Robin Remington holds a peace sign and candle over Broadway during a 2009 memorial to remember the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and support peace in the world.

COLUMBIA — Although the 10-year anniversary of Sept. 11 is only two months away, Columbia has not made concrete plans for a citywide celebration.

Renee Woods, a St. Louis educator, said she believes Columbia should do something in remembrance, whether it’s a candlelight vigil or a memorial service.

“With Missouri being built around the college, a lot of students were in elementary and middle schools, and they may remember,” she said.

MU student Matt Lund said he has low expectations for any kind of commemoration.

“It’s something I haven’t thought a lot about,” he said. ”I don’t think many people have thought about it.”

While preparations remain uncertain in Columbia, Lund recently visited New York where he said memorial arrangements are in full swing. Free tickets are available by reservation to attend the opening of  a monument consisting of two waterfalls and a bronze inscription of the victims’ names, according to NBC New York. The monument will be open to the public on Sept. 12 after the families of the victims participate in an on-site memorial service and tour.

Although the City of Columbia has yet to make formal plans, Director of Communications Toni Messina said the city is open to assist organizations with their 9/11 anniversary plans.

Columbia’s Christian Chapel plans to honor all public officials and civil servants who attend either the 9 a.m. or 10:45 a.m. church services that day.

Mid-Missouri Peaceworks has been commemorating the event since the evening of the attacks on 9/11. Beginning as a candlelight vigil each year on the evening of 9/11, about 350 people have attended the event in Peace Park over the past a decade.

Director of the Mid-Missouri Peaceworks Mark Haim said he plans to do things a little differently this year. The organization will gather at the Islamic Center of Central Missouri and then process through the town to the Boone County Courthouse Square, where they will reflect on the tragedy.

Haim said his organization advocates using the law for justice against terrorism. Their annual gatherings hope to move closer to an end in the violence and to respect all lives lost.

Advising the public, Haim said, “Consider what they can do to declare peace.”

COLUMBIA — In the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, the Columbia Fire and Police departments changed procedures to create a safer environment for the city’s residents. Despite having put more restrictions in place, residents said they appreciate the work of the departments.

COLUMBIA — The impact of Sept. 11, 2011, was significant not only among citizens but among journalists as well who had to push through their emotions, do their jobs and report the news.

Mahogany Thomas

COLUMBIA — A 6-year-old can definitely understand when something’s wrong. No child, however, could have dreamed of the severity of the terrorist attacks 10 years ago.

Across the U.S., no one could have imagined what occurred on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. However, the victims of the terrorist attacks and the minds of all Americans quickly began to process the repercussions. These assails changed our lives forever.

I didn’t have to be an adult to capture the fear in my student teacher’s eyes, or the tears streaming down my teacher’s face. Only a first-grader at Russell Boulevard Elementary School, I didn’t have to know what was going on to feel the awkward silence.

A feeling of shock swamped the school. Students couldn’t grasp the brutality; however, the enormity was right in our reach.

In my eyes, the worst that could ever happen to a 6-year-old was breaking a bone or losing a friend. Multiplying those losses by a million, I figured, was the best way to capture the world’s grief.

Ten years later, multiplication is out of my equation. The capacity of my childhood mind evolved. Instead of just seeing the pain of what the tragedies brought to the surrounding lives, I began to understand.

Just a few months ago, I had a conversation with Abraham Scott, who lost his wife Janice M. Scott, in the Pentagon attack. Because of horrendous acts of terror, he’s now a father of two daughters who are without a mother.

Tears streamed down the side of my face as I listened to the former budget analyst for the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs in Washington. It was 10 years after the incident, and I could fully grasp the ruthlessness of this tragedy.

The middle-aged Scott described leaving the Washington Metropolitan Transit subway, assuming he would see his wife in less than eight hours.

He proceeded to talk about that morning’s attack on the Pentagon, and then he froze. Scott said all he thought about at the time was calling his wife of 24 years. But it was too late.

The hijacked plane crashed into room 471 where Janice was working.

Determined to reach his wife, he repeatedly tried to contact her via phone. Then he searched hospital after hospital.

