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Never Forget

Recently, Congress voted down a bi-partisan bill that would have ensured that the terrorists who brought death and destruction to our homeland on September 11, 2001 would be tried as war criminals in military courts, not as common criminals tried in civilian courts with full Constitutional protections on American soil. The Obama administration has not been truthful with the public about the risks associated with bringing these cases in federal court, where critical evidence will be excluded, classified intelligence will be made available to our enemies, foreign counterterrorism partners will be exposed and the "mastermind of 9/11" will be allowed to mock his victims just blocks from where they died.

theBravest.com has partnered with 9/11 Families for a Safe & Strong and America and Keep America Safe to bring attention to this travesty. We are recruiting the families & friends of the FDNY to combat this ill-conceived policy of the current administration.

This week letters were sent to President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates questioning the wisdom of bringing these terrorists onto US soil to try them in civilian courts for their grievous crimes against this great country, including the murder of 343 New York City firefighters.

93 of them were my friends.

They were all my brothers.

I cannot stand by and let this happen without a fight.

Please read the letter and CLICK HERE if you would like to add your signature.

Thank-you,

Tim Brown

FDNY-Retired, 9/11 Survivor

neverforget@theBravest.com

Thursday November 19, 2009

Dying Hero's Plea: Pass 9/11 Bill >>

NY Daily News 11/19/09

It’s time for Congress finally to make sure the sick and dying heroes who answered the call are given the help leaders promised them in the days after the worst-ever terrorist attack on America, the 48-year-old ex-firefighter hoped to say.
He couldn’t make it from New York to the rally in Washington. He’s dying himself.
“I was a 46-year-old firefighter, working at my job in April 2006,” said the husband and father of two teenage boys and a 9-year-old daughter.
His doctor thought he had gallstones, but it was pancreatic cancer, a deadly illness more common in older men.
The fire department eventually agreed the cancer was from 9/11, and he retired.
He beat it once.
Then came the relapse last November — and more treatments.
His doctor can’t do any more.
“They just determined last week it wasn’t working. As of right now, I’m not on anything. At this point, I’m just seeking second opinions,” Ryan said.
He doesn’t want to ask how much time he has left>>>

Holder Faces Questions On Gitmo Trials

And Ft Hood At Senate Hearing

WASHINGTON - NOVEMBER 18: Theresa Regan (2nd L), who lost her husband and FDNY firefighter Donald Regan at the South Tower of the World Trade Center during the 9/11 terrorists attacks, listens with her son Peter (L) and daughterJill (3rd L) during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill November 18, 2009 in Washington, DC. The hearing was to examine the 'Oversight of the Department of Justice.' Jill Regan was holding a letter with about 100,000 signatures calling for U.S. President Barack Obama to try 9/11 conspirators in military commissions instead of Article III courts.

9/11 Kin Put Heat On Holder

NY Post 11/19/09

Attorney General Eric Holder faced tough questions during a Senate hearing yesterday, but the toughest of all came after the lawmakers filed out of the room.
Alice Hoagland, whose son, Mark Bingham, was killed in the 9/11 hijacking of Flight 93, politely laid out her own concerns with the plan to put accused terrorists on trial in Manhattan.
"I can't help thinking that it does make New York City a more dangerous place and a target and it will give these ugly people . . . every elegant access to all of the media sources in the United States. We are heartsick and weary of the delays and mechanizations of the courts, and the theatrics that are going to take over," Hoagland said.
Holder had said in the hearing that he had consulted with family members like Hoagland>>>

Surfer Dies In Rough Seas Off Rockaway Beach

1010WINS 11/12/09

A man surfing at a New York City beach died after getting caught in pounding surf churned up by a passing tropical storm.

A fire department spokesman says two firefighters responding to an emergency call Thursday pulled the man out of the waters off Rockaway Beach in Queens.

Emergency medical technicians attempted to revive the 36-year-old surfer, but he was pronounced dead at a local hospital. His name was not immediately released.

The spokesman says it appears the lone surfer was in the water alone when the leg strap that tethers the surfboard to his ankle became tangled and the rough surf pushed him toward a jetty.

