashville or fly when air travel resumes.


Numerous firms in the city sent workers home yesterday.

U.S. Rep. Bob Clement, D−Nashville, said he was at his Washington, D.C.−area home when news of theNew York attacks flashed across his television screen.

Clement likened the attacks to the attack on Pearl Harbor, which President Franklin D. Roosevelt called "adate which will live in infamy."

"It's of that magnitude," Clement said.

Staff Writers Kathy Carlson, Rob Johnson, Anne Paine, Bush Bernard, Sheila Burke, Anita Wadhwani andThe Associated Press contributed to this story.



SAFE HAVEN DOWN A DARK STAIRWELL

NASHVILLE NATIVE MAKES LONG DESCENT TO GROUND

By ANNE PAINE and ADRIANE JAECKLE Staff Writers

Anne Prosser called her fiancé and then her mother in Nashville from her smoke−filled office on the 90thfloor of the World Trade Center yesterday morning after a plane slammed into the north tower.

She couldn't see to get out, but she wanted them to know she was alive.

Rescue workers arrived 15 minutes later and led her and others down to the Manhattan street below, switchingto three different stairwells because of the smoke and the crowds of people jamming the passageways.

What she saw when she emerged from the building will not be forgotten.

"It was like you were in hell looking out at the flames and the corpses," Prosser, 29, a native Nashvillian andinternational finance manager with Clearstream Banking, said last night via telephone.

Debris fell as the other tower, the south one and the second one hit, collapsed nearby.

"I saw a huge mushroom cloud of dust coming toward me," she said.

She ducked into a sporting goods store to escape it.

The Harpeth Hall graduate later walked three miles to her apartment in Brooklyn, but not before letting familymembers know again that she was safe.

Her parents, Vi and Don Prosser, of northwestern Davidson County, won't forget the series of calls from theirdaughter that began with the one from her office.

"She was very calm," said Vi Prosser, her own voice occasionally shaking with emotion. "She said, 'I'm OK.We can't get out. We're all right. We're going to get out. I'll call you when we do get out.' "

The building shook when her daughter got off the elevator outside her office. She had thought a bombexploded.

SAFE HAVEN DOWN A DARK STAIRWELL 1

"She felt this terrible jar of the building," Vi Prosser said. "She said it was so strong it threw her on the floorand left a burn on her knee. She went in the office and they said, 'We have to evacuate.' "

The plane had struck the opposite side of the north tower, probably the saving grace for her daughter, she said.

Anne Prosser said later she had crawled to her office from the hallway since she couldn't see.

Her mother watched the television after her daughter hung up and waited in terror for the call she prayedwould come.

"I didn't know what was happening," Vi Prosser said as she watched smoke billowing from buildings, peoplerunning and sirens roaring. "I just went to pieces. I thought I had lost her."

The phone rang and, at last, it was her daughter.

"I just start shaking when I think about it," Vi Prosser said. "She told me she was out of the building and thensaid, 'Gotta go.' She had to run to get away from the debris."

The second tower that was hit was collapsing. Anne Prosser called a third time to tell her parents that she wasstill all right.

In the stairwell, it had been slow going.

"There were thousands of people," her mother said.

"They had to go through the smoke. The sprinkler system went off. There were 2 or 3 inches of water on thestairs in some places.

"The police and fire patrol were everywhere trying to help. Some people couldn't get down the stairs too welland people were helping them. Those people are the heroes in this tragedy.

"She got out and we just thank God, because there are so many people who didn't. The rescue people whohelped went back into the building.

"They were in there when the building collapsed. It's just awful."

Prosser, who majored in international studies and French at Penn State, had worked in the north tower for twoyears and is getting married next month.

"I'm very, very fortunate," she said last night.

Graphic: SPECIAL TO THE TENNESSEAN

Caption: Anne Prosser, a Nashville native, was on the 90th floor of the north tower of the World Trade Centerwhen the first plane hit. She escaped.

Caption:

Section:Page: 16

SAFE HAVEN DOWN A DARK STAIRWELL 2


STUDENTS SUBDUED, AS SCHOOLSPROTECTIVE

By DIANE LONG and DORREN KLAUSNITZER Staff Writers

Yesterday's terrorists attacks in New York and at the Pentagon reached all the way into Tennesseeclassrooms, where educators reacted to protect students and help them cope with the overwhelming news.

"It was like something out of a movie or on TV," said sophomore Kevin Caldwell, watching TV in his worldhistory class at Hunters Lane High. "We could hear screaming and see bodies."

Except for Warren County to the southeast of Nashville, the state Department of Education had no reports ofschool closings, said spokeswoman Judith Morgan.

But schools everywhere tightened security, and worried parents drove to their children's schools or kept thephone lines busy.

All field trips and outdoor play at Eakin Elementary were canceled yesterday morning and all doors exceptthe front door were locked.

"We know there is no cause for alarm," Principal Robert Dorris said. But, he said, he was taking extraprecautions anyway.

At Carter−Lawrence Elementary Magnet School, parent Ben Brown was picking up his 8−year−old daughterBrianna.

"I just feel like it's safer because of the situation that's going on," he said. "This is just terrible. Awful."

Two Rivers Middle School Principal Robert Blankenship said the school had "a pretty constant flow ofparents coming in" to take their children home.

But most students stayed put, like those in Caldwell's history class, where students sat silently watching thesurreal images flashing across the television screen. Occasionally, the teacher, Mary Ann Gray, broke in withhistorical context.

STUDENTS SUBDUED, AS SCHOOLS PROTECTIVE 1

"This is really the first time that terrorists have made a major attack in the U.S.," she said. "There was the1993 attack on the World Trade Center, but it was much smaller. The bombing at Oklahoma City was a hategroup within the U.S."

There was no doubt the students were absorbed in the news.

"This is the most subdued I've ever seen these people," Gray said.

Since there was no directive from the central office yesterday, Metro principals handled the situationdifferently.

At Brookmeade, a K−4 school, Principal Kirk LaVeck said he wanted to keep the students calm. That's whyhe did not explain to the kids what happened.

"We really don't want children in adults' problems," LaVeck said, adding that it was up to parents to tell theirchildren.

Other schools were more open.

At Eakin Elementary, Dorris said all staff and teachers had been appraised and some of the school's olderchildren were being told of the attacks.

Kindergarten and first−grade students at Chadwell Elementary were being shielded from the news, PrincipalKim Fowler said, but teachers in grades 2−4 were using their discretion to calmly explain the situation.

"My initial reaction was, 'No, let's not watch the TVs and let's not tell the children," Fowler said.

But then she recalled her own childhood experience during the 1968 Vietnam protest at Kent State.

"I remember sitting in a third−grade class and watching things and talking with my teacher and it made mefeel better," Fowler said.

Staff writer Natalia Mielczarek contributed to this story.

Graphic: PHOTO LISA NIPP / STAFF

Caption: Rusty Castleberry, center, and fellow students, including Matt Jones, left, watch television reportson the terrorist attacks during a psychology class at Glencliff High School.

STUDENTS SUBDUED, AS SCHOOLS PROTECTIVE 2


AID WORKER'S FATHER MORE WORRIED NOW

NASHVILLIAN SAYS ATTACKS RAISE RISK IN AFGHANISTAN

By MICHAEL CASS Staff Writer

A Nashville man whose daughter has been on trial in Afghanistan said yesterday's apparent terrorist attacks inWashington and New York made him even more anxious about his daughter's fate.

"It increases the level of concern, particularly if this is linked to anyone in Afghanistan," said Tilden Curry,dean of the College of Business at Tennessee State University. "So it raises the risk considerably, I assume."

Curry's daughter, Dayna, 29, and other foreign aid workers were arrested more than a month ago by thehard−line Taliban government of Afghanistan on charges of preaching Christianity. The Taliban militiacontrols 95% of the country and is trying to create the world's purest Islamic state.

Dayna Curry, a graduate of Brentwood High School, works for Shelter Now International, a Christianorganization that builds housing for refugees around the world. She was in Afghanistan last year and returnedin March, her father said.

Tilden Curry said his former wife, Nancy Cassell of Thompson's Station, who has been in Afghanistan formore than two weeks, told him their daughter "has been treated reasonably well and is in reasonably goodhealth."

He said Dayna is a "very mature young lady" with a "deep faith" and is handling her situation as well ascould be expected. Dayna also has done missionary work in Uzbekistan.

Tilden Curry said initial reports said his daughter and the other arrested workers would face a three− to10−day prison sentence and expulsion from Afghanistan if they were convicted. He's heard since then thatharsher terms might apply in this case, but he remains hopeful for a short sentence and a quick departure fromthe country.

"That would be the best−case scenario," he said. He said he expects his daughter's trial to last at least anotherweek.

Contact staff writer Michael Cass at [email protected] or 259−8838.

AID WORKER'S FATHER MORE WORRIED NOW 1


FISK STUDENT WAITS FOR WORD

By KELLI SAMANTHA HEWETT Staff Writer

Fisk student and Washington, D.C., native Caroline Jhingry, 20, parked herself in bed yesterday with aphone, a tissue and her Malcolm X book.

