9/11 – lest we forget

This past weekend, as I watched the 9/11 videos from 21 years ago, I couldn’t help but think what those people were going through as passengers in the jets realized what they were about to experience.
The word “hero” is arguably overused these days. “Hero” applies to each and every one of the passengers of Flight 93 were as they gave up their lives to save countless others in Washington D.C. as they took over the flight near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
There were many heroes that day, including the many firefighters, police and EMTs who rushed into the twin towers to try to save as many people as they could. Most of them did not survive.
Civilians were the biggest group who were killed that day, and we should not forget them. Many people jumped from the buildings rather than to suffocate from the thick, black smoke or to escape the high temperatures from the fires. As they jumped, they knew they were not going to survive.
Since that day, I have done just about everything I could to spread the word that if you see or hear something suspicious, report it to police.
Employees of GetGo Trucking on Lemoyne Road, just north of the railroad tracks near Lake Local Schools, saw someone suspicious a few years ago and reported it to us. After a while, those two people were taken into custody as students at the school were in lockdown mode. It turned out the two thought the president was flying into the local airport and were going to try to do him harm.
Those employees were recognized for what they did that day.
It is every citizen’s duty to report any suspicious activity they see and read, no matter the source. It may just be the rantings of a person with a mental illness, which is serious enough in itself, but it could be something more serious.
Don’t let it go and wish later you should have done something about it.
This article is a public service from the Community Policing/Crime Prevention Division of the Lake Township Police Department. Township residents may obtain further information on crime prevention and public safety topics by contacting Ron Craig, crime prevention specialist/community policing officer, at 419-481-6354.