Brooklyn Man, Two Toddlers Killed In Fire: Incense To Blame As FDNY Is Delayed At Wrong Address

NY Daily News 11/18/09

A father and his two boys died Wednesday in a fire - apparently sparked by burning incense - that tore through their Brooklyn apartment.

Firefighters, who were briefly dispatched to the wrong address, pulled the lifeless and soot-covered victims from the inferno at 654 St. Marks Ave. but not in time.

Despite feverish efforts by paramedics to revive Myrtel Jean, 42, and his sons - Fabrice, 2, and Sebastian, 1 - on the sidewalk, they perished a short time later in Kings County Hospital.

"If I hadn't gone to work, I would have been awake and I could have saved them all," said Bernardo Jean in front of the sixth-floor flat where he lived with his brother and nephews>>>

After Helping Family Escape Fire, Queens

Man Dies Retrieving His Cell Phone

NY Daily News 11/16/09

A 75-year-old man helped his family escape his burning Queens home early Monday - but died after running back into the house for his cell phone, witnesses and FDNY sources said.
Nathaniel Lagree was found lifeless in the basement of his smoky St. Albans home a short time after the fire ignited at 6:20 a.m., FDNY officials said.
Lagree helped pry open the front door of his Zoller Road home to free his wife, Betty, and daughter, Patricia, from the choking smoke, witnesses said>>>

Ex-Con Faces Murder Charge In Queensbridge Arson Attack

Queens Gazzette 11/18/09

A pregnant mother of two young children remains in critical but stable condition at the New York Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center this week, where she is recovering from burns she suffered when her ex-boyfriend set her on fire at the Queensbridge Houses on Sunday morning, November 15.
Police said Khenan Clarke, 25, stormed out of Latisha Shaw’s apartment at the Queensbridge Houses just before 11 a.m. on Sunday, moments after the couple ended a 15-minute screaming match.
Clarke returned to the apartment a short while later with several cans of gasoline. After setting fire to a hallway and a staircase outside Shaw’s apartment, the ex-con knocked on Shaw’s door. When she opened the door, Clarke tossed gasoline over her and lit a match, police said. Shaw screamed as she went up in flames, as her horrified children looked on>>>

3 Hurt in 2-Alarm Blaze at Harlem Housing Complex

1010WINS 11/13/09

When firefighters arrived at the Polo Grounds housing complex Friday afternoon, flames were shooting from a seventh floor apartment, officials say.
Battalion Chief Raymond Sessa says the weather made the blaze difficult to fight.
"The wind was a factor in this fire," Sessa said. " We had a heavy wind condition blowing fire back into the apartment so we deployed our fire blanket and it helped tremendously."
Firefighters were eventually able to move into the apartment and extinguish the two-alarm blaze.
Officials say one firefighter and two civilians sustained minor injuries.
The fire was contained to the apartment where it started.
The cause of the blaze is under investigation.

Firetruck Racing To Brooklyn Blaze Crashes Into Car

WPIX.com 11/18/09

A firetruck racing to the scene of a blaze crashed into a car in the Manhattan section of Brooklyn Wednesday evening, PIX News has learned.The accident occurred on Oriental Boulevard and Colerdige Street around 5:30 p.m.

The driver of the car was injured and rushed to the hospital. The condition of the victim was not immediately known.

Mom Torched

Pregnant Gal is Set Aflame by Ex: Cops

WPIX-TV 11/16/09

An embittered ex-boyfriend doused a pregnant woman with gasoline and set her on fire in the doorway of her Queens apartment yesterday as her horrified children looked on, officials and neighbors said.

Then, in the ultimate act of cowardice, after the twisted attacker slipped in the gasoline and accidentally set himself ablaze, too, he tried to pass himself off as a victim until he was identified by one of the injured woman's friends, witnesses said.

The suspect, Kehman Clarke, 25, knocked on Latisha Shaw's door in the Queensbridge Apartments in Long Island City shortly before 11 a.m. -- after setting a hallway and a staircase on fire to prevent her escape, officials said.