Her mother had made it out of D.C., and her stepdad had hitched a ride with four different drivers. They weresafe in Maryland.

But there was Alma, too.

They've known each other since ninth grade, these two aspiring writers. Best friends. Like sisters, really.

But Alma Davenport's dorm sits on the midtown side of New York University −− close to the World TradeCenter.

She's called the NYU campus, Alma's cell phone and even tried e−mail. Nothing.

Alma's dad said he hadn't heard from his daughter. He asked Caroline if the dorm was close to the attack.

"I told him it wasn't close, that everything was fine −− but it is close," Caroline said softly. "I just couldn't tellhim."

"It has been a tough day," Caroline said, tearing up.

As for the attacks, Caroline didn't want details; she turned off the television hours earlier.

"When you see all that destruction on TV, you think about someone you love being inside it," Caroline said.

She picked up the phone again.

"Come on, Big Alma," Caroline said, her voice little more than a breath.

She paused. "It's ringing." She put a finger in her ear to block the noise and inhaled.

FISK STUDENT WAITS FOR WORD 1

A second later she shook her head. Two rings and a busy signal.

Caroline said she wouldn't stop trying. "Just keep praying for Alma."

FISK STUDENT WAITS FOR WORD 2


FAMILIES RELIEVED TO LEARN LOVED ONESARE SAFE

By NICOLE GARTON Staff Writer

At 5:30 yesterday morning, Katrina Neylon of Old Hickory dropped her husband off at the airport, just likeshe does every week.

She hugged him goodbye and saw him onto an American Airlines plane to New York, where his insurancebrokerage company has an office.

Later, at home, she saw on the news that two airplanes had crashed into the World Trade Center.

"I remembered at the airport I had put my arms around him, and I could smell his hair on the back of hisneck," she said. "That all of a sudden was just out there in front of me for an hour and a half. I couldn'tbelieve those might have been my last words to him."

Nashville may not have been a terrorist target yesterday, but the Midstate didn't go untouched by the tragedy.Calls went out and phones were ringing all across the city as residents tried to track down family and friendsin New York and Washington.

Overburdened phone lines and damaged telecommunications equipment made it difficult to get through toNew York, keeping some families in suspense for hours.

Neylon waited an hour and a half for the first bit of news. At 9:19, the phone rang. The Caller ID said it washer husband, Jim, on his cell phone.

She picked up the phone, but no one was there. "I had weird thoughts, like what if something had happenedand the phone just went off," Neylon said. "Those were a couple of really horrible hours."

More than two hours later, Jim called again, this time from a beach house on Long Island. He was safe.

For Mary Moran of Nashville, whose brother is a pilot for United Airlines, the good news came quickly.

Tim Kurtz had been scheduled to fly from Chicago to New York at 7 a.m. yesterday, but his flight was

FAMILIES RELIEVED TO LEARN LOVED ONES ARE SAFE 1

canceled. He's stuck in Chicago until his parents drive from Minnesota to pick him up, but he figures thereare people with worse problems.

The scene in Washington shocked Charles Overby, a resident of Brentwood and chairman and chiefexecutive officer of The Freedom Forum. He looked out the window of his Arlington, Va., office and saw"the Pentagon was going up in smoke."

"It was the most unbelievable scene I've ever witnessed. If the Pentagon was vulnerable, nothing was safe."

The Freedom Forum closed its offices for the day, Overby said, and added about yesterday's attack:

"We'll remember it the way our parents and grandparents remembered the bombing of Pearl Harbor."

FAMILIES RELIEVED TO LEARN LOVED ONES ARE SAFE 2


STUDENTS' REACTIONS 'QUIET'

SOME TEACHERS DISCUSS ATTACK; OFFERS OF COUNSELING NOT TAKEN

By DIANE LONG Staff Writer

Metro teachers were ready to answer student questions about Tuesday's terrorist attacks, but the mood inmost classes returned to somewhat normal yesterday.

Students are aware of the disasters, but their reaction hasn't been as deeply personal as it was after thenationally televised school shooting at Columbine in 1999, said Mary Jane Woomer, a guidance counselor atAntioch High School.

"I think, with Columbine being their peers, it affected them more," she said. "They could identify more. Thisis different. It's not a school, it's businesses and government."

Although counselors were ready to help students sort out their feelings, no one had asked for help yesterdaymorning. "It's just been amazingly quiet," Woomer said.

At Tuesday night's school board meeting, Metro Schools Director Pedro Garcia reported that he was askingeducators to openly discuss the tragedies.

"We've asked our principals to encourage our teachers so that takes place in all of our classrooms," he said.

Other counties took a more restrictive stance.

"Middle school and elementary school principals should not show today's events on the TVs in the schools,"said Williamson County Schools Director Dallas Johnson in a written memo Tuesday. "High schoolprincipals should use discretion with 10th−, 11th− and 12th−graders. Ninth−grade students should not bewatching the events."

At Antioch yesterday, Principal Sharon Anthony began the morning announcements by talking about thetragedies before a long moment of silence.

"I asked them to be reflective in support of the families of the victims and the people in medicine, themilitary, the police and firemen and the airlines," Anthony said. "Many of their counterparts are facing a

STUDENTS' REACTIONS 'QUIET' 1

difficult time."

Despite the apparent calm, many Antioch teachers were gearing their lessons toward discussion of thetragedies. In his government class, teacher Philip Stankiewicz smoothly guided his students through a lessonthat touched on world politics, possible outcomes and the delicate balance between freedom and nationalsecurity.

"I need to do this with all the classes," he said. "They see little snippets and certainly don't get thebackground. They realize they can't reach conclusions without knowing the background. This is a greateducational moment."

But Stankiewicz was sympathetic to the emotions of students such as Takeya Singleton, a senior who stilldoesn't know the fate of a loved one.

"My cousin called me, and her husband works at the Pentagon and she still can't find him," Singleton said,tears welling in her eyes.

"It's like you hear about it and it's sad but then you actually hear something has happened to your family."

At M.L. King Magnet High, teacher Nancy Schwartz was fortunate to find out early Tuesday morning thather two sons, both in New York, were OK. She wasn't too worried about Matt at New York University, butwas relieved to hear from Garr, who works at the World Financial Center near the World Trade Center.

But she didn't let the close call interfere with her American history and government classes.

"We really dealt with the critical listening and critical thinking skills," Schwartz said.

The classes talked about the "whole racial bias issue because they were making assumptions about who did it.They had seen other people lash out. It was definitely something that needed to be dealt with."

At Wright Middle School, no students had sought special counseling as teachers returned to regular lessonswith a special sensitivity.

"I answer all their questions," said seventh−grade geography teacher Cheryl Witherspoon, whose studentswatched the attacks on TV Tuesday. Yesterday, the students were busy drawing pictures of volcanoes.

"It would be missing the opportunity of a lifetime to help a student understand how this country functions,"Witherspoon said. "It's a horrible circumstance, but if I didn't seize this opportunity to allow them to learn, Iwould be doing them an injustice."

Staff writers Barbara Estevez−Moore and Peggy Shaw contributed to this report.

Graphic: PHOTO BY LISA NIPP / STAFF

Caption: Ian Stewart, 12, center, working with classmate Andy Louang A Phay, 13, draws a volcano in hisseventh−grade geography class at Wright Middle School. A sense of normalcy returned to the class a dayafter the tragic attacks in New York and Washington. SINGLETON

STUDENTS' REACTIONS 'QUIET' 2


TENNESSEANS TELL OF CLOSE CALLS OFRELATIVES, PEERS

By NICOLE GARTON Staff Writer

As the dust from four plane crashes settled across the nation yesterday, folks in Middle Tennessee weretaking roll, making sure family and friends in New York and Washington were alive and accounted for.

Not all of the news was good. But the Midstate is brimming with tales of close shaves, suspenseful hours andthose who narrowly escaped being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Lawrence Miller of College Grove was in New York on business and heard the explosions when the twoplanes hit the World Trade Center. He got on the Internet to find out what happened.

Later, he was walking across the street for some Starbucks coffee when the first of the towers collapsed.

"This mass of people came running down Pine Street followed by this huge cloud of smoke and debris anddust, and visibility went down to zero in two seconds," he said. "I wouldn't say there was chaos, but peoplewere scared."

He made it back to his building before the second tower fell.

"It went from daylight to dark again. You couldn't see anything for 10 minutes."

Lawyer Jill Levy had stepped outside her office to enjoy a crystal−clear Manhattan morning and wait forco−workers to join her for an appointment in Brooklyn.

"She was on the street right on World Trade Center Plaza," across from her office building, said her brother,Metro Medical Examiner Dr. Bruce Levy, yesterday.

"She heard an airplane flying low and looked up and saw the first plane" smash into the Trade Center's northtower.

