September 12, 2001 Diary: America Responds

Bush: Attacks were 'act of war'
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
(Updated Thursday at 4:57 p.m.) President Bush condemned terrorist attacks in New York and Washington as "acts of war" on Wednesday and won pledges of funding from Congress to aid in recovery and protect the nation's security. European allies gave their backing to an anticipated military response.

Terror strikes, then strikes again
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
In the most devastating terrorist onslaught ever waged against the United States, knife-wielding hijackers Tuesday crashed two airliners into the World Trade Center, toppling its twin 110-story towers. The deadly calamity was witnessed on televisions around the world as another plane slammed into the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed outside Pittsburgh.

Graves: 'Be alert, yet remain calm'
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Scott Rothschild

In response to the attack Tuesday on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, military installations across Kansas were on warlike alert, commercial jets were diverted to rural airports, and officials clamped access to state office buildings.

World shocked as terror unfolds
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Governments around the world offered condolences to an America that looked more vulnerable than ever after Tuesday's terror attacks, but thousands of Palestinians celebrated in the West Bank and in Lebanese refugee camps.

Protestors stage peace rally
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
(Updated Thursday at 4:59 p.m.) Several area people who oppose the concept of retaliation for the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington staged a peaceful protest Wednesday afternoon along a busy street in Lawrence.

FAA allows flights diverted Tuesday to resume
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
(Updated Thursday at 4:59 p.m.) Airline flights diverted after Tuesday's attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon were authorized to finish their journeys Wednesday but all other planes remain grounded.

White House, Air Force One were also targeted
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
(Updated Wednesday at 10:15 p.m.)Amid the grim accounting of the dead and injured from the airborne onslaught that toppled the World Trade Center and blasted the Pentagon, authorities said Wednesday they believed the terrorists had had other targets — the White House and Air Force One.

Victims paint picture of terror
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
There is smoke where there once was steel, shocked silence where a self-assured populace once ran America's most noisily dynamic city. Life changed fast and forever Tuesday morning, when an unseen terrorist hand-guided two planes into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, collapsing the symbols of New York City's commercial and cultural greatness.

New York braces for aftershock
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
As night fell, the city moved past the nightmarish scenes of people on fire jumping from buildings and braced itself for more pain: picking through the rubble for the dead and the injured.

City devastated, shocked by nation's horrific disaster
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Dave Ranney

Guts churned. Hundreds were left momentarily breathless by the shock and horror of it all. That's how Lawrence residents responded to Tuesday's terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center in New York City and at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

Church offers consolation
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Jim Baker

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Lawrence residents went to church Tuesday seeking reassurance and spiritual comfort after Tuesday's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

Panic sends Lawrence residents to the pumps
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Mindie Paget

Hundreds of panicked motorists rushed Lawrence service stations Tuesday after hearing reports of gasoline prices as high as $4 and $5 elsewhere in the state. Lines of vehicles waiting to pull to the pumps snaked out of filling station parking lots, clogging city streets and backing up afternoon traffic for blocks.

Recession looms in wake of attacks
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
The terror attacks in the nation's business and government capitals may well push the teetering economy into recession, analysts suggested. The Federal Reserve said it stood ready to pump extra money into the economy if needed to try to avert such a development.

No place is immune, Rep. Moore says
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Scott Rothschild

Could Kansas ever be a terrorist target? Terrorism experts have a two-word answer: Oklahoma City. The 1996 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building killed 168 people and was the work of homegrown terrorist Timothy McVeigh, who said he bombed the building in retaliation for the government's attack of the Branch Davidians in Waco, Tex.

Games come to standstill
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Sports was placed on hold Tuesday in the wake of terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, with major league baseball postponing a full schedule of regular-season games for the first time since D-Day in 1944.

Remembering the fallen
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
(Updated Thursday at 4:59 p.m.) By Michael Newman

At the time of this writing, Lawrence area churches and secular organizations were still making plans for how they will remember the victims and offer comfort to the community following Tuesday morning's tragic events in New York City and Washington, D.C.

County sees no need to step up security
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Joel Mathis

Douglas County officials watched Tuesday morning's events in Washington and New York but took no steps to increase security at public buildings. Officials in the county's Emergency Management Office said no special precautions were needed.

United in horror
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Journal-World Editorial

A shocked nation now must focus its efforts on fighting future terrorism. Horror doesn't begin to describe it. People went to their jobs at New York City's World Trade Center on Tuesday and before their day had hardly begun, they had been killed or were fighting for their lives.

FBI teams storm Boston hotel
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
(Updated Thursday at 5:01 p.m.) Investigators tried to retrace the steps of the hijackers of two planes used in attacks on New York and Washington as heavily armed FBI agents stormed a hotel looking for suspects and Boston's airport defended its security.

