September 14, 2001 Diary: America Responds

An Online Diary • Video: Lawrence shows its patriotism

Rescuers hampered by heavy rains
Friday, September 14, 2001
(Updated Saturday at 12:02 a.m.) Mud-spattered rescue crews, chanting "USA! USA!," got a morale-boosting visit Friday from President Bush as they searched in vain for signs of life in the ruins of the World Trade Center.

Terror's toll: 5,000
Friday, September 14, 2001
The gruesome search through the graveyard of the World Trade Center yielded no survivors as the death toll mounted Thursday, and hopes dimmed for more than 4,700 missing souls. President Bush promised to visit New York to "hug and cry" with its shaken citizens.
Two days after the trade center was hit and destroyed by two hijacked passenger planes, swirling dust kept visibility limited and sanitation trucks waged a losing fight against the residue of the blast. Hundreds of family members searched for any sign of their loved ones.

Sports can wait
Friday, September 14, 2001
Professional and major college sports will shut down this weekend, following the lead of the NFL that said America needed time to mourn and reflect on this week's "horrific acts of terrorism." Major league baseball, several auto racing circuits, college football conferences and Major League Soccer all canceled competition.

Big 12, Jayhawks put games on hold
Friday, September 14, 2001
By Chuck Woodling

On Wednesday, the Kansas-Wyoming football game was a go. On Thursday, the Kansas-Wyoming football game was a no. It was a Big 12 Conference decision. League officials voted over the Thursday post-noon hour to postpone all athletics competition through Sunday in wake of the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C.

Bomb threat delays City Hall service
Friday, September 14, 2001
A memorial prayer service to honor the victims of Tuesday's terrorist attacks was postponed Thursday after a bomb threat was received at Kansas City Hall.
City Hall was evacuated after the bomb threat came in, and the service was set for next week.

Fear prompts parents to keep children home from school
Friday, September 14, 2001
By Tim Carpenter

Several Lawrence families with Middle East ties have pulled their children from Hillcrest School in the aftermath of terrorist attacks on the East Coast, Supt. Randy Weseman said Thursday.
Weseman said the children hadn't been harassed at school, but their parents felt it was safer to keep them at home indefinitely.

City puts patriotism on display
Friday, September 14, 2001
By Joel Mathis

From Massachusetts Street to cyberspace, Lawrence residents Thursday were exhibiting their patriotism — and tolerance — after Tuesday's terrorist attacks on America.
Angie Conrad put a sign in the window of her downtown shop, My Father's Daughter. A Kansas University student flew the stars and stripes at her sorority. Tony Johnson, a KU employee, created a patriotic Internet banner and asked people to post it on their Web sites.

KCI Airport resumes flights
Friday, September 14, 2001
By Dave Ranney

Federal aviation officials lifted the ban on commercial and private air travel Thursday, clearing the runway for flights in and out of Kansas City International Airport.
Six of the major airlines with operations at KCI were open for business by Thursday afternoon. Two more are expected to resume operations today.

Ottawan mourns death of sister, niece
Friday, September 14, 2001
By Terry Rombeck

Susie Rowland says she can't stand to watch her television when it shows the Boeing 767s slam into the World Trade Center.
Like most Americans, she was devastated when she turned on the television Tuesday morning to see a gaping, smoking hole in one of the center's towers. Two hours later, the disaster hit home harder when she learned her sister and niece were aboard one of the jets that terrorists used as a guided missile.

Global economy gets lift from Fed
Friday, September 14, 2001
The Federal Reserve announced Thursday that $50 billion would be made available to European banks to help them meet emergency withdrawal needs, while the Bush administration proclaimed prospects remained bright for an economic rebound.
Trying to bolster confidence in the wake of the worst terrorist attacks in U.S. history, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill insisted that the adverse economic impact likely would be short-lived as transportation gets back to normal with the resumption of airline flights.

Getting back to business
Friday, September 14, 2001
The nation's stock markets plan to resume trading Monday, ending a four-day shutdown following the destruction of the World Trade Center, officials said Thursday.
Stock market officials, who made their decision after meeting with representatives of the city, investment firms and local utilities, said they would test market systems Saturday. If the test goes well, trading would resume at 8:30 a.m. CDT Monday.