It was pandemonium, "people running all over the place screaming and running," she told her brother later.Debris rained from the building as injured people fled.

TENNESSEANS TELL OF CLOSE CALLS OF RELATIVES, PEERS 1

Just minutes later, Bruce Levy said, his sister could see a second plane headed toward the towers.

"She just ran down the nearest subway and hopped the train uptown," he said. As the subway sped north, shecould feel the second jetliner hitting the second tower.

Jill Levy called their mother to say she was OK and e−mailed her brother later Tuesday morning, he said.

Early Tuesday afternoon, she was able to get a phone line out to call her brother. Even then, her voice shookwith emotion, he said.

Bruce Levy worked for five years as a medical examiner in New York before coming to Nashville, and hewas there when terrorists bombed the World Trade Center in 1993, killing six people.

He recalled thinking Tuesday that "they finally finished the job that they started to do eight years ago."

Carol Kelso, Williamson Medical Center lab administrative director, did not know that her son was insideone of the World Trade Center buildings when the planes hit. Peter Kelso, whose office is in New Jersey,arrived in New York City Tuesday morning to attend a meeting at the trade center. He stepped out of the trainthat runs under the center and went to the first floor just as the first plane hit, Carol Kelso said.

"He saw fire. He heard people screaming and saw them rushing, panicking."

As a former worker at the center, Peter Kelso knew the building, so he found an exit.

"When he came out on the opposite side, the second plane hit," she said.

Peter Kelso was stranded in Manhattan, but he is fine −− physically, his mother said.

On most days, Liesl Reeves works in her office at the World Trade Center. This week, she was sent onassignment to New Jersey. That may have saved her life. Her sister, Natalie, was just a few blocks away andfelt the impact of the plane crashes. She called home to Florida and told her parents she thought Liesl, acertified public accountant, was out of town, but she wasn't sure.

For hours, grandmother Mildred Burton of Nashville wondered.

"It was afternoon before Liesl called her mother," Burton said. "It's very upsetting. Things are still not back tonormal."

In all the excitement, she has realized she doesn't even know what floor of the World Trade Center hergranddaughter worked on. But she's relieved Liesl wasn't there that day.

"She might not be living if she'd have worked in that office," Burton said.

Nashvillian Joe Sweat has a son who works near the World Trade Center.

Steven Sweat, 41, an architect, finally got through to his mother on a cellular telephone. "He said it was hardto breathe because of all the stuff in the air and his skin was itching," his father said.

John Olive, a Nashville native who has lived in Washington for the past 15 months, was working in his office


three miles away when the plane struck the Pentagon. He and his co−workers had watched news of the planecrashes at the World Trade Center and heard speculation that the Pentagon might be another target.

"Within perhaps 10 minutes of this discussion, someone called in frantically to a local radio station saying thesame thing had just happened at the Pentagon," he said. They hurried to a fourth−floor balcony to see amushroom of black smoke rise from the structure.

"Over the next five minutes, the sky over the Pentagon filled with boiling black smoke," he said. "Sirenssounded from every direction. We were totally silent −− just watching −− none of us ever thinking we wouldknow the feeling of being under attack."

Staff writers Kathy Carlson, Duren Cheek and Peggy Shaw contributed to this report.



CAMPUSES UNITE IN WAKE OF TRAGEDY


As a student from a foreign country, Hom Mitsamphanh wasn't sure how she would be treated after Tuesday'sterrorist attacks.

But the young woman from Laos hasn't had any trouble. When Mitsamphanh and several friends startedpraying and singing Amazing Grace the next day at lunchtime at Middle Tennessee State University, dozensof random strangers wandered up and joined in, drawn to the embrace of community, even an unfamiliar one.

"That gives me comfort, knowing we can still be one and not be divided by the anger," Mitsamphanh saidafter a memorial service at MTSU attended by hundreds of people yesterday afternoon.

As the nation has struggled to comprehend the devastating assaults, local colleges and universities have beenquick to respond in several ways. Administrators, professors and students alike have organized prayer vigils,moments of silence, discussion forums and memorial services, starting within hours of the incidents.

Counselors have been made available to those needing to talk, and many professors have woven the news ofthe day into their classes or simply ignored the scheduled material altogether.

Nicholas Sieveking, director of the Psychological and Counseling Center at Vanderbilt University, said thetragedy will hit many college students especially hard.

"In general, young people are very idealistic," he said. "They're looking forward to things being what theywant them to be and can make them be This is a sudden confrontation of idealism and horrible reality."

A student at Belmont University's emotional prayer service Tuesday seemed to be in the grips of that kind ofconfusion. After the administrator leading the service offered his microphone to anyone who wanted tospeak, the student said, "I feel like the rug's been pulled out from under me. What I thought was not what Ithought."

Many students also have friends in New York and Washington −− large, usually exciting cities where youngpeople often go to try to do big things.

Sieveking and Michael Johnson, assistant director of guidance services at MTSU, said just 15 or 20 students

CAMPUSES UNITE IN WAKE OF TRAGEDY 1

have spoken to counselors at their schools thus far. They said the numbers could rise considerably as moreinformation about the tragedy's impact becomes available.

Many students are seeking solace in small groups. Others are thinking a little bigger.

Mark Freeman, a student at American Baptist College in Nashville, helped to organize a citywide prayerservice at Bicentennial Capitol Mall yesterday evening because "sometimes you need a place to air yourgrief."

Freeman expected students from several other colleges to join his classmates from American Baptist.

"This is a clarion call for all of us to come together," he said.

At MTSU in Murfreesboro yesterday, it took just 10 minutes or so to capture many of the week's emotions.Four members of the ROTC presented the colors of the flag. The MTSU Concert Chorus sang a hymn, thenasked the diverse crowd to join in America the Beautiful, which drew tears and sniffles from many. A lonetrumpeter played taps.

Graphic: PHOTO BY BILL STEBER / STAFF

Caption: Middle Tennessee State University students, from left, Ailisha Vaughn, Kim Conner and AndreaJones listen as a bugler plays taps for victims of the recent terrorist attacks during a memorial program at thecampus.

CAMPUSES UNITE IN WAKE OF TRAGEDY 2


UNTIL NOW, THE FEELING OF SIEGE WASFOREIGN TO US

By DWIGHT LEWIS

"You Americans," the West German official said. "You Americans. You don't know what it is like to havewar in your country.

"Another war in our country and we can be wiped out."

It seems almost like it was yesterday that German Foreign Minister Hans Dietrich Gencher spoke those wordsso passionately to a group of American journalists in Bonn. Instead, it has been almost 20 years ago sinceGencher was explaining how awful war can be to the journalists who were on a two−week tour of WestGermany.

"It does something to you to be under attack," Gencher said, telling why the West German government wasopposed to NATO plans to station cruise and Pershing II missiles in Western Europe.

As the journalists made their way through Munich, Bonn, Hamburg, West Berlin and other cities in WestGermany during those two weeks in April 1982, they got a first−hand view of just how devastating war canbe. Even in East Berlin, which was under Communist government at the time, the picture was the same.

There were bombed out buildings seemingly everywhere the journalists turned, the result of air attacks duringWorld War I and World War II.

As a member of that group of visiting journalists to West Germany, I have never forgotten Gencher's plea forcontinued peace in his country.

That plea rang out even more clearly Tuesday as terrorists attacked the United States, killing innocent citizensat the Pentagon in Washington, our nation's capital; at the World Trade Center in New York, and in a planecrash outside Pittsburgh, in Shanksville, Pa.

"I'm told there is nothing to see that there's nothing larger than a telephone book down there," said ChrisCook, working as a producer with an ABC news team covering the crash of United Airlines Flight 93 in

UNTIL NOW, THE FEELING OF SIEGE WAS FOREIGN TO US 1

Shanksville. "I haven't been able to get down to the site of the crash, but they say the wreckage is scatteredover a three−to−four mile area."

Ironically, Cook was also one of the American journalists who went on tour of West Germany in April 1982.

His father, the late Don Cook, was a war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune during World WarII.

"America is undergoing the kind of assault that London went through during air assaults from Germany nearthe end of World War II," Chris Cook said over the telephone from Pennsylvania yesterday morning. "Therewas a strong resolve.

"The late journalists Edward R. Murrow used to report from London on the air raids, and Americans couldn'timagine what it was like.

"I think now, with the attack on this country, everybody is looking at each other and appreciating each other alittle more."

Cook, who was born in London in 1945 shortly before World War II ended, added: "My only concern is that Idon't think this will be an isolated incident.

"We've had the luxury of not paying attention to what's going on elsewhere, and now that has got to change."

And then there was Graham Hovey, who served as a war correspondent for the International News Service inAfrica and Europe during World War II. Hovey led the group of journalists on the April 1982 tour of WestGermany as director of the National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship Program for Journalists at theUniversity of Michigan.

"For the first time, America is getting an idea of what mass destruction is like on its homeland," Hovey saidyesterday over the telephone. "The people at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii experienced it during World War II, butat the time Hawaii was not a mainland state.