When she opened her door, he tossed the gas over her and lit her with a match, authorities said. The kids watched in shock as their mom went up in flames.

"The mother was burned up pretty badly," said firefighter Dave Loeser, who helped rescue Shaw>>>

Contractor Punctures Airport Fuel Pipeline

Queens Gazzette 11/18/09

A private contractor drilling on a site at 37th Street and Skillman Avenue on Tuesday morning November 17 punched a hole in the Buckeye Pipeline, a main artery feeding jet fuel to LaGuardia and Kennedy Airports.
The break spilled approximately 500 gallons of jet fuel onto Skillman Avenue and adjoining streets, resulting in a traffic nightmare that sent motorists onto nearby Northern Boulevard, police officials said.
Firefighters responded to the scene at around 11:25 a.m., applied foam to the fuel and managed to shut down the feed to the pipeline in the immediate area, FDNY officials said.
Firefighters from the FDNY Haz-Mat unit were working on isolating the break to avoid further cutoff of fuel to the airports.
Representatives from the city Office of Emergency Management remained at the scene to monitor the situation and determine what further steps needed to be taken to repair and restore the system.
Police officials would not say what action, if any, would be taken against the contractor.

Report Faults Con Ed with Gas Blast Tragedy

Queens Courier 11/18/09

Nearly seven months after a fatal gas explosion shook a quiet Floral Park community to its core, the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) has faulted Con Edison with failing to stave off the tragedy.

In a report issued Thursday, November 12, the PSC identified errors made by Con Ed’s first responder and questioned whether the utility company’s internal systems – such as its handling of gas odor reports and its dispatching process; its ability to contact emergency responders and provide them with adequate equipment; and its leak investigation procedures – are sufficient to prevent future calamities from occurring>>>

City Hall Orders $1.75B in Additional Budget Cuts

Layoffs could be next as agencies must slash costs this year and next

NBCNewYork 11/17/09

Time to sharpen the budget knives -- again. City Hall bean-counters have asked city agencies to make deep new cuts for this year and next -- cuts which may include lay-offs.

Agencies have been asked for plans to cut $550 million from this year's budget and between $1.2 billion from next years budget, NBCNewYork.com has learned. Uniformed agencies -- cops and firemen -- and the Department of Education will face a duller budget axe, with smaller cuts expected for this year and next.

But other city agencies will have to make deeper slashes, according to an Office Management and Budget memo obtained by NBCNewYork.com. The new cuts would come on top of $3-plus billion dollars in cuts already enacted by the cash-strapped city government>>>

WTC Ship Departs New York for Home Port

Newsday 11/12/09

The ship has sailed.

The USS New York has left its namesake city after finishing up its inaugural visit. Lt. Commander Suzanna Brugler said the ship left at 7 a.m. Thursday and headed to a Naval weapons station in New Jersey. The plan was to wait out severe weather further south before continuing to its home port of Norfolk, Va>>>

Stephen's House Awaits Its Young Guests, Family and Friends of Fallen Firefighter Help Dedicate Foundling Building

Staten Island Advance 11/18/09

The setting sun and the circling white doves lent the new five-story building on the hilltop in Stapleton a quiet majesty. But very soon the noises of childhood, happy and hopeful, will inhabit Stephen's House, where abused or neglected children will be loved and cosseted, even as the building's namesake lay down his life to protect those trapped in the Twin Towers on 9/11.

Firefighter Stephen Siller dearly loved children, and there could be no better tribute then the $14.5 million building at 119 Tompkins Ave. that was dedicated yesterday in his honor.

The 150 guests marveled at the terra-cotta triumph. The oversize, variously shaped windows and the big red doors -- did someone say firehouse? -- afford views of Tompkins Avenue and environs>>>

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Actor John Turturro and Executive Director of NFL Alumni Association, George Martin Honored at The Stephen Siller Children's Foundation Gala

11/17/09

The Stephen Siller Children's Foundation (the Foundation) is pleased to announce that it will host the first annual Stephen Siller Children's Foundation Gala, held at Cipriani Wall Street on December 5, 2009. Former Mayor of New York City, Rudolph Giuliani will serve as Honoree Chair, and Actor, John Turturro and Executive Director of the NFL Alumni Association, Founder of a Journey for 9/11, and American Hero, George Martin will serve as Honorary Heroes.