Military experts assess risks of retaliation
Friday, September 14, 2001
As the Bush administration began weighing strikes against terrorist havens in Afghanistan, defense officials and military experts said Thursday that major operations in the rugged terrain could require months of preparation and would probably entail U.S. casualties.
Because of a primitive infrastructure and the hostility of many Afghanis, a major ground campaign would require a lead time long enough to allow several divisions of troops and their supplies to reach the region, experts predicted.

Investigation dragnet widens
Friday, September 14, 2001
U.S. investigators pressed Thursday to identify terrorist collaborators who may still be in a position to strike more Americans, and agents located critical "black boxes" from two of Tuesday's hijacked planes.
Four U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that authorities are investigating the possibility that some terrorists involved with Tuesday's plots are still at large.

Their crime was simply being Americans
Friday, September 14, 2001
By Dave Barry
Miami Herald

No humor column today. I don't want to write it, and you don't want to read it. No words of wisdom, either. I wish I were wise enough to say something that would help make sense of this horror, something that would help ease the unimaginable pain of the victims' loved ones, but I'm not that wise.

'Justice' is not enough
Friday, September 14, 2001
J-W Editorials

We're at war again, and bringing criminals into courtrooms for showy trials is not the kind of victory we need. Americans who saw devastated portions of England and the European continent after World War II often remarked about the innumerable flattened sites where "nothing was more than one brick high."

Backlash against American Muslims would be wrong
Friday, September 14, 2001
The trigger-finger reaction many people may have after Tuesday's horrific events is to blame the Muslims. Who else but Islamic terrorists would bank a jetliner into one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center — and then strike the other with a second plane? Who else would be steeled to face imminent death in the belief that martyrdom leads directly to Paradise?

Steadfast spirituality
Friday, September 14, 2001
Christians, Muslims, Jews and people of diverse faiths and spiritual backgrounds are reacting to America's worst terrorist attack with an outpouring of prayer and worship, often spontaneously. From candlelight vigils on the steps of the U.S. Capitol where members of Congress launched into a rendition of "God Bless America" to vigil services in Lawrence to petitions for prayer that replaced "Go Vols" billboards in Knoxville, Tenn., Americans are seeking spiritual help.

'Black boxes' found in Pentagon wreckage
Friday, September 14, 2001
(Updated Saturday at 12:03 a.m.) Searchers on Friday found the flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the hijacked plane that flew into the Pentagon and exploded three days earlier, Department of Defense officials said.

Bush calls reservists to active duty
Friday, September 14, 2001
(Updated Saturday at 12:03 a.m.)President Bush assured a country wounded by terrorism on Friday that America would meet its "responsibility to history" and "rid the world of evil." He approved the call-up of thousands of reservists, and Congress posted a $40 billion down payment to rebuild and retaliate.

6News report: Americans being targeted by other Americans
Friday, September 14, 2001
Tina Terry reports on the scapegoating towards Muslims and Middle East Americans.

Diverted flights resume from Kansas airports
Friday, September 14, 2001
Wichita Mid-Continent Airport and Garden City Regional Airport resumed flights Thursday as stranded passengers finally got airborne.
Mid-Continent sent its first diverted planes off Thursday.

Attack prompts Cap Fed to extend tender offer
Friday, September 14, 2001
By Mark Fagan

The parent company of Capitol Federal Savings announced Thursday that this week's terrorist attack on New York had forced the indefinite extension of a stock tender offer.
Capitol Federal Financial had intended to accept offers of shares up until 5 p.m. Tuesday, but now officials are urging shareholders not to mail information to New York for processing.

Hope keeps searches alive
Friday, September 14, 2001
The faces of the missing were plastered all over the city Thursday.

