September 20, 2002 - Orange County Weekly: Gaddi Vasquez speaks at Orange County remembrance of 911

Peace Corps Online: Peace Corps News: Headlines: Peace Corps Headlines - 2002: 09 September 2002 Peace Corps Headlines: September 20, 2002 - Orange County Weekly: Gaddi Vasquez speaks at Orange County remembrance of 911

By Admin1 (admin) on Monday, October 14, 2002 - 12:30 pm: Edit Post

Gaddi Vasquez speaks at Orange County remembrance of 911





Read and comment on this story from the Orange County Weekly on Gaddi Vasquez's appearance at an event in Orange County to commemorate the events of September 11 at:

How OC remembered Sept. 11*

* This link was active on the date it was posted. PCOL is not responsible for broken links which may have changed.



How OC remembered Sept. 11

by Anthony Pignataro

Touch the steel
Photo by OCW staff

Richard Nixon Library, Sept. 7, 11:15 a.m.

Several hundred people stand and sit by the Nixon Library parking lot in the blistering sun. Thirty-six U.S. flags in three sets of 12 are arrayed before them.

Some are firefighters. Some are Boy and Girl Scouts. And some are wearing shirts that say things such as "Raise a glass for duty and humanity" and "Support your local Soldiers for Jesus."

They’re in the parking lot, quietly waiting for a caravan of police and fire vehicles escorting two huge flatbed trucks. They’re quiet because a Nixon Library official asked for "a moment of silence" to "pause and reflect."

Preceded by Highway Patrol motorcycles and a black Cadillac Escalade limousine, the flatbeds carry World Trade Center scrap. The first hauls a New York hook-and-ladder fire truck wrecked in the WTC collapse; the second flatbed holds 18 tons of rusted scrap steel.

For a while, the only sound is camera shutters snapping. Then the speeches begin. The San Bernardino officials who brought the WTC junk to California for a future memorial speak first.

"Everywhere they went, crowds gathered," says disgraced, outgoing San Bernardino County District Attorney Dennis Stout, describing the scrap’s journey across the U.S. "People wanted to see and touch the steel."

The people in Yorba Linda were no different, but the officials keep speaking. Last up is Peace Corps boss and bankruptcy-era Orange County Supervisor Gaddi Vasquez. He notes the sweltering heat and promises to be brief, but isn’t.

"I didn’t know anyone on Flight 93," he says to a crowd of sweating, irritable people hungry for the touch of memorial steel. "But they are all heroes."

Only after Vasquez finishes are the people allowed near the wreckage. The fire truck has broken windows and a few flat tires. A torn and dirty American Flag is tied to its rooftop ladder.

People file slowly past the fire truck but linger around the beams. They reach up and touch them, then hold the pose while friends and relatives snap photos. Having already been viewed and touched by many people before today, the beams are covered with graffiti:

"We love America The Morrellos"

"Robert P. Long Ironworkers Local 433"

"God Bless The Wilkersons"

"Thank You! The Dill Family."

"How does our BOOT feel in your A** United America"



Click on a link below for more stories on PCOL

Top Stories and Discussion on PCOL
Peace Corps Volunteers Safe in Ivory CoastA Profile of Gaddi Vasquez
Sargent Shriver and the Politics of Life911:  A Different America
USA Freedom Corps - "paved with good intentions"PCV hostage rescued from terrorists
GAO reports on Volunteer Safety and SecurityPeace Corps out of Russia?
Help the New Peace Corps Bill pass CongressUSA Freedom Cops TIPS Program


Top Stories and Discussion on PCOL
Senior Staff Appointments at Peace Corps HeadquartersFor the Peace Corps Fallen
Senator Dodd holds Hearings on New Peace Corps LegislationThe Debate over the Peace Corps Fund
Why the Peace Corps needs a Fourth GoalThe Peace Corps 40th plus one
The Case for Peace Corps IndependenceThe Controversy over Lariam
The Peace Corps and Homeland SecurityDirector Vasquez meets with RPCVs
RPCV Congressmen support Peace Corps' autonomyPeace Corps Expansion:  The Numbers Game?
When should the Peace Corps return to Afghanistan?Peace Corps Cartoons



Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Peace Corps Directors

PCOL1170
25

.


Add a Message


This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.
Username:  
Password:
E-mail: