- April 19, 2024
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After Sept. 11, 2001, we promised ourselves as a country we would never forget. In the 15 years since, the community has memorialized 9/11 in many ways.
Here, we look back on that day, which President George W. Bush began at the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort, and how the community has remembered it over the decade and a half since.
After handing President George W. Bush the key to the city Sept. 10, 2001, Sarasota County Commissioner Carolyn Mason, then the city of Sarasota’s mayor, thought her job of welcoming the president was done.
The following morning, she was preparing for a flight to Tallahassee when she got a call from a co-worker telling her to turn on the TV.
“We didn’t go to the airport,” Mason said. “We went to City Hall.”
Less than 3 miles from City Hall, Bush was reading to a class of students at Emma E. Booker Elementary School and left soon after learning of the attacks.
“I never expected to get a written apology. I think that speaks to the kind of person he was and he is,” -Sarasota County Commissioner Carolyn Mason
Eight days later, Mason received a letter from Bush apologizing for having to leave so abruptly.
“I never expected to get a written apology,” Mason said. “I think that speaks to the kind of person he was and he is.”
Jim Malone
How has your life changed since the events of 9/11?
“It hasn’t really changed much. I do pay attention to the news closer.”
How do you remember 9/11?
“I was standing in line at a Dunkin' Donuts, and they had the news on the screen. I knew that it would collapse. Then the second building went down and everybody kind of looked at me and said are you some kind of a psychic or something? I witnessed a similar event when I was in my teens of a steel building collapsing from the heat.”
Andy Hofmann
How has your life changed since the events of 9/11?
“Travel has probably been the biggest change after 9/11. Air travel specifically has changed dramatically. I’m sure the biggest different that I’ve noticed.”
How do you remember 9/11?
“My first recollection is hearing it on the radio on the way to work on the Howard Stern Show of all things. I thought it was a routine. I thought he was being funny at first. Then pretty quickly came to realize that he wasn’t being funny. The second tower had been hit when I was listening to it and slowly came to the realization that it was in fact happening and wasn’t an accident.
Jo Anne Gale
How has your life changed since the events of 9/11?
“I’m more in tune to the news and aware of what could happen to the average citizen just traveling anywhere and this could happen.”
How do you remember 9/11?
“I like to watch whatever they have on TV. I like to listen to some of the names of the victims when they read them off. It just really gets to me because often they have a relative read the name. It means so much to read the name. I feel an obligation and I need to listen to that.”
Stetson Harris
How has your life changed since the events of 9/11?
“As far as since 9/11 happened, it hasn’t really affected my safety when I travel. The inconvenience of the checkpoints has become frustrating but I understand the necessity of it. I believe that they’re doing it because it’s for our own safety. It’s kind of complicated with the long lines, but I’d rather be in a long line and feel safer.”
How do you remember 9/11?
“I was working in a hospital. I remember I was talking to a nurse and I walked by a patient’s room and I saw the Twin Towers going up [in flames]. I’m originally from New York City and my mother works downtown. Automatically, I started trying to call to reach her and I couldn’t.”
For Sarasota residents, memories of 9/11 are often tied into the visit of President George W. Bush, who was in Sarasota promoting the No Child Left Behind Act when the attacks occurred. The following revisits the events of that morning.
Tuesday, Sept. 11
6:30 a.m. — Bush begins a 4-mile jog on Longboat Key’s beach.
8:23 a.m. — Bush leaves the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort, heading to Booker Elementary to promote No Child Left Behind.
8:46 a.m. — American Airlines Flight 11 strikes the North Tower.
8:51 a.m. — Bush arrives at Booker Elementary and is informed that a plane has hit the World Trade Center.
9:02 a.m. — United Airlines Flight 175 strikes the South Tower.
9:05 a.m. — As Bush listens to second-graders read a story, he is informed that a second plane has hit the World Trade Center.
9:15 a.m. — Bush leaves the classroom and goes to a holding room at the school, where he is briefed by staff.
9:30 a.m. — Bush addresses the world for the first time from the media center at Booker Elementary. He says there has been “an apparent terrorist attack on our country.”
9:43 a.m. — As both buildings of the World Trade Center are ablaze, American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon.
9:55 a.m. — Bush arrives at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport and heads straight to Air Force One. He waves briefly to the crowd before entering the aircraft, which departs immediately.
10:07 a.m. — After passengers and crew on American Airlines Flight 93 fight to retake the plane from hijackers, the plane crashes near Shanksville, Pa.
Mid-morning — Many Secret Service agents and most of the press corps are left behind at the Colony. Many agents worry about their colleagues, because the Secret Service has an office at the World Trade Center. Reporters continue to file stories while working on making arrangements to get back to Washington, D.C.
1 p.m. — Sarasota County Emergency Operations holds a meeting for local officials. The county determines that crews will remain on a heightened state of awareness.