After panic comes uncertainty
Friday, September 14, 2001
By Carl P. Leubsdorf
Washington bureau chief of the Dallas Morning News

I heard the devastating news from New York City in a phone call from my deputy, Kathy Lewis. We discussed how to deploy our staff, and then it hit me. My wife, Susan Page, was on a plane to New York, due to arrive over the nation's largest city about the time the second of the two planes slammed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

Americans hold prayer services
Friday, September 14, 2001
(Updated Saturday at 12:04 a.m.) With somber prayers and patriotic hymns, the nation paused for a day of remembrance Friday, led by President Bush and four former presidents who worshipped together at the National Cathedral in Washington.

State Fair stays open; mood is dampened
Friday, September 14, 2001
Despite the somber mood at the Kansas State Fair, general manager Bill Ogg said he's happy with the decision to stay open.

Attack delays funeral, but not weddings
Friday, September 14, 2001
By Joy Ludwig

At least one Lawrence funeral has been cancelled because the air travel ban delayed return of the body.

Crop prices rise slightly as commodity trading begins
Friday, September 14, 2001
In the first day of trading after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, commodity markets made a strong showing Thursday with crop prices up slightly.

Many turn to Internet to reach loved ones
Friday, September 14, 2001
By the time Kia Williams escaped the World Trade Center area and made it back to her Newark, N.J., apartment, she was a wanted woman.

Evil must be opposed
Friday, September 14, 2001
By Cal Thomas
Tribune Media Services

Something else died on Tuesday, in addition to thousands of innocent people. It was the doctrine of moral equivalency - the idea that people everywhere are just like us, or can be made so by meeting their demands.

Aboard planes, death did not discriminate
Friday, September 14, 2001
The co-creator of "Frasier," the widow of actor Tony Perkins, the wife of the nation's top legal officer and a man who had flown across the U.S. to retrieve his family's dog were among the victims killed in Tuesday's devastating attacks against the United States, officials said.

Away from ground zero, Manhattan seeks recovery
Friday, September 14, 2001
Like a patient struggling to his feet after surgery, New York City took a few steps toward recovery Thursday while recognizing that life will never be the same.

Identification a daunting challenge
Friday, September 14, 2001
As experts prepare to identify what could be thousands of bodies from the rubble of the World Trade Center, relatives of the missing are sadly filling out a seven-page form that asks for heartbreaking personal details.

Condolences abroad
Friday, September 14, 2001

Congressional leaders agree on $40 billion package
Friday, September 14, 2001
White House officials and congressional leaders agreed early today to final details of a $40 billion package to combat terrorism and recover from attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Victims of terror
Friday, September 14, 2001
Here is a partial list of those killed in Tuesday's terrorist attacks, according to family members, friends, co-workers and law enforcement.

Humane groups put focus on abandoned pets
Friday, September 14, 2001
Humane organizations in New York and New Jersey and around the country are calling attention to another victim of the disaster: the abandoned or displaced pets of owners who were evacuated, hospitalized, or may never come home.

Poor nations love to hate U.S.
Friday, September 14, 2001
The late Colombian cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar, one of the most violent terrorists of modern times, put it succinctly.

Suicide a death better than fate's
Friday, September 14, 2001
A couple stepped out in tandem, holding hands. One man went headfirst, captured freeze-frame on film, arms loosely at his side, one leg akimbo in a graceful pass.

Bin Laden reportedly on the move
Friday, September 14, 2001
Osama bin Laden moved to a new hiding place within minutes of the terrorist onslaught in the United States, refusing to tell anyone where he was going or where he had been when the attacks occurred, sources in Pakistan's intelligence service said Thursday.

Major airlines take off again
Friday, September 14, 2001
The first few jetliners returned to the nation's skies Thursday, but several major airports remained closed and others opened only briefly. The few nervous passengers who did travel faced strict new security measures following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

U.S. mail moves steadily
Friday, September 14, 2001
The U.S. Postal Service has slowed in the aftermath of hijacking attacks on America, Lawrence's postmaster said Thursday, but not as much as might be expected.

Blood drive needs donors
Friday, September 14, 2001
By Mike Belt

This week's terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., put a new perspective on the law enforcement and fire services blood drive set for Saturday.
"Even before that, there was a shortage of blood," Douglas County Sheriff Rick Trapp said. "This takes on a new importance."