Known for its Tunnel to Towers Run attended by 25,000 people annually, the Foundation was created in honor of Stephen Siller, FDNY, who lost his life in the rescue efforts at the World Trade Center on September 11th. His heroic actions on that fateful day were yet another example of his dedication to helping those in need>>>

NYC Firefighter Climbing Hollywood Ladder Of Success In Pittsburgh

Action News Anchor Mike Clark Goes Behind The Scenes With Christopher Stadulis

The Pittsburgh Channel 11/18/09

A New York City firefighter who volunteered during rescue efforts in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, is channeling his experiences into the focal point of his career as he climbs the Hollywood ladder of success. After first making sure his wife was safe, Stadulis volunteered in rescue efforts the following day.

"I just saw all the people crying, praying that they'd find their loved one. I just couldn't sit there. I feel I'm a strong guy -- healthy guy -- I can't just sit here and do nothing, so instead of crying at home, I said, 'I've got to do something,' to my wife, got a hardhat, some gloves, tools, took my MTA badge and went to dig for several days," said Stadulis.

Lost Hat May Mean Broken Promise

LoHud.com 11/17/09

Last week was kind of a blur while I worked at the paper and, in my spare time, planned the end-of-season party for Touching Bases, a fall baseball league for adults with disabilities that I founded eight years ago.

We had about 350 people at Suffern High School on Saturday, when about 250 players got trophies and the player, coach and volunteer of the year were honored and everyone had lunch.

You may have seen photos in Sunday’s Journal News. In most of them, players were proudly wearing their Touching Bases baseball caps.

But not me>>>

Thursday November 12, 2009

9/11's Delayed Legacy: Cancer For Many Of The Rescue Workers

A Spate Of Cancer-Related Illnesses Among New York's Rescue Services

Who Worked At Ground Zero Sparks Fear Of An Epidemic

Guardian.co.uk 11/11/09

A spate of recent deaths of New York police and fire officers who took part in the emergency operation at Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks has heightened fears that it could be the start of a delayed epidemic of cancer-related illness.

Five firefighters and police officers, all of whom were involved in the rescue and clear-up at the site of the collapsed Twin Towers, have died of cancer in the past three months, the oldest being 44. Three died last month within a four-day period.

Those three were Robert Grossman, a Harlem-based police officer who spent several weeks at the emergency site and died of a brain tumour aged 41; fellow police officer Cory Diaz, 37; and firefighter Richard Mannetta, 44.

In addition, John McNamara, a 44-year-old firefighter, died in September; and Renee Dunbar, a police officer in her late 30s, died in August>>>

Can't We Recognize Domestic Terrorism?

Thinking Right, AJC 11/10/09

I’ve never felt that the media, or much of it, and the nation’s leaders have grown more remote from the men and women who keep this nation free than I did in listening to and in scanning news accounts of the act of domestic terrorism at Ft. Hood.

Among the first accounts I heard or read focused on jihadist Nidal M. Hasan as victim, a poor troubled soul driven to commit mass murder because he’d been taunted by insensitive non-Muslims because of his Muslim name. And, too, there was the presumption that he had been driven over the edge because of “post-traumatic stress syndrome,” though it must have been the post-traumatic stress of others he’d counseled, since as a psychiatrist he was never in combat. And, finally, it was that he opposed the war and the mean old military authorities were making him go to a war zone anyway. The implied story here was that an unpopular war makes rational men of good conscience flip out and do really bad things. It’s not their fault>>>

Greatest Patriotic Moments In U.S. Sports

ESPN 11/10/09

Patriotism seeps its way into most major sporting events, but only some truly special, memorable moments are especially patriotic. So here's our list of the 10 most patriotic events in U.S. sports history (in no particular order)>>>

Fund Will Aid Heroes' Orphans

NY Daily News 11/11/09

The two children of FDNY Lt. Robert Ryan Jr., who was killed as he battled a Staten Island house fire last year, will receive $40,000 in educational funds from the Silver Shield Foundation, a police and fire charity founded by Yankee owner George Steinbrenner.