"It's hard for us to know how to proceed this time. At Pearl Harbor, we knew that our enemy was Japan. Now,we're not so sure."

Hovey, a former member of the New York Times editorial board, added:

"It's astonishing how such a coordinated effort could be pulled off, with seemingly the only mistake being theplane that crashed outside Pittsburgh.

"I've never witnessed anything like it. I saw Rome bombed in 1944, but only a church was destroyed.

"How do we proceed?

I don't think we wanted war anyway, but now we should strive to avoid it in the future. I don't mean weshould appease those who are responsible for this attack on the United States, but unfortunately we're seeingwhat it is like to have your homeland savagely attacked."

And that is something all of us should hope never happens again, even if it means having to deal with tightersecurity in airports and even our work places.


Dwight Lewis is a columnist, regional editor and member of trhe editorial board for The Tennessean. E−mail:[email protected].

Caption:

Section:Page: 29Byline:Source:From:



CIVIL LIBERTIES UNLIKELY TO SUFFER, LEGALEXPERTS SAY

THEY CONSIDER THREAT OF RACISM TO BE GREATER


Americans can expect more restrictions on travel but won't necessarily find their civil liberties compromisedin the wake of this week's terrorist attacks, several legal experts said yesterday.

Soon after hijacked planes rammed into the Pentagon and the twin towers of the World Trade Center onTuesday, debates about Americans' freedoms and airport security began. People asked if the United Statesneeds to increase the intensity of weapons searches or take other security measures.

Kathleen Flake, an assistant professor of American religious history at Vanderbilt University and an attorneywho practiced law in Washington, D.C., for 15 years, said she was more concerned about individuals lashingout at people of certain backgrounds than she was about local, state or federal governments infringing on civilliberties.

But she said she expects people to go along with any new restrictions as long as they agree the nation is atrisk of further attacks.

"It all has to do with the extent to which the American people agree with our leadership that we are at war,"Flake said. "That changes our understanding of what restrictions are needed to protect ourselves."

Flake and the other experts said Arab−Americans and citizens of Middle Eastern countries might come underparticular scrutiny from some quarters. But they warned against "profiling."

"I'm sure there will be suggestions to increase detention of people of Arab descent," said David Raybin, aNashville attorney and legal scholar. "Clearly, that would be wrong to do that. For us to single out oneparticular racial group would utterly destroy what this country is about."

Raybin said courts had typically given law enforcement agencies plenty of latitude to conduct searches whenthey have reason to suspect terrorism. He said he wouldn't be surprised if passengers on certain internationalflights or flights to particular destinations were subjected to "pat−downs" along with metal−detector searches

CIVIL LIBERTIES UNLIKELY TO SUFFER, LEGAL EXPERTS SAY 1

in the coming months.

Those searches would be legal as long as they applied to every passenger on those flights.

As far as other forms of public transportation are concerned, the courts would consider their vulnerability toattack in deciding whether to allow searches of passengers, Raybin said.

Dean Hill Rivkin, a professor of law at the University of Tennessee−Knoxville, said greater restrictions ontravel are inevitable. He said he trusts Congress, the Federal Aviation Administration and other officials to"do it in a way that's sensitive to our tradition of civil liberties."

Rivkin said he is more concerned about preventing the kind of response the United States made after PearlHarbor, when thousands of Japanese−Americans were sent to internment camps.

"In times like this in our history, there have been measures taken that this country has not been proud of yearslater," he said. "My hope is that in the wake of this unfathomable tragedy, our country does not react in wayslike that."

Flake said the Oklahoma City bombing should be "a good lesson" to mitigate against that kind of action.Soon after that incident in April 1995, many people speculated that Middle Eastern groups were responsible.American Timothy McVeigh was later convicted and put to death for the bombing.

Moreover, many people from Middle Eastern countries have come to the United States for good reasons,Flake said.

"People may be tempted to suspect the very people who came to this country as refugees from the verypeople who attacked us," she said.

Raybin said some people may call for a requirement that people wear national identification cards. Or theymay want random searches of airline passengers. That wouldn't be the right way to go, he said.

"If we become a police state in the name of security, then those terrorists will have won this war," he said.

"There's always been a tension between security and freedom, and I think Americans have always walked thisdelicate line. We should be vigilant not to lose what makes us Americans."

Contact staff writer Michael Cass at [email protected] or 259−8838.

Caption: RAYBIN

CIVIL LIBERTIES UNLIKELY TO SUFFER, LEGAL EXPERTS SAY 2


LOCAL ANTI−MUSLIM INCIDENTS AFFECTCENTER, SCHOOL, MARKET


Reports of anti−Muslim harassment have begun trickling in here.

Tuesday evening, a woman stood outside the Al−Farooq Islamic Center in east Nashville and hurled rocks.

She yelled "you guys did this" and then ran off, said Abdishakur Ibrahim, the mosque's Imam, or religiousleader.

"We have been very concerned about repercussions," Ibrahim said. "We condemn the terrorists in thestrongest terms. We also need the support of the Nashville community here to make sure our people areprotected also."

Yesterday, Ibrahim's 16−year−old sister, Sahra Ibrahim, was threatened by a boy on a school bus returninghome from Antioch High School.

"He told me, 'We don't want you in our country,' " she said.

The day before, eight students surrounded her in the cafeteria and taunted her about her head scarf, beforetrying to yank it off. Antioch High officials quickly reacted, Ibrahim said, by calling a school assemblyWednesday to admonish students about acting respectfully.

At a market on Murfreesboro Road on Wednesday, a white man made threats to several inside before drivingoff, police said. The market's patrons and workers are immigrants, said Lt. Steve Hewitt.

Metro Human Relations Commission Chairman Art Reprovick called the incidents "very troublesome."

"We need to be very careful in how we express our anger over the tragic incidents of this week," Reprovicksaid. "We've got to be very careful in jumping to conclusions and placing the blame for anything thathappened in New York on anyone in Nashville."

The Human Relations Commission and the American Civil Liberties Union are available to advise residents

LOCAL ANTI−MUSLIM INCIDENTS AFFECT CENTER, SCHOOL, MARKET 1

who may have been targets for hate speech, discrimination or assault.

The Human Relations Commission can be reached at (615) 880−3370. The American Civil Liberties Unioncan be reached at (615) 320−7142.

Police continue to remain on alert for anti−immigrant incidents in schools and throughout Nashville.

The Human Relations Commission and the American Civil Liberties Union are taking complaints, and lawenforcement officials are urging anybody who has been victimized to call Metro police.

LOCAL ANTI−MUSLIM INCIDENTS AFFECT CENTER, SCHOOL, MARKET 2


BRENTWOOD COUPLE WAIT

By EMILY HEFFTER

STAFF WRITER

Nancy and Otis Tolbert of Brentwood are awaiting confirmation that their son, Lt. Cmdr. Otis VincentTolbert, was killed in Tuesday's terrorist attack on the Pentagon.

Officials have said no more survivors are expected to be recovered from the wreckage, but Tolbert's body hasyet to be found.

The younger Tolbert, who worked in Navy intelligence, had a wife and three young children. He was in theprocess of moving his office from the part of the building that was hit in Tuesday's attack.

He was "... the best son a father could have," said his father, a former Navy aviator and now a United Airlinespilot. The younger Tolbert wanted to fly for the Navy like his father, but hurt his knee and was disqualifiedfrom training. Instead, he moved to the Washington area to work as a Naval officer.

"He passed doing the thing that he loved," Otis Tolbert said in a telephone interview last night. There isnothing to do but wait and mourn, the father said. When the paperwork is signed and the mem−orial serviceis complete, "we can get on with our lives."

Lt. Cmdr. Tolbert, whose family called him Vince, had a wife, Shari Tolbert, and three children: Amanda, 9,Brittany, 7, and Anthony, 18 months. He was to turn 39 at the end of this month.

He was born in Millington, Tenn., and grew up in Lemoore, Calif. A star football player in high school, heearned a scholarship to play at Fresno State University.

Lt. Cmdr. Tolbert had been stationed at the Pentagon less than two years.

His father was flying a plane to Tokyo on Tuesday when the airports closed and he landed in San Francisco.Upon landing, he hurried to a lounge to watch the news.

"When I first saw it I thought it was maybe something from Steven Spielberg," he said.

BRENTWOOD COUPLE WAIT 1

Then he learned the Pentagon also had been hit. He called his wife, who had talked to their daughter−in−law.After that, the news worsened. Officials an−nounced Wednesday they didn't expect to find any of the missingat the Pentagon alive.

"Knowing my wife, I said, 'Well, I've got to get to her,' " Otis Tolbert said. So he rented a car and drove fromFresno to Brentwood. On Thursday, he and his wife, Nancy, went to Washington to wait.

Caption: TOLBERT

BRENTWOOD COUPLE WAIT 2


MUSLIMS WORRY ABOUT REPRISALS

AREA FOLLOWERS OF ISLAM URGED TO BE CAUTIOUS

By ANITA WADHWANI

STAFF WRITER

Halima Sabile has always found it difficult to be different in Nashville. But, since Tuesday, being a Muslimand an immigrant from Morocco has gotten a lot harder.