Olathe victim calls to reassure parents
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
An Olathe man who was inside the World Trade Center when one of its twin towers was struck by an airliner called home to tell his family he was safe - twice. Mark McGavran called his parents in Ada from about the 40th floor of the World Trade Center after one of its twin towers was struck by an airliner.

Psychologist: Youths need explanation, reassurance
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Joel Mathis and Terry Rombeck

Wes Crenshaw was taking his 4-year-old daughter to breakfast Tuesday morning when news broke of the hijacked airliner attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. The little girl, who had wanted to visit New York, turned to her father. "Daddy isn't that where we were going to go?" she asked Crenshaw.

Investors remain optimistic, recall solidarity in past
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Mark Fagan

After the shock started to wane and the suffering became apparent, Sean Williams struggled to find optimism amid a cloud of horror from Tuesday's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

America must show its strength
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By George Will
Washington Post Writers Group

The acrid and unexpungable odor of terrorism, which has hung over Israel for many years, is now a fact of American life. Tuesday morning Americans were drawn into the world that Israelis live in every day.

City soccer to be rescheduled
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Two city high school boys soccer games postponed by Tuesday's national tragedy will be rescheduled. Lawrence High was slated to entertain Shawnee Mission North at 7 p.m. at Youth Sports Inc. fields, and Free State was scheduled to travel to SM South for a night game. Practices also were called off.

Attacks force entertainment shutdown
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
The Emmys and Latin Grammys canceled their awards ceremonies, amusement parks closed and Hollywood studios locked their gates as Tuesday's terrorist attacks darkened a stunned entertainment industry.

Media rise to disaster's challenge
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Television became a national gathering place on a terror-filled Tuesday, replaying unimaginable scenes of a plane crashing into the World Trade Center and its skyscrapers collapsing. Newspapers rushed out special editions. Many headlines said simply: "TERROR."

Tournaments delayed until Friday
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Tiger Woods teed off at dawn, when the world was at peace. First reports of terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and then the Pentagon were relayed to him by Joe Corless, a retired FBI agent who heads security for the PGA Tour and walked the practice round with him at Bellerive Country Club.

White Sox coach witnesses World Trade Center collapse
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Art Kusnyer looked down Fifth Avenue and stared at the cloud of smoke. Then, he saw a sight that might haunt him the rest of his life. "All of a sudden, the whole tower just collapsed," the Chicago White Sox bullpen coach said Tuesday. "All those poor people. It was hard to watch."

Baseball takes time to mourn
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Baseball commissioner Bud Selig and his wife were in New York last Thursday night, and decided to take a drive through the city after dinner.

Indians arrive in Kansas City
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Like much of the rest of the country, Major League Baseball ceased operations in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.

College games postponed
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Four major-college games, including Saturday's game at Ohio State, were postponed and suspension of this week's entire schedule of Div. I games was being considered following terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

Sports must get out of the way
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Dale Hofmann
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The cliche at all of our fingertips here in the toy department is that Tuesday's spreading catastrophe reminds us of what really matters, and there's no debating that.

'Sports pretty trivial' after attacks
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Robert Sinclair

Kansas University's football team practiced like it always does on Tuesday afternoon, but it hardly was business as usual.

Chenowith safe but 'scared' in New York
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Gary Bedore

Former Kansas basketball player Eric Chenowith was sitting in a New York City office building 10 blocks from the World Trade Center when disaster struck U.S. soil on Tuesday morning.

New Yorkers with Kansas ties stunned
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Dave Toplikar

Two New Yorkers whose parents live in Lawrence talked about being stunned Tuesday morning by the disaster that hit the World Trade Center, a few miles from their home. "There's a mall right underneath. I was just shopping there yesterday," Sarah Keating said in a phone conversation this morning from her home in Staten Island. "It was terrifying."

Red Cross accepts calls offering help, donations
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Jim Baker

Callers inundated telephone lines Tuesday at the Douglas County chapter of the American Red Cross, eager to help in the aftermath of the national terrorist attacks. "We've probably had over 300 calls, mainly from people wanting to donate blood. Honestly, that's been the largest percentage," said Jane Blocher, the chapter's executive director.

Tragedy commemorated in Journal-World extra
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
The Journal-World produced an extra edition Tuesday in the wake of terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. It was the newspaper's first since President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.

'Feeling of grief' pervades Kansas University campus
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Terry Rombeck

The Kansas Union - normally a weekday gathering place for studying and chatting Kansas University students - turned into a vigil hall Tuesday as students kept watch on terrorist attacks on the East Coast.

Investigation focuses on bin Laden
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
U.S. officials began piecing together a case linking Osama bin Laden to the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history, aided by an intercept of communications between his supporters and harrowing cell phone calls from victims aboard the jetliners before they crashed on Tuesday.