Organization president Jim Fuchs said the children of Suffolk County cop Glen Ciano, who was killed last February when a drunken driver slammed into his squad car, will also receive $40,000.

Woodside Deathtrap Fueled By Oversight, Error & Greed

Queens Courier 11/11/09

A Department of Buildings (DOB) vacate order stands at 42-40 65th Street in Woodside, but it seems like “too little too late.”

The ingredients for disaster were all in place on Saturday, November 7 – a seeming lack of oversight, human error and basic greed – and now three men are dead following an early-morning blaze inside the two-story Woodside home which had been turned into a five-family dwelling with an additional seven rooms.

“It’s very sad, people lost their lives,” said a neighbor. “People shouldn’t have been in the basement, it’s illegal, and it’s a fire trap.">>>

100 Firefighters Tackle Midtown Fire

WABC-TV 11/12/09

A second-alarm high-rise fire in a fabric warehouse closed streets in Midtown Manhattan this morning.

Eyewitness News is told the fire broke out on the third floor of the warehouse on West 39th Street just before 3:30 a.m.

It reportedly took more than 100 firefighters more than an hour to find the fire and put out the flames.

Smoke spread through the entire 16 story building.

Officials say three firefighters were treated for minor injuries.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by the fire marshal.

West 39th Street was closed at Eighth Avenue for the fire investigation.

Cement Truck Crashes Into Canal Street Shop, Eight Injured

TriBeca Trib 11/11/09

At least eight people were injured after a cement truck rammed into a cell phone store at 145 Canal St., just north of the on/off ramp of the Manhattan Bridge, around 1 p.m. today.

It was the second serious truck accident on the block this year.

A Fire Department spokesman said Wednesday afternoon that the exact cause of the accident had not been determined. Four of the victims were said to be in "serious, but stable condition" after being taken to local hospitals. The other four were treated and released at the scene of the incident.

The truck had come across the bridge and was heading for the Bowery when the accident occurred. Six other vehicles were badly damaged in the wreck, all of them appearing as though they had been hit from behind. Firefighters had to pull the crippled cement truck out of the storefront with a winch on the back of a FDNY rescue truck>>>

A Burning Question: Why Does FDNY Use System That Keeps Sending Bravest To The Wrong Sites?

NY Daily News 11/11/09

The wood frame house at 42-40 65th St. in Woodside, Queens, where three Bangladeshi immigrants died in a blaze this weekend, is just two blocks from FDNY Engine 292.

It's so close the engine company's members could walk there in less than two minutes.

But a mistaken computer transmission from a 911 operator on the city's new Unified Call Taking system at 2:45 a.m. Saturday sent Engine 292 speeding from Queens Blvd. in the wrong direction - toward 42-40 62nd St. - records show.

Because of that mixup, the fire company had to make a circuitous 10-block trip before the 911 operator corrected the mistake and the firefighters got to the right spot>>>

Estes Transports World Trade Center Steel Back To New York

Times Dispatch 11/11/09

It wasn’t a load for Mitch Kattan.

It was an honor.

For former members of the American armed forces such as Kattan, their military service gives special meaning to national commemorations like Veterans Day.

“Always does,“ the 54-year-old operations executive with Richmond’s Estes Forwarding Worldwide said. Kattan served in the Air Force from 1978 to 1985, working as a contracting and procurement specialist.

He’s working today, but he’ll still call “some guys I was in the military with”—Ski and Andre—“and shoot the breeze, reminisce. We’ve been friends since 1979.“

So when Estes was contacted about hauling more than 200 large pieces of structural steel from the destroyed World Trade Center back to New York recently, it wasn’t an ordinary job for him>>>

Plaque Dedicated for Probationary Firefighter Jamel Sears

FDNY Insider 11/10/09

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta, Chief of Department Salvatore Cassano, FDNY Chaplain Rev. Stephen Harding and a ceremonial officer stand with Probationary Firefighter Jamel M. Sears' mother, Jonnie, and sister, Charmaine, as a memorial plaque is dedicated in the firefighter's honor.