“I came so close to finding her,” Scott said of one of his hospital stops. “I gave (the hospital staff) her name. They said they had her. Checked the address and the Social Security number, and it wasn’t her.”

Heartbroken, he continued his search by riding subway train after subway train. But in the end, there was no reward.

It wasn’t until later that he was able to find his wife — after she had already died.

Upon learning his story, I was furious, overwhelmed, tearful and in shock.

What really hurt was the fact that he and thousands of others had to go through this horrific pain. They would never see their lost loved ones again. This hurt me deeper than a bee sting and was more painful than a broken bone. The situation was inexcusable and appalling.

One hundred eighty-four people were killed at the Pentagon, leaving families without mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. Another 2,753 victims died in the attacks on the World Trade Center. In addition, all 40 passengers and crew aboard United Flight 93 perished when the plane crashed in Pennsylvania.

No longer did I see towers falling and planes crashing. Instead, my vision expanded. The lost lives of innocent souls were in my horizon.

Ashamed to admit it took 10 years to fully comprehend, I can now look at any victim of the Sept. 11 tragedy and truly sympathize with their pain.

Congregants of the Islamic Center of Central Missouri gather outside at the parking lot and stairs after the afternoon Dhur prayer on Friday.

COLUMBIA — For Rashed Nizam, it’s been a long wait.

Nizam, chairman of the Islamic Center of Central Missouri, said he has seen the mosque’s congregation expand in the past 10 years, and plans are finally underway to expand the facility at 201 S. Fifth St.

“I’m just praying to God that it pulls through,” he said.

The extensive expansion plans, which only recently became public, have not generated any protest from the community, unlike similar projects nationwide. The most heated controversy has been in New York, with the proposed Park 51 Islamic Community Center planned for a site two blocks from ground zero.

Mosque expansion

Click here to view a map of the planned expansion

Photo by Soo Ji Lee /MUJW

A group of friends, Tahura Lodhi, Yasmeen El-Jayyousi, Manal Salim, Farah El-Jayyou and Mubinah Khaleel, greet each other before heading to Dhur prayer on Friday at the Islamic Center of Central Missouri.

Unlike other mosques in Missouri and around the country, however, the Islamic Center has not encountered vandalism or physical harassment. Since 2001, anti-Islamic fervor has increased nationwide. The first national anti-mosque activity after 9/11 occurred in Cincinnati on Dec. 20, 2005, when two pipe bombs were detonated outside the local mosque.

In Missouri, vandalism at mosques has escalated in the past three years. In September 2008, the sign at Joplin’s Islamic center was torched. Eight months later, a Cape Girardeau resident threw rocks at the windows of the local Islamic center. Then this past January, vandals graffitied profanity and graphic images on three walls of the Springfield Islamic Center.

“The most obvious symbol of Islam is the mosque. Logically, anti-Islams try to prevent mosques from expanding,” said Eren Tasar, a history professor at Washington University in St. Louis.

Tasar, who will be teaching a course called “9/11 in World History” this fall, called anti-Islamic behavior a way to blame a broad group for the actions of the few radical terrorists.

“In times of hardship, there tend to be scapegoats,” he said. “‘Blurrism’ (confusing individual acts with entire religious or ethnic groups) has been a poor American value.”

Islam, however, has never felt like a scapegoat.

“I’ve never experienced any discrimination of any kind,” he said.

Tasar also said there have been and still are signs of Islamophobia and xenophobia across all social classes in the U.S. He said Europe’s political figures are more outward in their opposition against Islam. In the past 10 years, Belgium and France have banned the burqa, a type of female covering, while Switzerland prohibits the construction of minarets, or spires, on mosques.

“Open Islamophobia is less severe in the U.S. compared to Europe,” Tasar said.

In Columbia, Nizam credits an influx of Muslim families with his community’s growth. Worldwide, Islam is the fastest growing religion.

The Islamic Center’s facility, consisting of two buildings, a playground and a trailer, has been outstripped by its growth. The planned expansion, according to an architect’s drawing filed with city officials, would include a two-story school complex, a gymnasium, kitchen facility and a four-story apartment complex with ground-floor retail.

“It’s an informal request,” said John Sudduth, city building regulations supervisor. “Generally we’d get a formal application and an official set of sealed plans.”

While mosque officials haven’t officially petitioned the city for expansion, the center is applying for a loan to start on their long-anticipated project, Nizam said. Once they are approved by the bank, they will use an actual designer to officially start construction and receive permission from the city.

“Our community is eagerly waiting to see the change … to quickly move forward,” Nizam said.

Published at ColumbiaMissourian.com

COLUMBIA — With the 10-year anniversary of Sept. 11 drawing near, Columbia residents, including city officials, military personnel, educators, parents and journalists, reflect on that unforgettable day and the affects it has had on the city and nation years later.

Published at KOMU.com

Matthew Ballou, an assistant professor of drawing and painting at MU, discusses graduate student Derrick Gwinner's work on Thursday afternoon in the Fine Arts Building. "Art is philosophy because it's so key to our perspective; something like war changes that—shifts that within us," Ballou said.

COLUMBIA — In the months leading up to Sept. 11, 2001,  Matthew Ballou struggled to find meaning in his art.

An assistant professor of painting and drawing at MU, Ballou looks back on the terror attacks and the U.S military action that followed as a time of sadness and confusion in his life.

As an artist, however, he found clarity.

“9/11 was the catalytic event that created the momentum of what I was feeling,” Ballou said. “I wanted to respond to 9/11 as an artist, as a Christian and as a thinker.”

Before Sept. 11, Ballou focused on abstract concepts in his art and began to lose a sense of purpose in his work.

After witnessing the suffering of the terrorist attacks, and later, the U.S. entry into Afghanistan and Iraq, he developed a realistic style that included people interacting with the natural world.

“As artists, when situations like this arise, we cry out and react,” Ballou said. “9/11 helped clarify my need to draw the body. I wanted a depictive element in my work.”

After 9/11, people in all artistic fields began expressing feelings of patriotism, confusion and frustration about the changing social and political climate in the United States. Artists like Ballou and former MU art teacher Bob Hartzell were among those who experienced a change in focus.

“My work of the last 10 years has been motivated to show the human condition,” Ballou said.

He accomplished this through work he calls the “Omen” series. It consists of four paintings that depict realistic, often nude, bodies observing forms of destruction in their world. To him, the paintings represent how war and violence destroy human lives, ideas and beliefs.

Hartzell, who works with paper, light and silk-screen techniques, always had an interest in airplanes. After 9/11, however, he said couldn’t bring himself to pursue the topic any longer. He turned to the American flag for inspiration.

“I started doing a lot of political work after 9/11 because I didn’t like the way the American flag was being used to promote political agendas,” Hartzell said.

Some of his pieces include a tattered, handmade paper flag and an image of an astronaut holding the American flag on a distorted green moon.

“Most people don’t get it,” Hartzell said. “That goes back to my desire to do art that other artist don’t necessarily see as viable. I’m the one doing it, so I might as well do something that’s important to me.”

Since 9/11, he thinks the flag has been adopted by the right wing as a tool to promote its political agenda. By putting the flag in unusual settings and contexts, he said he attempts to reclaim it for everyone.

“It’s a symbol that belongs to all of us,” Hartzell said.

Lisa Bartlett, artist and owner of Artlandish Gallery in Columbia, understands why Ballou and Hartzell’s work was so affected by 9/11. She said many artists use political and social messages in their work for personal expression rather than public attention or popularity.

“Art is an emotional release,” she said. “It’s like a writer putting down all their feelings or a musician belting out something that means a lot to them.”

Bartlett, who worked on a series of pieces protesting the war in Iraq, has never sold any of her politically-themed works but understands the scrutiny an artist may face.

“It’s hard because you’re crossing a line that someone is going to disagree with you,” she said. “When you do something like that, you’re really putting yourself out there.”

Regardless of motivation, Ballou and Hartzell’s artistic careers changed the day the towers fell. Once artists who found meaning in airplanes and abstract painting, the two men discovered a new outlet for their message.

“I’m not trying to change the world with my art,” Hartzell said. “Just little pieces of it.”

When Taranissi and his family travel overseas to places like Egypt, getting pulled aside regularly by airport security isn’t a big deal, he said.

However, growing up Muslim in America following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is an aspect the 18-year-old said he has become accustomed to.

“There’s lots of things that I just take for face value,” Taranissi said about racism toward Muslims.

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York City occurred when Taranissi was in third grade. He recalls the tragic day, describing how he viewed it at a young age.

“I didn’t realize it was such a big deal,” he said. “I started to realize it was serious the next day and the following days when they the media kept bringing it up.”

At school, Taranissi interacted with children in his grade and even shared his Muslim culture with them. It was during elementary school that Taranissi said he began to fast and pray more.

Taranissi said that after the terrorist attacks, his peers seemed to have made up their minds about what to think of Islam and people who practice that faith.

“Children that age probably only overhear what their parents say or repeat what’s on the TV,” he said.

As time progressed, Taranissi began to grasp the impact of what took place on Sept. 11, and he said it took a couple of years for him to fully understand the event.

Once he understood what happened, Taranissi said he felt the anger so many other Americans had about the attacks.

“I now understood; these foreigners came onto our land unprovoked and attacked a major city, killing thousands of people,” he said.

Since then, Taranissi said he has formed an opinion about the Muslim world in regards to terrorism.

Taranissi said that out of the attacks, the key change that occurred was the stereotype of Muslims and Islam.

Now, he said, Muslims or anyone who simply looks Arabic is considered the face of terrorism. As the stereotype has become more of a prevalent issue in society, Taranissi said that when he thinks about the word ‘terrorism,’ he tends to conjure the image of someone who is Arabic. However, Taranissi said he does recognize how Americans seem to focus on one specific impression of terrorists.

“Before, when you thought of the word ‘terrorist,’ there wasn’t exactly a prototype that you saw in your brain,” Taranissi said. “Now, when someone says ‘terrorist,’ you immediately think Muslim … we don’t talk about white terrorists in Russia or the terrorists in America.”

Taranissi said that though he has suffered from minor racial slurs in the past, he doesn’t think his peers mean any harm.

“A lot of what happened to me, I interpret it as kids being kids. If someone is joking and laughing and calling me a terrorist, I don’t get offended … it’s not any different from teasing someone who has red hair and freckles,” he said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2009, about 20 percent of high school students reported being bullied on school property.

Children bully their peers for a number of reasons, including poor self-control, problems at home and a personal acceptance of violence, according to the centers.

Taranissi said that through education, Americans will be able to understand Islam and Muslims. People should see that the stereotypes of the Arabic world are not necessarily true.

According to the Islamic Center of Central Missouri, Muslims follow a religion of peace, mercy and forgiveness that should not be associated with acts of violence against the innocent.

Taranissi said that Arabic extremists can’t call themselves true Muslims practicing Islam.

“Islam condemns violence,” he said. “Cultures interpret the Quran and the Hadith just to match whatever world view they have, so they can discriminate against women or defeat their enemies.”

Taranissi said he tries to balance his life of being Muslim and a young adult through education, logic and hard work. But Taranissi said he continues to live without any harsh feelings toward those who discriminate against him.

Taranissi has tried to live the typical life of an 18-year-old. He enjoys soccer, listening to music and hanging out with his friends.

That seems pretty American.

Canine continued his daily routine by driving into a parking garage in Minneapolis that Tuesday; the parking attendant had more than a hello to offer as he explained the events that were happening. Canine went home to the news, and the city was filled with rumors that a 55-story building in downtown Minneapolis might also be hit that day.

Molly Beutenmiller

Jack Campbell

Manabu Takahashi and Sarah Brandt

Deonte Eanes

Sarah Mitchell

Johnny Hodges

Diane Oerly

Lee Wilkins

Steve Hackley

“I remember thinking it was weird because I was stationed in Minneapolis, but with my company I was working with, I was supposed to be stationed in the World Trade Center,” Canine said.

Like Canine, no one will forget where he or she was 9/11.

Molly Beutenmiller remembers being in her fourth-grade class.

“We turned on all of the TVs and piled both fourth-grade classes into one room; our teachers disappeared,’’ Beutenmiller said. “Everyone was crying.”

Jack Campbell was in a seventh-grade U.S. history class at Columbia Independent School. The school was small; Campbell said the principal walked around and told each class what was happening.

“Our principal told us a plane had hit an important building in New York City and another plane had been hijacked,’’ Campbell said. “We all went into the library; they turned on the news and we watched both towers fall.”

Sarah Brandt was in her ninth-grade French class when the principal announced casually over the intercom that a plane had crashed into a building in New York.

“My friend and I looked at each other and laughed because it was such an uncomfortable moment,” Brandt said. “We didn’t realize the magnitude of the situation at the time.”

Manabu Takahashi was in band practice outside his high school when the students were told to come inside.

“I went to study hall, and that’s where people were crying,’’ Takahashi said. “That’s when I realized that this was something really bad.”

Lindsey VanSambeek was in her tenth-grade English class at Rock Bridge High School. VanSambeek recalls the students watching news all day but not talking about it much.

Deonte Eanes was in his tenth-grade English class when he heard the news. He doesn’t recall talking about the day in any of his classes.

“We were in shock,” Eanes said. “We had never experienced anything like this before in the United States.”

Sarah Mitchell also was in tenth grade. She was sitting in her history class when she heard the news.

“The first class, when we learned about it, we didn’t really talk about it because we didn’t understand it yet,’’ Mitchell said. “But in my next class, English, we started to all talk about what had happened.”

Ashley Giles was in eleventh grade and had just gotten off the school bus, and when she walked into school, the students saw that everyone was in the break room.

“We all went in there and we watched it. … We were all really freaked out,” Giles said.

Michael Lemens had just begun his day at work when the office heard the news; 10 to 12 people crammed into a break room the size of a bathroom and watched the day unfold on a little black-and-white television.

“Work stopped that day,” Lemens said. “I remember it being the biggest thing anyone talked about for a while.”

Lori Kitchen was at home making coffee and doing her homework with NBC’s “Today” in the background when the planes hit. She was devastated, so she began to pray.

“I thought something went terribly wrong, like the pilot had passed out or something. Then the second plane hit … and I realized something had gone terribly wrong,” Kitchen said.

Kitchen was a student in the nursing program at MU at the time, and all students in the program went on call 24/7, waiting for what would happen next.

Robin Labrunerie didn’t have a television at home; she heard of the terrorist attacks on the radio. She went to lunch with a friend, where they talked, watched the news coverage and began to understand how dramatic the event was. Like most mothers, her children were her main concern. Labrunerie and her family looked through pictures online.

“I remember telling my kids not to be scared, but I was scared,” Labrunerie said.

Johnny Hodges was teaching special education at Lee Elementary School when the news came on in the office that planes had crashed into the World Trade Center.

“I don’t think my class talked about it,’’ Hodges said. “I think we just sucked it in for the day. I’m not sure if the kids were supposed to know.”

Diane Oerly was at home, getting ready for another day at work when “Today” announced there had been a weird accident. She continued to watch in shock.

“I watched the second tower fall,” Oerly said.

Lee Wilkins, a professor at the Missouri School of Journalism, was on campus getting ready to teach her ethics class on 9/11.

“I had my ethics class Tuesdays; we discussed the day’s events and things involving the media from the day,” Wilkins said.

Mike Misslin was on his way to work, the radio playing in the car.

“The first plane hit, and I thought it was just an accident,’’ Misslin said. “Then the second plane hit, and I realized this was something bigger.”

Chris Starbuck, an associate professor in the agriculture department at MU, was in his office when he started to hear rumors of terrorist attacks. He finally gave in, turned on the TV and watched the chaos that had hit the streets of lower Manhattan. Starbuck’s daughter and son-in-law were living in New York at the time, and his son-in-law watched the second plane hit the tower.

“My wife and I were moving into a new house the following week and I just remember us thinking, ‘Are we crazy? Is the world ending and we’re about to move?’” Starbuck said.

Steve Hackley was driving down Broadway listening to the radio when he heard the news.

