Trade Center beam recalls 9/11

Escort carries relic to N.Y. town monument, By Alicia Lopez MATAMORAS — The September 11th attacks happened nine years ago, but the impact of that day came rushing back on a trailer’s bed last Thursday. Subdued onlookers gathered along the Pennsylvania Avenue driving route silently watched as an 11.5-foot beam from the World Trade Center was slowly escorted through Matamoras and Port Jervis to its new home at the Deerpark Town Hall in Huguenot, N.Y. Donated by the Port Authority of N.Y. and N.J. and carried aboard a police trailer, the beam arrived at the parking lot in the K-Mark Plaza in Matamoras shortly after 2 p.m. There news crews, local area residents and DV elementary school students all had a chance to view history in the making. “(I feel) Proud, extremely proud to be the one to drive the beam to the station,” said Deerpark Police Chief William R. Werner as he affixed American flags along the rear of the trailer for the last leg of its journey. The old Grand Union parking lot provided a staging area, where police, fire and ambulance units from around the tri-state area gathered to form an escort for the trip through Matamoras and Port Jervis. It was an on-duty escort and just moments before the beam was scheduled to move, the Montague and Hugenot fire and EMT departments were called away to an accident in New Jersey. At about 3:05 p.m., the beam was on the move accompanied by what became a quarter-mile procession of fire trucks, police cars, emergency vehicles and ambulances on the street, along with a blimp and helicopters overhead. After a ceremonial circuit of Port Jervis, Fr. August Riccardi of St. Joseph’s Church in Matamoras delivered a blessing upon the arrival in Deerpark. The beam will become part of a monument, to be unveiled at an 8:15 a.m. ceremony on Sept. 11, outside of the police station at the town hall.