"At Kroger's, people come near to me and laugh and call me 'ninja,' " Sabile said. As she talked, only herbrown eyes were visible through a slit in a gold−printed headscarf. "Sometimes my son tells me, 'Mommy,don't come to pick me up from school.' "

Last week, her 6−year−old's wish was granted. Sabile says she is now afraid to leave her home.

Since Tuesday's terrorist attacks on the United States, scattered reports of harassment and reprisals havesurfaced. Vandals, rock throwers and shouting, angry people have targeted immigrants from the Middle Eastand South Asia and Muslims of all backgrounds.

The Council on American−Islamic Relations has logged more than 300 such incidents nationwide sinceTuesday.

That number may be much higher because of underreporting among the nation's 7 million Muslims, saidJoshua Salaam of CAIR.

In Nashville, where an estimated 15,000 Muslims live, police, school officials and Islamic leaders say theyhave heard of a half dozen such incidents.

They include a teen−ager taunted by classmates in a school cafeteria, a woman driven off Highway 70 by twomen making obscene hand gestures, and an Egyptian immigrant, who is a Christian, confronted by a manscreaming insults at a convenience store on Murfreesboro Road.

"Some people don't think we have a heart, that we are not touched by this," said Kasar Abdullah, a19−year−old student at Tennessee State University and a Kurdish refugee. "I feel the same pain for this

MUSLIMS WORRY ABOUT REPRISALS 1

terrible thing. Then, I feel it doubly because of the suspicions."

Abdullah, her sister, cousin and a friend sat in a Belmont−area Burger King talking about Tuesday's attacksand what it means now to be a Muslim in Nashville.

The young women −− all wearing the traditional head scarf, or hijab, of Muslim women −− had just comefrom Friday's midday services at the Islamic Center of Nashville, where they heard a spiritual leader cautionMuslims to stay in groups when in public.

"I am proud to be a Muslim," Abdullah said. "The hijab is a symbol for the world to know who I am. I don'twant to hide."

The group talked about the ordinary difficulties of being Muslim in Nashville: the misconceptions aboutIslam, the double−takes from job interviewers, the difficulty in finding a place for prayer.

"My co−workers can take smoke breaks. But a lot of times you have to lie and say you are going to go to thebathroom just to pray," said Abdullah, who has a part−time job at Hecht's in Hickory Hollow Mall and prays,according to Muslim custom, five times a day.

To those ordinary daily challenges has been added a new fear: being mistaken as members of a so−calledsleeper cell of terrorists such as the ones that U.S. officials say are responsible for the attacks on the WorldTrade Center in New York and the Pentagon on the outskirts of Washington, D.C.

"I've been fearful and uncomfortable for the first time living in Nashville," said Zainab Halek, a green−eyedNashville native of European descent who changed her name when she converted to Islam last year. "I'vespecifically chosen clothes that are more Western−looking this week. Every time I go shopping, people lookat me like I've got a gun hidden under my clothes."

Meanwhile, Suad Abdullah, a Kurdish refugee, said, "It has always been difficult, and people have manywrong ideas about us. But the stares we get are more frightening now."

Compounding that fear, for some Muslims who have fled violence in other countries, is a kind of flashback tomemories of other explosions and other wars.

"It is painful because we thought we left this behind," said Labeed Alkoka, who fled violence in Palestinetwo decades ago. "I thought we were safe here."

Alkoka said his parents in Jordan had called him regularly since Tuesday to make sure he was safe and hadsuffered no harassment.

In recent days, fear has extended to non−Muslim Arab−Americans as well.

On Wednesday, a white man ran into Gold Star convenience store on Murfreesboro Road, screaming insultsat its owner, George Hanna.

"He actually said, 'You've got to close down,' " but he was very upset and very frustrated and drove out of theparking lot like crazy," said Hanna, an immigrant from Egypt who is a Christian. "He scared my customers. Iwasn't afraid because I knew that if he was going to do something he would have done it. He just wantedattention."


Despite the fear of backlash, Nashville−area Muslims continue to react to the tragedy with the same shock,grief and outpouring of support for victims as their fellow residents.

The day after the attacks, a group organized by area mosques headed to the Red Cross to donate blood.Mosques are encouraging members to make donations to relief efforts.

And, like the rest of us, they pray.

Anita Wadhwani covers general assignments and communities. Contact her at 259−8821 [email protected].



TV IMAGES OF TERROR CAPTIVATE CLASS

4TH−GRADERS GET COMFORT FROM TEACHER AS ATTACKS UNFOLD BEFORE THEIR EYES

By NATALIA MIELCZAREK

STAFF WRITER

Deatrice Swett's fourth−grade class at Dan Mills Elementary was reviewing rounding numbers Tuesdaymorning when Swett got a call. It was her husband, calling to tell her about the attack in New York. Justbefore the first tower collapsed, Swett made a quick decision to use reality as a lesson in history. She turnedon the TV in her classroom and watched with her students what unfolded on the East Coast.

"Is this real, Ms. Swett? What's going on?" Those were the first questions. As they sat clustered around thetelevision screen, they were shocked and confused.

Four children cried, and those with relatives in New York and Washington became motionless and quiet. Allof the children wanted to know if they and their parents would be OK. "While you're with me, I'm protectingyou," Swett told them.

Swett was among the many teachers nationwide last week who worked to help children process the tragedy attheir own pace. Forced by circumstances, she and other teachers took on several roles. She was the temporaryparent on Tuesday morning who made sure the children felt safe. She was the lecturer who sneaked ineducational lessons in between bombings.

Most significantly, she and her colleagues turned into child psychologists. Suddenly, teachers had to come upwith coping mechanisms for children whose worlds temporarily collapsed.

The Tennessean visited with Swett's class two days after the attacks. We asked her students to write downwhat they felt as they watched the attacks, why they thought the tragedy happened and how America ought toreact.

Based on their responses and the discussion that followed, one conclusion comes to mind. The 22 children inSwett's class know what happened, but they need help and time to grasp the tragedy.

First reactions

TV IMAGES OF TERROR CAPTIVATE CLASS 1

When Aston Thompson, 9, saw the New York towers crumble on thousands of people, he said, he wasshocked. When asked about what his immediate thoughts were as he looked at the screen, he wrote, "Ithought that it was very bad. I felt very sad. It made me have a horrible dream. And it was hard to not cry, butI didn't. Especially since my cousin is in New York."

Michael Nguyen, 9, worried about all the children in New York and Washington who lost their parents. Heand others said they felt sorry for children who came home but were not going to see their moms and dads,ever. Michael wrote, "I thought that there was going to be a World War III." Television coverage was fraughtwith powerful words like war and terrorism, which apparently caught students' attention.

Mallory Crabtree, 9, said she thought about her dad and what would happen if he were called to war. "I alsothought about what George Bush said, that this will not be tolerated."

Though most students did have a sense of something tragic happening on the screen, many remained puzzled,Swett said. As they watched the plane crash into the second tower and saw the clouds of smoke billowingfrom the ruins of the Pentagon in Washington, they had a hard time making sense of the events.

The TV commentaries, targeted primarily for grownups, were confusing, as well. Because what does a9−year−old know about hijackers and war? The children's confusion was evident in some of their responses.On Thursday, Kendria LaBoard, 9, couldn't understand why the pilots didn't avoid one of the tallest buildingsin the world.

She wrote, "Well, I didn't feel good. It was so sad that the planes just crashed. They should have been lookingwhere they were going."

Though most of them are getting the help they need from their teachers, parents and school counselors todigest what happened, the fourth−graders said they had some coping mechanisms of their own.

Nick Kemry, 9, said he has been playing football, baseball and soccer with his friends to take his mind off ofthe tragedy. Other children, too, found a release in physical activities.

"I usually go outside and play with my brother Alexander," said Rebecca Powell, 9. "I go to the neighbors'and jump on the trampoline. That usually takes my mind off of what happened."

Questions without answers

As Swett stood in front of her class on Tuesday, she struggled to find an understandable way to explain to thechildren what was happening and why.

"I said that something terrible has happened in New York, that someone has flown a plane into the building,"Swett said later in the week.

"They didn't know what a hijacker was so we looked it up in a dictionary. We also looked up war."

As television commentators speculated about who was to blame for the massacre, Swett and her studentspulled down a world map to locate all the countries mentioned.

Then came the hard part −− what to tell children about the reason for the bombings and killings. NeitherSwett nor the television reports had much to go by. They simply didn't know.


Two days after the bombings, Swett's fourth−graders recited the Pledge of Allegiance and sang the nationalanthem before class started, as they usually do. But this time, it was different, Swett said.

"I told them to listen to the words of our national anthem, to what they mean. This morning, when we did it,they all stood proud."

