The following is local information in response to the plane crashes today that destroyed the World Trade Center in New York, and the crash that hit the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. It has been updated througout the day.
The Boeing Co.’s new headquarters in Chicago was closed as a precaution, as was the company’s Washington, D.C., office.
Operations around Puget Sound continued under “heightened security,” according to a prerecorded statement on an emergency phone system.
An employee at Everett said that security checks at the factory gates were more stringent, with all cars being stopped and checked and all drivers being asked to show photo identification.
Trucks were being routed to one spot to be inspected before they were allowed on site.
At nearby Paine Field Airport, director Dave Waggoner said all flights were canceled, including several involving Boeing aircraft. No flights were diverted there.
Remaining calm, keeping normal family schedules and limiting or eliminating television coverage of Tuesday’s terrorist bombings are the most helpful things parents can do to help their kids cope, child specialists say.
“One of the most important things is to turn the TV off,” said Mark Mendelow, a social worker at Children’s Hospital &Regional Medical Center in Seattle.
Seeing the same images of disaster rebroadcast over and over will cause kids to think it’s happening again and again, he said. “By turning the TV off, it helps the kids regroup and feel safe again for the moment.”
Give short, honest and simple answers to your children’s questions, Mendelow advised. “If kids need more information, they’ll ask another question.”
Parents should try to maintain normal family activities and schedules as much as possible.
“The hope is that parents will not get so immobilized that kids freak out,” Mendelow said.
Have kids watch cartoons and remember that kids will sometimes express their feelings when playing or drawing, he said. If possible, parents should watch television coverage away from their kids. Limit their exposure to the news, he advised, but don’t pretend that it’s not happening.
Be honest without overwhelming them with information, Mendelow said, with messages such as, “It is scary, we don’t know what happened, but right now you’re here and you’re safe.”
If the family regularly attends religious services, children can pray or write a letter to God to express their feelings, or light a candle, he suggested. “Rely on your faith traditions.”
Children may become more anxious than usual, he said, and smaller children may start sucking their thumb or asking for a blanket and not be able to sleep tonight without a light on. Parents should avoid saying, ” ‘Don’t be a baby,’” he emphasized. “We all need that extra reassurance and comfort right now.”
Parents should also be especially kind to themselves, he said, by exercising, eating well, getting proper sleep and talking to family members.
“We want parents to be role models for their kids about managing stress,” Mendelow said.
Bill France, a Snohomish County child advocate who has worked as director of clinical programs at Luther Child Center in Everett, said that parents should stay close to children and remain calm and reassuring. France likens this scenario to one he saw on television this morning with New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
“He stays calm so that the public stays calm,” France said.
When two of his grandchildren came to his home this morning, France let them be their own guides. The older child wanted to watch the news, while the other wanted to watch a movie.
Dr. Shirley Stallings, medical director of Compass Health, said that the elderly and those who are isolated “are trapped by the media” coverage.
“We need to make sure those people are OK and connected to others they can talk to,” she said.
Lucy Berliner, director of the sexual assault and traumatic stress center at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, said that while children 10 and younger may need to be protected from images of destruction, it’s just the opposite for children 10 and older.
Trying to keep them from information may cause even more anxiety, she said. Because the tragedies occurred in cities far away, very small children may not have a lot of questions, she said.
But reassure them with statements such as the government is doing everything possible to keep people safe, and many people are prepared to handle emergencies like this, Berliner said.
“The essential job of a parent is to comfort and reassure children,” she said.
All U.S. Navy facilities in the Puget Sound area went on high alert Tuesday. Long lines of vehicles waited outside Naval Station Everett, while armed guards searched vehicles and checked the identification of occupants.
Regional spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Kim Marks said military security was “heightened.”
“We’re taking all precautionary measures throughout the region,” she said, although she refused to expand.
Three ships assigned to the Everett naval station, the destroyer USS Fife and frigates Ford and Rodney M. Davis, made unscheduled trips to sea Tuesday, apparent efforts to disperse the fleet.
Marks called that a “precaution.”
Because the Pentagon was one of the terrorist targets, U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., called that “a very rational response.”
The Davis, which has air-defense capability, will operate in Elliott Bay off Seattle.
Two Congress members representing parts of Snohomish County were shocked by the attacks.
Reps. Rick Larsen and Jay Inslee, both D-Wash., moved their daily operations to private residences in the Washington, D.C., area. Both offered sympathy to the families of the thousands of victims.