Explosions rock Afghan capital; U.S., rebels deny involvement
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Explosions resounded north of the Afghan capital near its airport early Wednesday, hours after devastating terror attacks in the United States. The United States quickly denied any involvement in the violence in Afghanistan, which has been shielding Osama bin Laden, a suspected terrorism mastermind linked by some U.S. officials to Tuesday's attacks in New York and Washington.

Towers built to withstand jet impact
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
The World Trade Center, a symbol of American economic might, survived one terrorist attack in 1993. It was designed to withstand the impact of a jet, but both its towers collapsed Tuesday morning after planes rammed into them.

Terrorism's roots as old as humanity
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
It is a notion as old as human history, a cold-eyed calculation made by zealots down the ages: that the taking of innocent lives, or the threat to do so, can serve as a brutally effective means of advancing a cause.

Clinton, Gore urge Americans to rally behind the president
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Former President Clinton, who led the nation through the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, urged Americans to rally behind President Bush in the aftermath of Tuesday's terrorist attacks.

Former Graves official survives Pentagon blast
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
When he took his new job at the Pentagon, Dan Stanley was supposed to move into an office in a newly renovated part of the building. But the work was behind schedule, and instead, Stanley took an office down the hall of the Pentagon's outermost ring of offices.

We will never be the same
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Larry Eichel
Knight Ridder Newspapers

There've been other times when life in this country has come to a sudden and total halt. The Kennedy assassination, the Challenger explosion and the Oklahoma City bombing come to mind.

U.S. engaged in shadow war
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Jim Hoagland
Washington Post Writers Group

They came to finish a job others started in 1993 and to destroy the aura of America's power in the world in one sickening and shocking morning of terror. And they did not even say why as they crashed hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Attackers underestimate U.S. resolve
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Leonard Pitts Jr.
Miami Herald

They pay me to tease shades of meaning from social and cultural issues, to provide words that help make sense of that which troubles the American soul. But in this moment of airless shock when hot tears sting disbelieving eyes, the only thing I can find to say, the only words that seem to fit, must be addressed to the unknown author of this suffering.

Security alert lifted recently, guards say
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
The World Trade Center was destroyed just days after a heightened security alert was lifted at the 110-story towers, security personnel said Tuesday. Daria Coard, 37, a guard at Tower One, said the security detail had been working 12-hour shifts for the past two weeks because of numerous phone threats.

Terrorist strikes stun Kansans
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
At Lloyd Martin's barbershop, the talk, not surprisingly, was about the terrorist attacks. "I'd rather be talking about football. This is terrible," Martin said Tuesday, watching the unfolding horror on the television in his shop. "Unfortunately, this will be the talk for a long, long time."

Security alert lifted recently, guards say
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
The World Trade Center was destroyed just days after a heightened security alert was lifted at the 110-story towers, security personnel said Tuesday. Daria Coard, 37, a guard at Tower One, said the security detail had been working 12-hour shifts for the past two weeks because of numerous phone threats. But on Thursday, bomb-sniffing dogs were abruptly removed.

Concerned residents flock to community blood center
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Terry Rombeck

Blood from Lawrence's Community Blood Center is on its way to help victims of Tuesday's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. About 300 pints of blood from Lawrence and centers in Topeka and Kansas City will be delivered by the Air National Guard today.

Victims paint picture of terror
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
There is smoke where there once was steel, shocked silence where a self-assured populace once ran America's most noisily dynamic city. Life changed fast and forever Tuesday morning, when an unseen terrorist hand-guided two planes into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, collapsing the symbols of New York City's commercial and cultural greatness.

New York braces for aftershock
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
As night fell, the city moved past the nightmarish scenes of people on fire jumping from buildings and braced itself for more pain: picking through the rubble for the dead and the injured. Crews began heading into ground zero of the terrorist attack to search for survivors and recover bodies.

U.S. pitted against stateless enemy in 'Gray War'
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Sudden, stealthy and brutal, the terrorist strikes in New York and Washington, D.C. - possibly the bloodiest assaults on American soil since the Civil War - inevitably brought up the memory of Pearl Harbor. But the comparison, while potent, is imperfect.

America 'in for long fight' after delusion of invincibility
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Any notion of America being invincible died in the monstrous rubble. With the twin towers crumbled in New York, the Pentagon burning, a jetliner down in Pennsylvania, a morning's cruel work ended the nation's normalcy.

City airport lands out-of-towners
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Joy Ludwig

No airplanes will be leaving the Lawrence Municipal Airport until at least 11 a.m. today. That was the word from the Federal Aviation Administration late Tuesday, said Lloyd Hetrick, manager of the city airport's fixed-based operations.