Questions on disaster children were asked

We asked children in Deatrice Swett's fourth−grade class at Dan Mills Elementary on Wednesday to writedown their answers to three questions to help them sort out their feelings about the national tragedy. Here aresome of their answers:

When you heard about the Washington and New York City attacks yesterday, what were your thoughts?

"My thoughts were bad. I was mad at how they did that, and I felt bad for those who died."

−− Dustin Bailey

"I thought it was going to damage the city with sadness. I didn't know it was going to affect the United Statesof America."

−− Karen Sweet

Why do you think someone would want to blow up buildings and hurt people in America?

"Because they probably think the way we live is not the way they live, and they don't like America."

−− Rebecca H. Powell

What do you think America as a country should do about the attacks?

"As a country I think we should come together and try to do something in a nonviolent way. But if it doesn'twork, well, then I don't know what to think."

−− Mallory Crabtree

"I think they should destroy all the bombs so there will be no more hijacked planes, killing or wars."

−− Michael Nguyen

Graphic: PHOTOS BY RICKY ROGERS / STAFF

Caption: Dan Mills Elementary School fourth−graders Aaron Steel, left, Tabitha Chayarath and Laura Pewittanswer questions about Tuesday's terrorist attacks on the United States.

Deatrice Swett, fourth−grade team leader at Dan Mills Elementary School, looks over Thomas Krantz'sresponses about Tuesday's terrorist attacks. "I have no idea why someone would want to do something likethis. And for what purpose? I wish I knew why," Thomas said.



MIDSTATE RESIDENTS GATHER TO CRY, PRAYAT RALLIES, GAMES

By LAURA FRANK AND WARREN DUZAK STAFF WRITERS

Saying the event was "exactly what Nashville needed," Mayor Bill Purcell joined about 3,000 people on theCapitol's east side yesterday for a rally and prayer vigil.

"I am convinced, and I hope you are convinced, there is no room for hate in this world," state Rep. LoisDeBerry told the packed crowd. Downtown office workers on their lunch breaks, schoolchildren, firefighters,veterans and others cheered and joined hands to pray together for victims of Tuesday's terrorist attacks.

"This was the first time I was finally able to cry since it happened," said Barbara Himlin, 26, of Antioch. "Itwas just being with so many people together. I'm proud of all of us. I'm proud of our country. Knowingwhat's important and everyone being together made the difference."

Most high school football games went on as scheduled last night, with some games drawing unusually largecrowds. At the match between Murfreesboro rivals Riverdale High and Blackman High, the crowdoverflowed Blackman's 5,000−seat stadium.

Special ceremonies honoring those who died in the terrorist attacks were held before several games. AtMontgomery Bell Academy, students gathered on the field and led the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance. Atthe Trousdale County−Portland game, players for both teams wore flag decals on their helmets while coacheswore red, white and blue ribbons on their shirts.

At the Islamic Center of Nashville, about 100 people gathered for weekly Friday prayers, while a hiredsecurity officer and two police officers patrolled outside. The meeting was part sorrowful prayer and partangry condemnation of Tuesday's destruction. Muslim leaders stressed the religion's peace−loving nature andurged followers to "be good examples of Islam so people will know what the religion is about."

Rabbi Mark Shiftan, at last night's service at The Temple, noted that as the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashana,approaches Monday, the thousands of deaths by terrorism bring into focus the new year themes of life anddeath. People have the choice to uphold life and human dignity or desecrate them, he said.

In times like these, experts say, events such as those yesterday play an important role.

MIDSTATE RESIDENTS GATHER TO CRY, PRAY AT RALLIES, GAMES 1

"One reason is that people don't know how to react," said Leonard Bickman, director of the Vanderbilt Centerfor Mental Health Policy. "They need each other to help interpret their feelings. Social support is animportant element of well−being. And also telling the story over and over gives people some sense of controlover it.

"One of the most frightening things about something like these attacks is the sense of unpredictability. That'snot to minimize the loss of life, but our lives are unpredictable now."

Yesterday's crowd, spilling over the side of Capitol Hill, was a cross section of emotions.

Some worried about signs of possible U.S. military action. Some urged it.

"I'm scared for my 27−year−old husband, who is of drafting age," Himlin said.

"We need to get real aggressive," said Dave Gardner, 60, of Nashville, commandant of the Marine CorpsLeague. He and two fellow Marines held a giant American flag at the edge of the crowd. "I'm talking totalannihilation. We should turn Afghanistan into a glass plate."

Some celebrated the country's melting pot of immigrants and their ability to live together. Others wereconcerned the country has let in too many outsiders.

Singer Joni Wilson told the crowd she was from Canada, an immigrant, she pointed out, in a country ofimmigrants. "I am proud of my adopted country," she said.

"We open our doors to a lot of people and this is how we get paid? It's not right," said Randy Spears, 27, ofNashville.

"I don't know who we'll be fighting," said Barry Cauthron, a Vietnam veteran. "I do think we've let too manyof them in, foreigners in general."

Cauthron brought his two grandsons to the rally. The boys spotted some Army recruiters and wanted to shakehands.

"We like Army men," said Tyler Babin, 7, holding the hand of his brother Tanner, 5. "I don't like the crashvery much. I don't think it should have happened. I think that person shouldn't have done that. I just don't likethat."

Staff Sgt. Felix Montes, 34, smiled. His mother worked on the 17th floor of the second World Trade Centertower hit by hijacked jetliners Tuesday. She was outside on her morning break and escaped harm, Montessaid. However, his cousin, a New York City police officer, is one of the thousands of people missing.

"He looked up to me, but I look up to him," said Montes, who plans to drive to New York today. "I want todo my part to help. If I can move a rock or move a bucket, I want to do my part. For now, it's good to seeeveryone out here."

Graphic: PHOTO BY JOHN PARTIPILO / STAFF

Caption: Diane Fyke of Nashville sobs during the playing of Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA at theCapitol yesterday.

MIDSTATE RESIDENTS GATHER TO CRY, PRAY AT RALLIES, GAMES 2


VOLUNTEER FROM NASHVILLE DESCRIBESGRISLY SIGHTS AT REAL 'GROUND ZERO'

By JENNIFER PEEBLES AND LEON ALLIGOOD

STAFF WRITERS

The commentators on television say they're reporting live from "ground zero." They tell viewers that peopleon the scene are holding out hope for survivors.

Neither of those statements is true, says Luke Son.

What people aren't seeing on television, Son said, is the unreal world from the real ground zero: a worldwithout hope for the missing.

"I worked for 29 hours. During that time maybe a dozen bodies came off of the field. They're standing on upto 6,000 more (under the rubble). It's incomprehensible," he said.

The 19−year−old University of Tennessee pre−med major from Nashville just spent a grueling shift as arescue worker at the World Trade Center site, during which time he and his compatriots found just onecomplete body.

"Mostly it's parts of bodies," he said, his young voice shaking.

The "ground zero" that television newsmen say they report from isn't really ground zero, he said. There's afive−story, block−long hole in the ground that we haven't seen on television that workers like Son havedubbed "the pit."

"That is the real ground zero," he said.

"People see it on TV and say, 'Oh my God, there's a building there that's fallen.' That's nothing. You go behindthere, and it's nothing. The World Trade Centers are not there anymore," he said.

"The World Trade Centers are everywhere."

VOLUNTEER FROM NASHVILLE DESCRIBES GRISLY SIGHTS AT REAL 'GROUND ZERO' 1

Son remembered standing outside a broken window in the triage area in the American Express building.

"When they cleaned out the area right next to that window I found out that I had been standing on top of atorso. I helped pull that one out. It was right there. We cleaned out the area for about 30 feet and the onlyother thing we found was a piece of skull and hair."

Most victims will not ever be identified because workers are finding merely arms, legs or torsos that arerapidly decomposing due to the heat and moisture at the wreckage site, Son said. The one complete body theworkers found on Son's shift had deteriorated so badly the tissue began falling off the person's bones. Theyoung Nashvillian said there was talk that a quarantine will soon be imposed on the site because of thenumber of decomposing bodies. Son predicted workers will be allowed in only while wearing full biohazardsuits and oxygen tanks, which will slow recovery efforts.

Rescuers are working as long as 36 hours, then going to the triage centers to collapse and cry, the 1999Hillsboro High graduate said.

Son said he was fine as long as he was working, but then he had to be picked up and carried to the triagecenter. Thursday afternoon he collapsed and was taken to his aunt's home in Scarsdale, a suburb.

Tuesday morning, Son turned on the television and was shocked by the images of two commercial airlinersbeing used as guided missiles.

He called his mom, Dr. Kay Son, a Nashville−area physician, and told her of his plans.

"I tried to talk him out of it, because I didn't think his old car would make it, but he was determined to go,"she said. "I told him to be careful and to call me."

Son drove his 1993 Volkswagen Fox into the night, arriving in New Jersey, across from the city, about 3 a.m.To reach Manhattan, "I had to literally sneak in and hid in some boxes of food in a van that was coming in,"he said.

