LAWRENCE: Piece of Twin Towers to be Mercer County memorial

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
   LAWRENCE — As firefighters and emergency services workers stood silently in the background, Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes on Monday officially accepted a 10-foot-long section of a steel beam that had supported one of two buildings at the World Trade Center.
   The beam, which weighs more than a ton — 2,108 pounds — was delivered to the Capt. John T. Dempster Sr. Fire Service Training Center on Lawrence Station Road in Lawrence Township on Friday afternoon. It is destined to become part of a Mercer County 9/11 memorial at an as-yet-unknown location.
   Mr. Hughes requested a piece of steel from the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey in November 2010. The Port Authority is distributing pieces of steel from the Twin Towers for 9/11 memorials across the nation.
   ”This is an important day for Mercer County, a solemn day for Mercer County, and a day to remember the 27 Mercer County residents who lost their lives on that day we will never forget,” said Mr. Hughes as he stood next to the flag-draped beam, its bent rivets still in place.
   Sept. 11, 2001, was a day much like Monday — a clear, blue sky, said Mr. Hughes. But it was also a day that rocked the country and that will not be forgotten by American citizens, he said. The section of steel beam will reinforce that memory.
   ”We took the steps that were necessary to obtain this piece of history so that the generations after us will have a tangible, visceral part of Ground Zero to observe,” he said. “Within this object lie the emotions of a nation, of the state of New Jersey and of the residents of Mercer County.”
   Visitors to the planned memorial will be able to walk up to the steel beam and touch it, Mr. Hughes said. It will be placed in one of the parks in the Mercer County park system where it will be easily accessible to the public, he said.
   But for the near future, the steel beam will remain at the Capt. John T. Dempster Sr. Fire Service Training Center until a suitable location can be found “where we can sit, think and remember 9/11 — how we can get to such a place as human beings to act that way toward each other,” said Mr. Hughes.
   Acknowledging the firefighters and first responders standing behind him, he said they are the ones who rush into a building in an emergency as citizens run out of it. Many police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians raced to New York City to a scene of unbelievable devastation on Sept. 11, Sept. 12, Sept. 13 and the many days after, he said.
   Turning to the elected officials who stood next to him — acting Mercer County Sheriff Jack Kemler and Freeholders Pat Colavita Jr., Anthony Carabelli, John Cimino and Samuel Frisby — Mr. Hughes said none of them could imagine the stress and the strain facing their counterparts in New York City in the days after the 9/11 terrorist attack.
   Mr. Colavita, who lives in Lawrence Township, spoke up and thanked the firefighters and emergency responders who raced to New York City to help. He also thanked Mr. Hughes for arranging to have a piece of the World Trade Center sent to Mercer County.
   Then two Hopewell Township Fire Department firefighters removed the American flag that was draped over the steel beam. One of the firefighters carefully folded the flag and placed it on a corner of the beam.