New York launches massive rescue effort
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
As night fell, the city moved past the nightmarish scenes of people on fire jumping from buildings and braced itself for more pain: picking through the rubble for the dead and the injured.

Giuliani says New York City asks for 6,000 body bags
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
(Updated Thursday at 5:13 p.m.) With too many people missing for an accurate death count to begin, officials did their best Wednesday to calculate the toll from the World Trade Center attacks.

Partial list of victims
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
(Updated Thursday at 5:13 p.m.) Partial list of those killed in Tuesday's terrorist attacks, according to family members, friends,co-workers and law enforcement.

Kansas officials move to allay gasoline shortage fears
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
(Updated Thursday at 5:13 p.m.) State officials are moving quickly to deal with fears about fuel prices and supplies, which led to long lines at filling stations, fistfights and at least one arrest.

Canada accepts flights bound for United States
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
The Canadian government tightened security in major cities and along the American border after Tuesday's terrorist attacks, and dozens of intercontinental flights bound for the United States headed to Canada instead.

U.S. Muslims express outrage, fear
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Almost immediately after Islamic militant Osama bin Laden's name scrolled across television screens as a "suspect" in Tuesday's attacks, threats began coming in over the phone at the Darul Uloom Institute, one of the largest mosques in South Florida.

Law enforcement says operations go on as usual
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Mike Belt

Douglas County Sheriff's officers on Tuesday kept a closer watch on the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, but despite the bombings in New York and Washington, operations here were near normal.

Lawrence police chief addresses attacks
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Tim Carpenter

Lawrence Police Chief Ron Olin put a room full of educators and police searching for answers to school violence into an anguish-filled daze.

Muslim students condemn attacks
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
By Mindie Paget

Muslim students Tuesday at Kansas University mourned the tremendous loss of life in terrorist attacks on the East Coast and condemned the actions of whoever was responsible. Many of them also struggled with anxiety over how the public might receive them in light of initial speculation that a Muslim extremist group might be responsible for the terrorist acts.

Kansas officials remain on alert
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
(Updated Thursday at 5:13 p.m.) State and federal officials are struggling to maintain the appearance that government business in Kansas is continuing as usual.

6News report: SELF postpones trip
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Kim Hall reports on the SELF Fellowship members' postponement of their trip to Washington, D.C.

6News report: Local residents join in prayer
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Tina Terry reports on the gathering of Lawrence residents to pray for the families of those lost and injured on Tuesday.

6News report: Terrorists looking to accomplish three things
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Kim Hall reports on Police Chief Ron Olin's comments on Tuesday's terrorist attacks.

6News report: Local buildings under heightened security
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Kim Hall reports on the heightened security at the Lawrence Law Enforcement Center and City Hall.

6News report: Representatives comment
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Josh Garber presents comments from local Representatives Senator Pat Roberts and Congressman Dennis Moore.

6News report: LHS students have somewhere to turn for questions and help
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Josh Garber reports on the crisis center available to staff and students at Lawrence High School.

6News report: KU students watch and react to Tuesday's events
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Kim Hall reports on the reaction from KU students who gathered around televisions in the student unions on campus.

6News report: Lawrence residents rush to the pumps
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Alison Mann reports on local residents' rush to fill gas tanks.

6News report: Truck driver felt effect of FAA grounding
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Kim Hall reports on an accident south of Lawrence in which the driver was injured.

6News report: City commissioners start meeting on somber note
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Josh Garber reports on Tuesday evening's City Commission meeting.

6News report: Lawrence residents line up to give blood
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Kim Hall reports on Lawrence residents donating blood to be shipped to the New York City area.

6News report: Bert Nash employee says talking will help
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Kim Hall reports on a Bert Nash Center employee's adivce on how to deal with Tuesday's tragedy.

6News report: The world reacts
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Josh Garber reports on the world's reaction to Tuesday's events.

6News report: Bin Lauden denies reports he is involved
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Josh Garber reports on Osama bin Lauden's possible involvement in Tuesday's events.

6News report: International flights to U.S. rerouted
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Josh Garber reports on the grounding of all U.S. flights.

6News report: Afghanistan leaders say bin Lauden not responsible
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Josh Garber reports on the Afghanistan leader's statement that Osama bin Lauden is not behind Tuesday's events.

6News report: Pilots, passengers grounded
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Josh Garber reports on the local and statewide effects of the FAA's grounding of all flights.

6News report: Green Beret says to not be so quick to point the finger
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Mark Johnson, a retired Green Beret, comments on who's to blame for Tuesday's terrorist attacks.

6News report: Attacks shake Americans
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
A CNN correspondent gives an overview of Tuesday's horrific events.

Defend freedom
Wednesday, September 12, 2001