"I just wanted to help rescue the living, if I could," he said.

But Son said there was no life to be found.

Contact Jennifer Peebles at (615)259−8074 or by e−mail at [email protected] and Leon Alligood at(615) 259−8279 or by e−mail at [email protected].

Caption: LUKE SON, UT STUDENT FROM NASHVILLE

Caption:


VOLUNTEER FROM NASHVILLE DESCRIBES GRISLY SIGHTS AT REAL 'GROUND ZERO' 2


'NIGHTMARES FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE'

A YOUNG FORMER NASHVILLIAN WAS TWO BLOCKS FROM THE TRADE CENTER WHEN ITWAS HIT; NOW SHE FEARS ...

By DIANE LONG

STAFF WRITER

Lots of people were worried about kids who were in school Tuesday morning when the hijacked airplanes hitNew York and Washington, D.C.

But what if your school was just two blocks away from the disaster?

Two years ago, Anna Pei was a seventh−grader at Nashville's M.L. King High School. Now she's aninth−grader at New York's Stuyvesant School, just down the street from the World Trade Center. She wroteabout her terrifying experiences and e−mailed her friend Jenny Tang, a ninth−grader at M.L. King.

With both girls' permission, here are excerpts from the e−mail revealing Anna's close call:

I'm crying right now. I thought I was over it.

My school is right down the street from the WTC. At 8:40, I got to school and a couple minutes later, me andmy friend heard a loud sound like something in the air was going by really fast. Then a kind of boom. Thebuilding trembled a little, but we didn't think it was anything serious.

At that point, we started hearing sirens in the street. There aren't any windows on the first floor so we couldn'tsee anything and we didn't want to move because I had a broken toe and it's hard for me to get around.

I went to the sixth floor for English and there was a girl in the elevator who was crying hysterically becauseher dad worked in the UN headquarters here. When I got out of the elevator, all the kids were trying to calltheir parents on their cells. For some reason, they didn't work and everybody was freaking out.

The principal got on the intercom again and said as of now there have been attacks in both NYC andWashington. Everybody got so silent.

'NIGHTMARES FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE' 1

Outside, you could hear this huge roar of all these helicopters, sirens, people screaming and you could see outof the window all this smoke. Inside you could smell it. I wasn't sure if it was all over, if at any moment theywould bomb the whole street.

The principal came on the intercom and told us to go to our homerooms. Mine was on the 10th floor and allthe elevators weren't working for safety precautions. I had to hop up all the way from the sixth floor to thetenth floor with my other friend in my English class. At one of the floors, we stopped and looked out thewindow. It was facing opposite from the WTC, but it faced the water and the highway. There were literallythousands of people on that highway walking out of the city.

Everybody was huddled up against the windows and we could see building 1, the one that got hit first. It wasbefore it collapsed and you could see how the upper 10 or 20 floors were completely up in fire. I held myfriend's hand and tried not to cry, because a couple of people were completely sobbing and they were makingeverybody nervous.

But I can't blame them. One girl said her dad worked in the buildings. We all were looking at the buildingsand all of a sudden, I saw a person lean out of the building and jump. I saw three or four people jump andeverybody was in a state of shock. I had to look away from the window because if I looked anymore, I wouldloose control and start getting hysterical.

The principal came on and told everybody that we were evacuating and for everybody to go down the stairsand start heading toward 14th Street. I knew there was no way I could walk to 14th Street on my crutches.That would normally take 30 minutes if you didn't have a cast on.

I had to hobble down to the first floor all the way from the 10th floor and my cast got all torn up at theopening where you can see my toes. We got down to the lobby, and there were so many people down there.There were all these firefighters who were covered in soot and ashes. There was one guy and his face wascompletely black from all the ashes and he was coughing and throwing up, huddled against the wall.

There was a policeman and his glasses were completely twisted and the glass was broken. He was completelywhite with soot and his uniform was in tatters.

We walked out of the way, next to the water and the police kept on telling us to keep going. There werehundreds of people there. My English teacher walked with me and every few minutes, we would pause and letme rest and we would look back at the fire and mayhem.

We walked for about two hours. There was smoke and ashes everywhere and I had never seen New York likeI saw it that day. It was so loud, but so quiet. There were the sounds of helicopters and ambulances, but thepeople walking around were so quiet, like they couldn't believe it.

People were just looking at the smoke, dazed. It was the weirdest thing. Everybody was helping everybodyout. Some guy took my backpack and walked with me and my teacher back to my apartment. Another guygave me some water.

When I finally got home everybody was watching the news. CBS had apparently said that all Stuyvesantparents could go to the building and pick their kids up. Stuy (the nickname for the school) was apparently veryangry at (CBS). My mom had actually gone out looking for me.

I think I'll have nightmares for the rest of my life. Do you know what it's like to watch people die? To jumpout of buildings?


I was watching the news yesterday and they were showing all these pictures of the rubble and where the WTCused to be and I could look out my window and see exactly the same thing. I wasn't even in the building, but Icould feel the terror and I am scarred for life.

I am not kidding.

I can't believe this is happening.

I haven't talked about this yet with anybody. Writing it all down makes me feel better.

Caption:




CAR−TORCHINGS SHAKE ANTIOCH FAMILY


Two cars belonging to an immigrant from Iraq were set afire in Antioch late Monday night, police saidyesterday.

"I heard something hit my door, like a bump, bump, bump," said Aqil Yassin Al−Timimi, the father of four."I was scared, because I am a Middle Eastern man and I was afraid for my family. I didn't see anybody. Itwas dark."

Al−Timimi, a Muslim, said he is convinced the attacks were based on his race and religion. Metro police andfire officials were still investigating the incident last night to determine if that is the case.

"At this point, the source and origin of the fire has not been determined," said Metro police spokesman DonAaron. "We have not in any way at this point determined whether it was a fire based on Mr. Al−Timimi'sethnicity, national origin or religion."

Al−Timimi said the fires are the latest in a series of incidents involving his family since last week's acts ofterrorism. He was verbally harassed outside his Antioch Middle Eastern foods store, he said, and classmatesof his 10−year−old daughter at Apollo Middle School have asked her "Why don't you go back to yourcountry?"

About a dozen incidents involving backlash against Nashville area Muslims and immigrants over the pastweek have been reported to police and community leaders. They include a woman throwing rocks at an eastNashville mosque the day of the bombings and two men trying to drive a woman in traditional Muslim dressoff U.S. 70 in their pickup truck last Wednesday.

Earlier in the day yesterday, a group of Middle Eastern and immigrant agencies organized by the NashvilleNew Americans Coalition held a press conference to speak in support of the United States and urge residentsto refrain from stereotyping.

"The Islamic refugees here are shocked and hurt by the tragedy," said Nabaz Khoshnaw a Kurdish refugeeliving in Nashville. "The fanatics who commit terror do not represent the peaceful faith of Islam any morethan Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh represents Christianity or patriotism. We hope that everyAmerican understands this because we fled the same kind of terror in the Middle East that happened to

CAR−TORCHINGS SHAKE ANTIOCH FAMILY 1

America last week."

Police said that any crimes proven to be committed based on the victim's religion or ethnic background willbe prosecuted as hate crimes.

"Hate crimes will not be tolerated in this city and we will make every effort to find the person or personsresponsible," Aaron said.

Fire officials are asking anyone with information about the fire to call (615) 862−5230.

Graphic: PHOTO BY FREEMAN RAMSEY / STAFF

Caption: Aqil Al−Timimi looks over one of two vehicles that were torched Monday night at his residence inAntioch. The one pictured is a 1999 Chevy Suburban. The other was a 1994 Chevy Lumina LS, which wasburned on the side slightly.

CAR−TORCHINGS SHAKE ANTIOCH FAMILY 2


WOMEN LOST HUSBAND IN '83 ATTACK

By LEON ALLIGOOD

STAFF WRITER

SPRING HILL −− Carol Weaver felt the pain caused by last week's terrorist attacks perhaps more than mostMiddle Tennesseans. As she watched and read dispatches from the rubble's front line, Weaver confronted ahost of gut−wrenching emotions that nearly turned her life upside down 18 years ago.

In October of 1983, she was Carol Gaines, still feeling like a newlywed after 16 months of marriage toMarine Cpl. William R. Gaines. He had just turned 21; she was 20.

On Oct. 23, 1983, a suicide terrorist drove a truck laden with explosives through protective barricades andinto the lobby of a multistory barracks that housed over 350 U.S. military personnel stationed there on apeacekeeping mission. When the explosives detonated, the building was ripped from its foundation, and wallscollapsed, killing 241 American soldiers and wounding more than 100 others.

Carol Gaines became a widow.

As she revisited her pain in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks, the Spring Hill woman said time and faithhad taught her valuable lessons in coping with loss.

Chief among her advice is to understand that due to the nature of terrorism the finger of blame may neverpoint to those responsible for a loved one's death, despite government's assurances.