“I was in shock,’’ Hackley said. “I had just given away my TV, so it was nearly a year before I saw the images and the devastation caused that day.”

Nate Culley waits as Bonnie Brennan, Richard Bryant and Dylan Brennan prepare for their belongings to go through the X-ray machine at Columbia Regional Airport on Tuesday. "Right after (Sept. 11) was really onerous, but I think now it is extremely efficient," Bonnie Brennan said.

COLUMBIA — At 2 p.m. last Monday, the Columbia Regional Airport was nearly empty.

There were no shuttle buses or taxis dropping off passengers. There were no voices over the intercom announcing final boarding instructions.

Only one passenger waited in the terminal for her 3:30 p.m. flight.

“People who arrive here expect stress,” said George Wren, the airport custodian. “The neat thing about this airport is that it’s so laid back.”

Photo by MICHELLE KANAAR/MUJW

Travis Kuhn takes a bag of liquids out of his luggage to pass through security Tuesday at Columbia Regional Airport. Each passenger is allowed one quart-size plastic bag with containers of liquid or gel that are 3.4 ounces or less, according to Transportation Security Administration regulations.

After working at Columbia Regional Airport for seven months, Wren understands the small-town atmosphere of this terminal.

And though it does not serve a large urban center, the 17 airport employees and five Transportation Security Administration screeners must keep passengers just as safe as the most highly secured and equipped airports in the country do.

Columbia Regional Airport is far more compact than major hubs such as Lambert-St. Louis International Airport or Kansas City International. Delta Airlines is the only commercial carrier, offering three round-trips a day to Memphis, Tenn.

Except for private and corporate aircraft that are beyond the airport’s jurisdiction, no other flights are scheduled.

Airport Superintendent Don Elliott has overseen security for the past 30 years. He said he has never dealt with a terrorist threat, but he does appreciate the dramatic improvement in airport screening operations since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

“Before 9/11, an airline employee or private security officer would operate the X-ray machine and metal detector, and that was about it,” Elliott said. “[Screening] was run by people who took a short class on security. Now the screening workers are well-trained.”

After 9/11, the TSA replaced the Federal Aviation Administration as the authority over airline security hires, procedures and equipment. At Columbia Regional Airport, the TSA recruits and trains employees — called transportation security officers — to work in U.S. airports.

Columbia’s airport has a partial security status because of its size. It has the same standards of security and procedures, but less equipment and fewer workers than a bigger airport.

“Receiving new technology is a trickle-down,” airport manager Andrew Schneider said. “We won’t be the first to have it, but if the TSA institutes [new technology] on a national level, like a computer system, we would get it.”

The most recent addition to the TSA equipment list is the full-body scanner, officially called advanced imaging technology. Columbia’s airport does not have any of the scanners.

Still, the screening area at the airport closely resembles that of other TSA locations around the country. The TSA deploys five workers for each flight, along with a baggage X-ray machine, a metal detector and a glass booth for more in-depth searches.

Since Memphis is the only destination, Columbia’s airport has no need for multiple screening gates.

Although the airport doesn’t have have a large number of security officials or the latest screening technology, Schneider and Elliott said they have great confidence in the safety of their airport.

With only three round-trip flights a day, the number of daily passengers is manageable for security. Schneider also trusts the directives the TSA issues to protect U.S airlines.

“If there’s a liquid bomb threat, soon after we can’t allow liquids on planes,” he said.

“As new threats come about, I’m sure TSA will continue to adapt, and we will support any screening we see necessary.”

Although the threat of a terrorist attack is greater now than when Elliott began working at Columbia Regional Airport, he said he feels more comfortable with airport security than he ever has.

“As far as the screening process now, I’m a lot happier with it,” he said. “I really am.”

Early Monday afternoon, Shirley Oakes was the lone passenger waiting for a flight to Pittsburgh, her first from a small, regional airport. It was more than an hour before her scheduled departure, and the security screening area was vacant.

She said the relaxed atmosphere did not worry her or make her feel unsafe.

“I’m a country girl, so it doesn’t bother me,” Oakes said. “I’ve never been afraid of flying.”

She laughed.

“But if you put a snake on the plane, I’d kill you.”