They also vowed to find the culprits.
“What happened today is a tragedy for America and these acts of violence against he United States shall not go unpunished,” Larsen said. “We will hunt down and bring to justice those who are responsible for these cowardly acts.”
Every attack like this leave a trail that can be followed, Larsen said. The full resources of the U.S. government will be employed to follow that trail, said Larsen, a member of the House Armed Services Committee.
“What happened today is a shock to everybody. This was a coordinated, multi-front effort by some individuals. We are going to find out who they are and bring them to justice,” Larsen added.
Inslee compared the attacks to Pearl Harbor in 1941.
“To paraphrase (Franklin D. Roosevelt), Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 is a day of infamy,” Inslee said. “It’s below the Pearl Harbor attack because victims were civilians.”
He said the nation will pull together in a way to reduce exposure to similar terrorist threats in the future, what Inslee called “the real threat” to this country.
She also said Congress needs to work with the airline industry to prevent hijackings.
Right now, Inslee said he’s concerned about the impact of this event on children.
“I hope there’s one thing we could do is to try and reduce the far of children,” Inslee said. “I hope we can try to give them a little confidence so they can go to school and sleep at night.”
Talk of the terrorist attacks dominated discussions in grocery store check-out lines, fast food restaurants, church offices and just about anywhere that two or more people were gathered in Oak Harbor Tuesday.
Who is responsible, what the military response would be and comparisons to the Oklahoma City bombing and the attack on Pearl Harbor were just some of the discussions.
Paul Steinsiek, a locksmith, paused to talk about the tragedy after unlocking a car for a stranded motorist. He heard about the news right after it happened, when he turned on his television shortly after 6 a.m. Steinsiek was struck by two thoughts, he said.
“First, disbelief. And second, when we find out who it is, remove them,” Steinsiek said.
“The sun is shining here, but it sure doesn’t feel like it,” said Debbie Beyer, who is married to a Navy chief stationed at the Whidbey Naval Air Station.
“My heart is really dark,” Beyer said, adding that Oklahoma City immediately came to mind when she heard about the terrorist attacks.
Some churches in Oak Harbor scheduled special prayer meetings Tuesday night.
Marshall McBride, associate pastor of music and worship at First Church, said the church will hold a prayer meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the sanctuary room.
“We will be praying for justice to be done and for the future of our nation,” McBride said.
“It’s an overwhelming tragedy,” he said. “But we also trust in the ultimate justice and healing that God will bring.”
It’s inevitable that some members of the congregation, Navy pilots at the nearby base, will be deployed in the near future, he said.
There will be prayers for those service members, as well, McBride said.
The terrorist attacks hit close to home for McBride, who spent 14 years in the New York City area, working for churches in Brooklyn and Long Island.
“These people and places are real to me,” he said. “And the thought of New York skyline without the trade towers is overwhelming.”
The attacks meant some changes to the daily life schedules in this military town. The Navy Youth Center was closed for the day. At Oak Harbor High School, a girls soccer game at Arlington High School was canceled, as well as a home volleyball game against Mariner High.
All athletic programs at North Whidbey Middle School were canceled for the day, and an ice cream social at Oak Harbor Middle School was cancelled. A meeting on kindergarten curriculum at Olympic View Elementary was also called off.
The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Department beefed up security at several sensitive sites in the county.
Two deputies were stationed at Culmback Dam, where the gates were locked following news of the East Coast attacks, Sheriff Rick Bart said. The dam holds back Spada Lake, in eastern Snohomish County, and is the source of water for roughly 75 percent of the county’s population.
Security was also increased at the Navy Support Complex at Smokey Point, where things such as the commissary and recreation facilities are located, and a naval radio station in north Snohomish County, Bart said.
Officials with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, like all Federal agencies, are taking appropriate measures to safeguard the nation, said Virginia Kice, Northwest regional spokeswoman for INS.
Kice would not say what those measures were, however.
“Information about the Federal government’s response will come out of Washington (D.C.) All Federal agencies are taking appropriate action,” she said.
Kice said that the nation’s borders were not closed.
Contrary to what some television and radio stations were reporting, “The borders are not closed,” Kice said.
“There was a brief closure about 7 a.m. in Lynden, Wash. because of a suspicious package,” Kice said, “but that was cleared, and they’re reopening.”
State Department of Transportation officials this morning reported heavier than normal traffic on I-5 in the vicinity of McChord Air Force Base and the Army’s Fort Lewis as all military personnel reported to duty.
U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer 2nd Class Sarah Foster said her agency also is on heightened alert with vehicles being stopped or searched at all installations in the state.
Religious organizations around Snohomish County reacted in unison today to the events unfolding on the east coast “Each person’s life is worth a whole world,” Rabbi Harley Karz-Wagman of Everett said, citing a Jewish sentiment.
At the Temple Beth Or in Everett, Karz-Wagman was shaken on a personal level by the events unfolding on the east coast, as well as feeling concern for his congregation.
He had been trying all morning to reach a friend who works in the World Trade Center in New York. No phone calls were going through.
Karz-Wagman was also concerned that people not jump to conclusions and condemn all Arabs as terrorists, an easy target in the race to lay blame.
“My first reaction was not to stereotype Arabs, and not assume this was the act of Arab or Islamic militants,” he said.
As a Jew, Karz-Wagman said his people have been blamed for centuries for things they were not responsible for, and doesn’t want the same thing to happen to Arabs and Muslims.
“Each death is a horrific thing,” he said. “We have to mourn and respect every death.”
Karz-Wagman said while the Temple Beth Or is not planning any gatherings specifically to address the attacks, they will be stepping up security surrounding Rosh Hashana events, the Jewish new year holiday which starts at sundown Wednesday.
Calls to Islamic Centers in Snohomish County this morning went unanswered.
The American Muslim Political Coordination Council in Washington DC released a statement today condemning the attacks, saying “American Muslims utterly condemn what are apparently vicious and cowardly acts of terrorism against innocent citizens,” and “No political cause could ever be assisted by such immoral acts.”
Close to 50 people, twice the normal amount, attended the 9 a.m. mass at the Church of Saint Cecilia’s in Stanwood this morning. They came to seek solace, and perhaps try to make sense out of what they had heard on the morning news.
The Caremelite Order Priest, Father Dave Centner, gave a special votive mass, reserved for times of war and civil disturbance.
Centner spoke of the need to pray for the victims of violence, and for the perpetrators. He quoted Pope Paul the sixth, “If you want peace you have to work for justice.”
Father Colm Stone said, “While we enjoy peace, so many people don’t.” Stone urged people to let go of the violence in their lives, and welcome peace in the world.
Stone said after the mass the congregation sang God Bless America.
At Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic church in Everett, receptionist Charlotte McCoy said today’s morning mass went on as usual, while the tragedy was unfolding. Attendance at that mass was about normal, but she expects more people at the regular Tuesday night mass at 6 p.m. tonight.
At the Greater Trinity Missionary Baptist Church the Reverend Paul Stoot, Sr. consoled a member of his congregation whose mother and brother worked at the World Trade Center. Neither of them were accounted for by early afternoon today.
“She commented to me that her mother worked on the 101st floor,” Stoot said. One of the twin towers was reduced to rubble by the attack this morning.
Another church member has a brother who works at the Trade Center, but he called in sick today and so was not in the building when it was attacked.
Stoot said his church is holding a community prayer vigil tonight to pray for the victims and the nation.
At the Avodah Yeshiva Fellowship, a messianic Judaism organization in Lynnwood, Secretary Fern Carlson was remaining calm.
When she heard the news this morning she sent out an email to the mostly gentile congregation, telling them there was no reason to panic, as the situation was in God’s hands. She included a biblical quote, “He is in perfect peace whose mind staid on thee.”
She said the bible talks of events such as these coming to pass as part of the last days of Earth.
“It’s been the last days since the New Testament was written,” she said.
She also noted today’s date was 9/11. “I think it’s sort of an emergency call, don’t you think?”
Chris Harris, 44, of Lake Stevens, an employee of the federal Internal Revenue Service, heard about the attacks on his way to work.
“I thought it was a hoax. I didn’t believe it,” Harris said. “I thought it was some kind of gag the radio station was pulling.”
Harris said many of his co-workers were afraid to show up.
“I think everybody’s concerned about being a target,” he said.
Snohomish County Fire District 4 Chief Bob Merritt said there are none of the district’s firefighters trained to do urban rescues of the magnitude that is happening in New York and Washington, DC.
But he said the district ‘s firefighters are preparing for mobilization to fill in for other firefighters from the area that might be called to participate in rescue efforts elsewhere.
“We would be ready to fill in for them here locally,” he said. “And we are ready in the case that there is another (airline) event in our area.”
Herald publisher emeritus Larry Hanson and his wife, Raili, were enjoying the third day of their three-week vacation in Paris on Tuesday when they heard the news.
“Fortunately, CNN has had continuous coverage, because we were at the Eiffel Tower, and in the cab on the way back to the hotel, the cab driver didn’t speak English, but she was trying to use hand movements to tell us what had happened,” Hanson said.
“We thought maybe the stock market had crashed.”
Hanson said he and his wife spent the afternoon in their hotel, watching the news. The hotel staff was clearly affected by the incidents, as well, he said, and was treating them with extra concern and compassion.
When they ordered coffee from room service, the woman who brought it to them “was just shaking, she was so upset and didn’t know what to say.”
At this point, Hanson said the situation has not affected his vacationing plans.
“We have felt very safe here,” he said. “We were going to go out for dinner tonight, but we decided to stay (in the hotel), more so we’d know what was going on. We don’t have any great fear for our safety, more just a sick feeling of the risk for all the people at home.”
City Manager Bill McDonald said the decision was made at mid morning that the city’s emergency center would not be mobilized.
“But we are in a state of alert,” he said. “We have sent city officials to inspect all our critical facilities, all public buildings and all bridges.”
Officials, including local police officers and firefighters, looked for “anything suspicious,” he said, such as abandoned vehicles or unmarked boxes.
“There is no expectation that we will be directly affected here in Snohomish,” he said. “But we in a heighten state of awareness.”
One of the first things that was addressed in the city was making sure that no flights took off from Harvey Airfield in the west part of the city.
“Harvey Airfield is part of the FAA directive that no planes take off anywhere in the U.S.,” McDonald said. “We sent someone out there to officially make sure that that was understood.”
Kandice Harvey, owner of Harvey Airfield, confirmed that the airport was closed at about 9:30 a.m.
“We have cancelled all flights and we have blockaded the runways so that no one can fly,” she said.
The directive came from the FAA, she said, and apparently most local pilots had heard the news because the airport has been quiet. About 400 planes per day take off from Harvey Field.
McDonald said police patrol officers also were sent to Snohomish area schools.
“It is our feeling that having officers visible in the schools is something that may help today,” he said.
Otherwise, McDonald said City Hall remains open for business, serving the public.
“It’s business as usual as much as it can be when something like this happens,” he said. “We are monitoring the news and we’re attempting to all do our jobs.
“Of course we are all doing some praying, for those who are personally affected by this, and for the nation.”
In Monroe, City Administrator Bill Verwolf said city hall and city business is being conducted as normal as possible and as many police as possible have been put in uniform.
“We’re in a heightened state of security,” he said. “We’re trying to be watchful, and yet not overreact.”
Gov. Gary Locke said:
“I’m shocked and horrified at today’s appalling terrorist attacks against the United States of America. My heart goes out to all the victims of today’s senseless attacks.
“I echo the statement from President Bush earlier today that this cowardly action will not stand.
“The business of government will go on and that includes state government.
“Terrorists cannot and will not bring Americans to their knees. The American spirit will prevail.
“To our citizens and state employees, I assure you that we are taking all precautionary measures to ensure your safety.
“I have ordered flags at all state facilities to be lowered to half-staff and encourage all organizations, businesses, schools and institutions across Washington to lower their flags to half-staff.
“We must all remain vigilant. More importantly, I urge you to keep the families and friends of the victims and rescue workers in your thoughts and prayers.”
Continental Airlines pilot JC Cuevas awoke to his daughter telling him today that a kamikaze pilot had crashed an airplane into the World Trade Center.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Cuevas said. “My mind immediately told me I must not be awake. I was flipping between what she was telling me and the theme in a Tom Clancy book I recently read where a pilot crashes a 747 into the Capitol building.”
As Cuevas began to wake up and realize that the news of the American tragedy was true, he turned to television to hear the latest.
“When it was mentioned that one of the planes (involved in the terrorist acts Tuesday) was based in Newark, I was very concerned because 80 percent of the flights out of Newark are Continental flights.”
Resisting desires to call and check on fellow pilots and employees of the airline that he has flown with for 25 years, Cuevas instead watched the news unfold. He couldn’t help but think about what he would have done, had he been flying one of those planes.
“There is just no way that any American pilot would have flown into a building,” he said. “No one with any integrity would do that. If it were me, they (terrorists) would have had to kill me first.”
Although he said it is much too early to know, the news speculation that terrorists may have killed the pilots and flown the planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon themselves, fits with what he thinks may have happened.
“There has to be something else involved,” he said. “The people (pilots) I know would never do anything like that,” he said.
As a former pilot of Boeing 757s and 767s, Cuevas confirmed that pilots have a way of communicating that the planes are being hijacked without verbally saying so to air control tower officials.
Cuevas, who lives in Snohomish and flies international Boeing 777 flights, is home on vacation. He returned home from a flight to Paris and London two days ago.
When he is between flights, he has apartment accommodations in New York, in a high rise building that overlooks the World Trade Center.
“When I watch the tapes of the World Trade Center collapsing, it is just unbelievable,” he said. “That is one huge building. The devastation must be horrific. The loss of lives will be great (in number).”
Cuevas said no one could be prepared for something like this. However, he has faith in the security in America’s airports.
“The system works,” he said. “But ultimately, human beings are involved, and there is always a chance that things will happen.”
Although commercial flights in the U.S. are grounded for the time being, Cuevas said air travel will commence eventually. He thinks, however, that the terrorist attacks of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 will never be dismissed in anyone’s mind.
“This is a horrific situation, a horrible tragedy,” he said. “It will change our way of life forever.”
Deception Pass Bridge, one of the state’s most popular tourist attractions, was closed to visitors Tuesday morning.
Orange construction barrels and cones, and orange and yellow construction tape, closed off parking areas on both sides of the bridge.
The State Patrol had troopers posted at the northern end, while workers from the state parks department kept visitors away from the south end of the bridge. The bridge, usually packed with camera-toting tourists, was eerily empty.
Five of six gates at the Whidbey Naval Air Station were closed, leaving just the Charles Porter gate open. A 100-percent ID check was in effect, and no one without a Department of Defense ID card could get onto the base.
“All the gates are closed, except this one,” said Anthony Popp, a spokesman for the base. Security has been heightened, he added, including at military housing neighborhoods in the area.
The closures will continue, he said.
“Right now, it’s indefinite. I don’t know how long this is going to take,” Popp said. “People should expect delays.”
Earlier, the base fire department filled waist-high yellow traffic barricades with water, and the obstacles were placed in the roadway at each gate to prevent straight-through access.
Like the rest of the country, Oak Harbor residents were left in a numbed state of shock over the morning’s events.
“I can’t even comprehend the situation. I still can’t believe that that would happen in this country,” said Mary Woodbury, a retired Navy anti-submarine warfare specialist who lives in Oak Harbor. “I have friends who work at the Pentagon.”
“I don’t have a television and I got in my car. And I thought it was a radio prank, until I saw the flags at half mast.
“It’s World War III, I’m afraid. Bush has already mentioned retaliation, what does that mean?”
“I can’t believe that it has happened and I don’t know what to think. I’m just numb,” she said.
A 20-year veteran of the Navy, she said she was shocked by the terrorist attacks. A new Whidbey Island resident who doesn’t have a TV yet, she went to the library in Oak Harbor to get an update on the attacks via the Internet.
“The Oklahoma bombing was nothing compared to this,” she said.
Signs of support and hope were already springing up throughout Oak Harbor, a military town with strong ties to the Navy.
Leslie Steinbach, an assistant manager at Dugualla Bay Farms, was putting up a readerboard message outside the business on Highway 20 that read: “We will prevail Together United.” She had just listened to Pres. Bush’s address to the nation.
“Pres. Bush said we will pass the test,” she said.
On the other side of the billboard, McCala Caren spelled out “God Bless America.”
All U.S. Navy facilities in the Puget Sound area went on high alert this morning. Long lines of vehicles waited outside Naval Station Everett this morning while guards checked identification of vehicle occupants.
Regional spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Kim Marks said military security was “heightened.”
“We’re taking all precautionary measures throughout the region,” she said, although she refused to expand.
Three ships assigned to the Everett naval station, the destroyer USS Fife and frigates Ford and Rodney M. Davis, made unscheduled trips to sea Tuesday morning, apparent efforts to disperse the fleet.
Marks called that a “precaution.”
Because the Pentagon was one of the terrorist targets, U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., called that “a very rational response.”
The Navy’s support center at Smokey Point closed down about 8:30 this morning, and personnel were turning visitors away.
Community Transit sent a number of its buses back into Seattle later this morning, said Tom Pearce, spokesman for Community Transit.
“We transport about 5,000 people from Snohomish County to the city (Seattle),” Pearce said. “We want to make sure those folks can get back home.”
Pearce said all regular routes will continue as scheduled. Road supervisors are also standing by at the Mukilteo and Edmonds ferry docks to help direct ferry passengers without vehicles. For more information on bus service, call 425-353-RIDE (7433).
In Edmonds, Mayor Gary Haakenson said the city has opened its Emergency Operations Center in light of this morning’s tragic events on the East Coast.
He also plans to be on a conference call with Gov. Gary Locke at about 11:30 a.m.
“It is a sad day in our country’s history,” Haakenson said. “Flags are being flown at half-mast in honor of those who lost their lives today.”
City employees are on alert for anything out of the ordinary. Ferry lanes are also being monitored since Washington State Ferries are running passenger-only runs.
Airports are closed, and the ramps from State Route 518 to Sea-Tac Airport are closed.
Washington State Ferries is running passenger service only, and airports are closed.
Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway and Union Pacific Railroad have resumed operations. They are operating under heightened security.
Amtrak service in Washington state is suspended.
Dan Leach, spokesman for Microsoft, said employees at the company are “shocked and saddened” of today’s news.
Business is as usual at the company’s campuses, however.
Employees at New York and Washington D.C. campuses have been accounted for, Leach said. Microsoft employees in Washington state also had the option to work from home today, he said. The locations of top Microsoft executives were not released per company policy, Leach said.
In Washington state, the company has offices in Redmond, Bellevue, Seattle and Issaquah. Campuses were open today, but state of security could also not be disclosed, Leach said.
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport spokesman Bob Parker said they have been told by the Federal Aviation Administration that no aircraft will be allowed to land or take off until at least 7 a.m. Wednesday.
“That could change at any time,” he said.
Airport security cleared all the concourses of passengers in order to bring bomb-sniffing dogs in for a security sweep.
Parker said the airport is prepared to let stranded passengers stay in the terminal overnight and have arranged with food vendors to ensure that meals are available.
Airport security blocked off the roads. The highway leading into the airport was virtually deserted by 9 a.m.
Some midair flights had been rerouted to the Seattle airport, but the FAA later closed the central Puget Sound area to any further arriving flights.
Erik Hanson, 18, of Stanwood expected to fly to Salt Lake City today to visit a friend instead he wound up walking down a street near the airport looking for a pay hone to call his dad and get picked up.
After all flights in the nation were canceled, passengers scrambled to find motel rooms, rental cars and reach loved ones to tell them they are OK.
Airport televisions drew small crowds of people trying to gather the latest information.
Jackie Pipkins and Sarah Emery were on a Continental flight returning to Houston from a weekend birthday celebration in Seattle. The flight was turned around after about a half hour and forced to return to Seattle.
Pipkins, a customer service manager for Continental Airlines, said she was numbed by news of the apparent attack.
“We haven’t been hit since Pearl Harbor,” she said.
“It showed us our real vulnerability. We have a comfort level we’ve grown very accustomed to and today makes you realize we take everything for granted.”
She worried about her family in Houston, and about finding a blood-thinning drug used to treat her problems with blood clots. She had already bolstered her dwindling supplies with packets of aspirin bought at airport stores.
“People are panicking,” she said, calmly. “They don’t understand what a national emergency is.”
Rob and Janie Schmidt were trying to decide whether to wait for the flight to resume or drive their rental car from Seattle to their St. Louis home.
By 9 a.m. their couple had already spoken with their babysitter and arranged for her to take care of their 2-year-old.
The city of Marysville activated its emergency operations center at 7:45 a.m. in response to the terrorist attacks.
City officials followed procedures laid out in the city’s disaster plan to ensure that local public facilities such as buildings, reservoirs, lift stations, wastewater treatment plant and bridges are under watch by designated city employees.
Police and fire officials stepped up security at city public offices.
The Marysville Public Safety Building at 1635 Grove St. is requiring all visitors with police, fire or municipal court-related business to provide photo identification and to sign in before entering the building.
Police at city hall are monitoring traffic to and from the building, including recording of license plates.