Player reps supported postponements
Friday, September 14, 2001
Once the other players heard the hurt and passion in the voices of their New York brethren, they knew what decision must be made: no NFL games this weekend. A conference call Wednesday night with all 31 team representatives led the NFL Players Association to strongly ask the league to call off Week 2 of the season.

Ryder Cup may be canceled
Friday, September 14, 2001
The Ryder Cup is still on — at least for now. This week's terrorist attacks have put the biennial golf event in doubt, with U.S. players expressing fears about flying to Britain for the Sept. 28-30 match at The Belfry.

K-State graduate prepares to take helm of military
Friday, September 14, 2001
As the U.S. military responds to terrorist attacks on its nerve center at the Pentagon and on the World Trade Center, an Air Force general from Kansas City, Mo., is preparing to take the helm.

NATO allies' support wavers slightly
Friday, September 14, 2001
America's allies have promised to help find and punish those who perpetrated this week's terrorist attacks in the United States. But as pressure mounts for some form of military retribution, there were cracks already forming Thursday in the avowed united front against terrorism.

U.S. groups will monitor civil liberties
Friday, September 14, 2001
Civil libertarians are girding for a backlash that could limit individual freedoms as a result of this week's terrorist attacks.

Europe weighs freedom against security
Friday, September 14, 2001
Sickened by terror no one imagined, free societies are suddenly wondering if they can afford their easygoing new world, with its open borders and liberties based on mutual trust.

Military recruiters encounter status quo
Friday, September 14, 2001
By Mike Belt

Terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon may have caused lines to form this week at blood centers, but that did not happen at area military recruiting and ROTC offices.

Community memorials, canceled events listed
Friday, September 14, 2001
Kansas University and the City of Lawrence are coordinating an interdenominational prayer service at noon today in the Lied Center. Classes at KU will be canceled between 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

6News report: Children need questions answered
Friday, September 14, 2001
Josh Garber reports on ways to answer children's questions about Tuesdays attacks.

6News report: Flags selling fast
Friday, September 14, 2001
Kim Hall reports on the high sales of flags and other patriotic symbols across America.

6News report: Vigil brings all religions together
Friday, September 14, 2001
Kim Hall reports on a candlelight vigil that took place Thursday evening on Campeneille Hill.

6News report: Lawrence shows its patriotism
Friday, September 14, 2001

6News report: Hemenway urges students, staff to talk about attacks in class
Friday, September 14, 2001
Kim Hall reports on Thursdays convocation at Budig Hall.

6Sports report: KU - Wyoming game postponed again
Friday, September 14, 2001
Kevin Romary reports on Thursday's decision by the Big 12 to cancel all athletic events through Sunday.

6News report: Congressional leaders to visit weapons plants
Friday, September 14, 2001
Josh Garber reports on the still closed U.S. Stock Markets, and plans by congressional leaders to visit the nations nuclear weapons plants

6News report: Rescue efforts continue
Friday, September 14, 2001
Josh Garber reports on the continuing rescue efforts at the World Trade Center.

6News report: Bomb scare at Capitol
Friday, September 14, 2001
Josh Garber reports on the approved $40 billion for rescue and clean up efforts in New York.

6News report: No over seas flights allowed in
Friday, September 14, 2001
Josh Garber reports on the limited number of flights allowed by FAA.

6News report: New FAA regulations to affect major commercial airports
Friday, September 14, 2001
Josh Garber reports on new FAA safety regulations and how they will affect the Lawrence airport.

6News report: Commercial traffic from Canada slowed by security measures
Friday, September 14, 2001
Josh Garber reports on the heightened security at the Canada - U.S. border.

6News report: First of the black box's found
Friday, September 14, 2001
Josh Garber reports on the discovery of the black box from the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania.

National choice
Friday, September 14, 2001

Feelings shared
Friday, September 14, 2001

Heavy heart
Friday, September 14, 2001

Just wait
Friday, September 14, 2001