Firefighters gathered at the Fire Academy on Nov. 10 for a solemn plaque dedication ceremony honoring Probationary Firefighter Jamel M. Sears.

The 33-year-old firefighter collapsed while at the FDNY Training Academy on Nov. 10, 2008. He was transported to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where he died the following evening>>>

NYPD: 6th UN Mission Sent White Powder Package

Police Tests Show Flour In Three Envelopes; Tests On Other Two Envelopes Not Completed

NBCNewYork 11/11/09

Police in New York City have responded to a sixth report this week of powder in an envelope at a foreign mission to the United Nations.

Sgt. Reginald Watkins said officers responded about 1 a.m. Wednesday at the Russian Mission on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Initial tests indicated it was harmless.

The mission to the United Kingdom reported receiving an envelope with white powder yesterday at its One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza offices, on Second Avenue and East 47th Street.

Hundreds of workers were evacuated from the office tower after the envelope was found Tuesday afternoon>>>

Touring Bushwick's Charred Core

BushwickBK.com 11/10/09

Firemen walk through the remains of a knitting factory on Knickerbocker Avenue after fighting the “All Hands Fire,” New York City’s biggest fire until Sept. 11, 2001.

Though his first attempt got rained out, local historian Adam Schwartz was bestowed with the finest fall conditions imaginable during his second effort to lead a walking tour of central Bushwick this past Saturday.

Yellow leaves, illuminated by a departing autumn sun, drifted slowly toward the pavement as we wandered through Bushwick’s core to the epicenter of the 1977 blackout riots on Broadway – all together, making for an unusually serene day to reflect upon the neighborhood’s more chaotic times.

"Bushwick is seen through the old stereotype of being a burned out ghetto full of criminals," Schwartz said. "But when I started my work, I really wanted to figure out the rest of the story because there has to be more to it than that."

Schwartz, a local high school teacher, is best known for his work on the Up From Flames exhibit in 2007 and he occasionally shares his Bushwick history knowledge by leading walking tours throughout the neighborhood. This time, his tour started at the Myrtle-Wyckoff subway station, a major transit hub for more than a century>>>

Tourist Injured During USS New York Tour

NY Post 11/10/09

A woman injured herself this afternoon after she fell into a boat while touring the USS New York that was docked on the West Side, police said.

The tourist, who was not immediately identified, plunged about eight feet into a vehicle parked aboard the ship at 2:40 p.m.

The military craft was described by a Navy spokesman as an “amphibious assault vehicle” like the ones that carried soldiers before they stormed the beaches of Normandy during World War II.

The woman was taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition.

The USS New York — forged from the steel remains of the World Trade Center — is docked at Pier 88 this week near the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. The ship was commissioned as a tribute to the survivors of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Visitors have spent the past week touring the ship before it will be used in combat. Tours end tomorrow at 2 p.m.

Bronx FDNY Veteran Hopes To Sizzle The Five Alarm Cook Off Competition With His Steak Stuff

NY Daily News 11/11/09

Like the other firefighters who’ve made it to the final round of the Daily News’ first FDNY Five Alarm Cook Off, sponsored by the Municipal Credit Union and Best Buy, Jimmy Lowe has been taking a ribbing from his crew, Bronx Rescue 3 in the Tremont neighborhood.

It all stems from Lowe’s impressive knife skills: Not only can he deftly butterfly the flank steak for his winning mushroom-and-bacon-stuffed pinwheels in seconds, the 18-year FDNY veteran can carve cucumbers and tomatoes into rosettes to garnish his already exceptional plates. That’s a trick that’ll surely wow celeb chef Rachael Ray, who will host the finals on her morning show this Friday.

Except that in the Bronx borough semi-finals, Lowe made the mistake of cracking wise about those fragile flowers, saying they hailed from his feminine side. As a result, the brothers of “Big Blue” aren’t letting him live it down.

“The whole department was calling up,” says company Captain Jim Ellson, “asking, ‘is his locker painted pink yet?’ ”>>>