“While this may cause inconveniences for local residents, it is deemed necessary in the interests of public safety,” said Doug Buell, the city’s community information officer.
The local U.S. Navy installations are on the highest level of military alert, and uniformed city police have been asked to provide security at the Navy Support Complex in north Marysville. They will be working cooperatively with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office and Arlington Police.
In Everett, the city has opened its Emergency Operations Center to “place the city in a state of readiness,” Mayor Ed Hansen said.
“Certainly, we’ve got to take these things seriously,” Hansen said. “(But, we’re) not aware of any specific threats (to the city).”
Hansen said he would meet at about 10 a.m. with city departments heads. Police and fire chiefs also had the authority to bring in additional people if necessary, Hansen said.
City Police Department spokesman Boyd Bryant stressed there are no indicators that point to any danger locally.
In Lake Stevens, City Administrator Dave O’Leary said business is as usual. However, he said city officials are “being watchful and vigilant.”
“We have emergency procedures in place that we’ll be able to implement if there is need to,” O’Leary said. “We laid a lot of these plans back (preparing for) the Year 2000. It’s really unlikely that we in our little city would need to implement these things, but we’re looking for anything unusual.”
In the Arlington School District, older students were allowed to watch the events unfold on TV; younger ones were not.
For the most part, they watched in silence.
“There is just an overwhelming sadness in looking at this,” said Linda Byrnes of the school district.
“We are jointly watching this national tragedy, trying to make sure we are helping the kids dealing with what they are watching,” Byrnes said. “This is a total change in the rest of our lives.”
An announcement was made at the beginning of the school day at Everett High School early Tuesday morning, and teachers were told to make sure they were conscious of student needs.
Guidelines were given on how the television would be used.
“We are trying to be sensitive to watching it,” said Pat Sullivan, EHS principal. “We are not just turning it on and watching it unfold because we don’t know what it is going to happen.”
Snohomish County law enforcement agencies were in a state of heightened alert and coordination with other emergency departments, but took no other visible actions.
“There is no quantifiable or established threat to anything local,” said Sgt. Boyd Bryant, Everett police spokesman.
“Go look at the streets,” he said. “They are deserted. People are inside watching TV. Nobody is moving around.”
Jan Jorgensen, spokeswoman for the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, said officials there were coordinating with county and state emergency management officials, but no other steps had been taken.
Both Providence Everett Medical Center and the University of Washington in Seattle have established command centers “just in case.”
The Snow Goose Bookstore in downtown Stanwood was a popular place today as people gathered to talk about the tragedy.
“We’re already a community center here,” said Chris Satterlund, co-owner of the Snow Goose Bookstore with Kristine Kaufman.
One reaction came from a magazine delivery driver, a Middle Eastern man named Ali.
“I asked him if he had any family in New York. He said no, but, “It’s too much. It’s just too much,” Satterlund said.
One of the other delivery drivers from Fed ex said: “It’s worst than Pearl Harbor. My children are both in high school, and my mother told me to turn it on. My son is in global studies and my daughter is in social studies, and both my kids said, ‘Does this mean war?’ “
Satterlund said it’s a historic and terrifying day.
“We’ve already had many calls from people to save the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and other papers, including yours,” she said.
“We’re worried, too, because all of our sales reps and all the publishing world is in New York, and we have many friends there.”
Rob Putnam, airport manager at the Arlington Airport, said he called the FAA’s flight services telephone line this morning when he heard of the East Coast attack.
“All flights are canceled,” he said, adding that one plane whose pilot had not heard the news did come in from the south this morning.
The small airport has 135,000 operations a year, Putnam said.
In Bothell, city spokeswoman Joyce Goedeke said the city had activated its emergency operations center at a Level 1, the lowest level, as a precautionary measure.
“At this time, all personnel on duty are ready to go and in our community,” she said.
The city topped off its drinking water supplies. And gas tanks on city vehicles were also topped off, Goedeke said.
Business was as usual in Brier this morning. City Clerk Norma Wilds said city staffers were “listening to the radio and praying.”
All major league baseball games – including the Seattle Mariners’ game at Anaheim – were postponed, as was the Tacoma Rainiers’ Pacific Coast League Championship Series opener at New Orleans.
While the Western Washington Fair remains open, the concert tonight featuring Mya was canceled.
Mya was driving to an airport in New York when flights across the nation were canceled.
The Chicago concert Wednesday is still on.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
