on Sept. 11 attack on America
By kathy baratta
Staff Writer
LAKEWOOD — At the first meeting of the Township Committee following the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the United States, Mayor Marta Harrison and others spoke of the ramifications of that day.
Lakewood resident Fred V. Morrone, who is the head of the Port Authority’s Department of Public Safety, is listed among the missing at the site of the World Trade Center destruction.
Harrison said the horror inflicted on the country that day demanded that "our response, indeed our duty, is to carry on even if our thoughts are distracted."
James Waters, the president of the Ocean-Lakewood chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, addressed the meeting regarding the resurgence of patriotism the attack had brought about.
"The enemy is hate, and we’re going to find out that we can’t fight it with conventional methods," he said.
Waters said the solution is to look at the problem and deal with it through education, observing, "We can move on and look to do better."
"You don’t have to like or love everybody, but you do have to respect them," the NAACP president stated.
Waters, who works as an advocate for armed services veterans, said he was proud to see all the flags that were flying in Lakewood in the days after the attack, noting, "I didn’t know we had all those flags."
Vine Street resident Rich Warren, who introduced himself to the committee as a retired military man, called for the federal government to take a cautious approach to any retaliation measures that might be taken by the United States.
Warren said he didn’t want to see a "knee-jerk reaction to what has happened," while conceding that "grievous damage is likely to be inflicted."
"While we cheer our president and want swift vengeance, it will be at a price. Not all Americans will come back walking," Warren said.
Regarding the relief efforts that had sprung up throughout the state following the attack, Harrison said municipalities throughout the state had been asked by representatives of the state Office of Emer-gency Management to stop taking clothing and food donations to the Manhattan disaster site by the time of the Sept. 20 meeting.
Harrison said receiving the goods was actually interfering with the recovery effort as manpower had to be taken away from the actual work at the disaster site in order to process what was being delivered.
The mayor said anything that had already been collected would be donated to local charities and food drives.