"I don't recall them ever pinning the bombing on a particular person," she said. Instead, blame was placed onIslamic zealots, who may have received training in several Middle Eastern countries. "That was a difficultthing to understand. We understood that it wasn't the whole country. We knew that some people had nothingto do with it. It was religious fanatics who were willing to go on a suicide mission," she said.

"To me it seemed selfish for that one person to bring down 241 innocent people to proclaim something theywanted to say."

Weaver blamed God for the tragedy but later found solace in the Bible, II Kings to be exact. "I have heardyour prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you," she quoted.

WOMEN LOST HUSBAND IN '83 ATTACK 1

For Weaver, life after terrorism led her to Tennessee. She married Stephen Weaver in 1985, and they havethree children, ages 13, 8 and 9 months.

"I remember thinking that I could not spend my time blaming whomever for whatever. I decided to put all myenergy into starting to heal and letting the government take care of what they need to do," she said. n

Graphic: PHOTO BY DELORES DELVIN / STAFF

Caption: Carol Weaver of Spring Hill holds a photo of her husband Marine Cpl. William R. Gaines fromBeruit, Lebanon, in September of 1983. He was killed a month later in a terrorist attack.

WOMEN LOST HUSBAND IN '83 ATTACK 2


ATTACKS REVIVE ANGER, BAD MEMORIES

TERRORISTS BREAK WWII VETS' WALL OF SILENCE HOLDING BACK THEIR TRAUMATICDAYS AT WAR

By SYLVIA SLAUGHTER Staff Writer

MURFREESBORO −− In the Tennessee Veterans Home here, the old vets' message is solid: Walk softlyaround these memories of mine.

The analogy between World War II, their war and the terrorists' suicidal attacks Tuesday on American soiloften opens old wounds still festering some 60 years later.

The reluctance to talk is, as one veteran says, "just our way of getting through the night."

"We're old; we're helpless to defend our country now," says Jackson Miner, a World War II vet who served inthe Signal Corps.

The 80−year−old vet offers nothing else for a few minutes, puts down his lunch fork, stares off in thedistance, then grabs your arm.

Something is on his mind, he says. Something he sums up in a single word: "Anger."

Not anger at his infirm body, but anger that terrorists would attack the country he and his generation shedblood to defend.

"If I could, I would put on my fightin' boots tomorrow," he says.

That said, the old vet looks down, toward the floor.

You follow his eyes and see what he can't say: Fightin' boots would do him no good. He has no feet.

Did he lose his feet in the war? you ask.

Jackson Miner doesn't answer.

ATTACKS REVIVE ANGER, BAD MEMORIES 1

He's said enough −− maybe too much for now. His fork remains vacant, his peas and carrots remain on hisplate.

His tablemate, 91−year−old Gene Baskin, understands his friend's anger. He feels it, too.

"I was in the Air Force in the Big War," he says. "I lost two good buddies, tail−gunners, who were doing theirduty for God and their country. The terrorists are devils and war is hell. I remember one battle in Italy. Theplanes came in. I picked up bones. I picked up brains."

Mayland Coursey, 77, won't talk about the hells of war.

Instead, he escapes the memories of not one war, but of three he was in, by inviting you to his room where hehas a slide show of pictures he took during his tenure with the Air Force during WWII, the Korean War andVietnam.

He wants you to know that his tours had at least two perks beyond the friendships he formed. He shows apicture he snapped of Marilyn Monroe in a fighter bomber and somewhere, he says, he has Bob Hope'sautograph on the back side of a three−day pass.

Down the hall, Lonnie Cahoon, 79, watches updates on CNN of the terrorists' attacks, then turns away fromthe television.

He was only 15 when his father falsified his son's birth date so the younger Cahoon could join the NationalGuard.

The day he was to be discharged, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

"I was a clerk in the National Guard," Cahoon says. "I had just typed up my discharge and they tore it up. Iwent on to fight in the Battle of the Bulge and other campaigns. I've dug deep in foxholes. I've seen theenemy and been scared to death, but I don't want any more war. I just want the perpetrators (the terroristswho attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon) punished.

"My two little grandchildren came to visit me the other day. They said, 'Granddaddy, we're scared the(terrorists) could hurt us at home.' I held them and I told them, 'You're not supposed to worry about war.That's Grandaddy's job.'"

Lonnie Cahoon guides his wheelchair outside.

"When the talk gets too much, I get away from it," he says. "I go out and ride as far as I can go."

On another corridor, Johnnie Barlow, 75, tries to escape attack talk, too.

The old vet flips through the TV channels, looking for his personal peace in these troubled times −− a fishingshow.

Sylvia Slaughter writes features for The Tennessean. She can be reached at [email protected] or259−8053.

Graphic: PHOTO BY MICHAEL CLANCY / STAFF


Caption: World War II veteran Lonnie Cahoon, 79, remembers the accident that left him injured during theBattle of the Bulge.



'I HAD TO SEE IT AND TAKE IT ALL IN'

28 STUDENTS VISIT NYC−AREA HOMES ON VU BUS TRIP

By BRAD SCHRADE

STAFF WRITER

NEW YORK −− Joe Noorigian's mom has nightmares and can't sleep because of what she saw. The youngerNoorigian, a Vanderbilt University student from New Jersey, returned home from Nashville over theweekend to be with her and see firsthand how terrorism altered his hometown.

He was part of a chartered bus trip provided by the university so students from the New York area couldreturn home. There were 28 who accepted the offer −− and made the 16−hour trek −− to receive something assimple as a hug from dad or mom's fried chicken or give what help they could to this town enveloped insadness and grief.

Noorigian's mother, Netta Noorigian, is an attorney in the financial district and works next to the WorldTrade Center. She was on the street Tuesday when the first plane hit.

Joe Noorigian got off the bus early Saturday and walked 40 blocks to catch a glimpse of the rubble of what isnow being called "ground zero" or "The Pile."

"I had to see it and take it all in," said Noorigian, 21, a senior studying neuroscience, who grew up across theriver in New Jersey. "My mom's looking up and sees people jump holding hands in twos and threes as theyfell. Imagine how you'd feel if you looked up and saw people falling from a building."

The students, who left from the Port Authority Bus Terminal yesterday afternoon to return to Nashville andclasses today, said they all felt lucky to have none of their close family members or friends among thethousands missing.

Eleni Binioris wanted to come home to visit her parents and two younger brothers. Binioris, 20, a history andeducation major who grew up in Brooklyn, couldn't believe the twin towers are gone. She said she getsmisty−eyed looking at a skyline that seems lonely and missing something.

She bought 45 yards of ribbon striped in red, white and blue, cut the ribbon into small bows and pinned them

'I HAD TO SEE IT AND TAKE IT ALL IN' 1

on customers who came into her father's Greek restaurant on the Upper West Side.

She returned to Nashville with pin pricks on her fingers.

"I would have dug through the rubble," Binioris said. "I only had a day and wanted to do something to help. Ithought this might lift people's spirit."

It had been a difficult week for the students in Nashville. They watched on television as their city became abackdrop for the disaster and its aftermath.

Alex Mir had to return to New York to ground himself and experience it unfiltered.

He visited his mother and girlfriend and other friends in what became a reunion of sorts. Mir, 19, asophomore religion major, said he'd never seen the city so somber and subdued. There was a noticeable lackof street activity.

The most surprising aspect of the weekend was the journey here, Mir said. The interstates between Nashvilleand New York provide a unifying chord of grief and patriotism. "It's a palpable feeling," he said."Everywhere we stopped along up through Virginia and West Virginia, the feeling, the mood was the same."

Pam Grausso was thankful the university chartered the bus and said the trip home was important for herdaughter, Beth, an 18−year−old freshman who grew up across the river in Scotch Plains, N.J.

The town, like many in the suburbs around New York, has many neighbors missing.

"She needed to touch base," Pam Grausso said. "Even if it was something as simple as a home−cooked meal.There's a need to have the familiar."

Perhaps the approach into New York early Saturday morning explains the scope of the devastation for theseyoung people, who have never known a New York without the twin towers dominating the skyline.

As the bus rolled through the darkness toward the city, the students fell silent as they caught their firstglimpse of lower Manhattan.

Across the Hudson River, a persistent plume of smoke rose through the rescue worker's flood lights. TiffanyHuggins, 20, an education major from Brooklyn, said she saw what would have been a miracle through theglare of the smoke. "It had been a long ride and I was tired, but I could have sworn I saw a silhouette of thetwo towers," Huggins said.

Asked if perhaps this was just a wish, she replied: "Yes."

Graphic: PHOTOS BY ADRIANE JAECKLE / STAFF

Caption: Anne Marie Townsend, a Vanderbilt University education and finance junior, says goodbye to herfather, Richard Townsend, in New York after her weekend visit. The university chartered a bus for NewYork−area students to visit family and friends. The Townsends are from New Canaan, Conn.

VU sophomore Alex Mir and Andrea Comerer hug at Port Authority Bus Terminal before Mir has to leavehis girlfriend to return to Nashville.

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