Category: Sarah Sparks
Security Tightens Around D.C. Tourists
By Sarah Sparks
WASHINGTON – The flight attendant comes on the intercom as the Delta Shuttle flight from New York’s LaGuardia Airport descends for its approach to the recently reopened Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. She reminds passengers to stay in their seats. “Please remember, if anyone stands up, for any reason, during the last half hour of the flight, the plane will be immediately diverted to Dulles Airport, and the rest of the passengers will be very irritated with you,” she says, a touch apologetically.
A man quips back, “Um, my house is actually closer to Dulles; would you all mind if I get them to take us over there?”
One month after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, visitors are trickling back into Washington, but tightened security and restricted access to federal buildings have put a damper on those who don’t have business in the District of Columbia.
“We’re losing about $10 million a day,” said Rebecca Pawlowski, spokeswoman for the Washington Convention and Visitors Association. “Usually at this time we have about 70 to 80 percent occupancy in hotels; now it’s about half that. With the layoffs in hotels, the effects trickle down.”
Most of the loss comes from leisure travel, normally slowing at the end of summer and worsened by travel anxiety and tighter security precautions nationwide. Popular stops at the White House, Federal Bureau of Investigations, National Archives, Supreme Court and the Library of Congress have ceased their tours until further notice, and tours of the Capitol have been limited in time, scope and group size.
Nor can constituents turn to their members of Congress for special tours or tickets to the Capitol or White House. “As requested by the Capitol Police, our office is no longer giving tours of the Capitol to any person or group until further notice,” said Mary Tarr, office manager for John F. Kerry,D-Mass., in a letter to members of Kerry’s staff.
Stephanie Cutter, spokeswoman for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., said, “There’s been no change in daily operations – people can still come to see the Senator – but we don’t give tours. We need ID to make any movement, even if we are with the Senator,” Cutter said.
Lt. Dan Nichols, spokesman for the Capitol Police, said there has been an increase in police protection around the Capitol. “We have a much higher uniform police presence currently than we had even after Sept. 11,” he said.
The police have put up concrete barriers along the House side of the Capitol, closing it to traffic, and are searching the undercarriage and trunk of every vehicle that comes onto the grounds. “We are looking at short term and long term security enhancements throughout the Capitol complex,” Nichols said.
Those who are coming to D.C. now are mostly “patriotic tourists” who come to see the monuments on the National Mall, the tombs at Arlington Cemetery, and other historic sites, Pawlowski said. “Many people are coming because they feel a sense of patriotic duty.”
“It’s a good time, because there are no lines to speak of,” Pawlowski said, “and now I think it is important for people to see places like the Tomb of the Unknowns, especially the younger generation which has been spared war and conflict.”
Federal buildings are still open to people who want to meet with their members of Congress or hear debate on the House and Senate floors, Nichols said. Likewise, people can still make appointments to do research at the Library of Congress.
“People seem to be accepting the new security,” she said. “We haven’t lost a lot of large conventions – the Congressional Caucus came in late September and The Natural Products convention is here this week with 10,000 people.”
“It’s the little cancellations – 20 to 100 people meeting at one of the hotels – that have really added up and hurt us,” Pawlowski said.
Providence Company Gets $4.5 Billion Contract for Pocketknives
By Sarah Sparks
At the end of summer, Steve Paolantonio's Providence-based Colonial Knife Co. was hanging by a thread. His customer base was crumbling. The 82-year-old company had no name recognition. He had cut his staff from 40 to 17 in six months.
Steve Paolantonio is proof that the edge of war can cut both ways.
As part of the mass military build-up called for by President George W. Bush's "war on terrorism," Colonial Knife Co. has won a five-year, $4.5 billion contract to supply three different kinds of knives to the General Service Administration, a military wholesaler. The contract will allow Paolantonio to hire 80 new workers in the next three months and cinch deals with Stanleyworks, Cooper and Danaher tool makers. And it will provide a much-needed cushion to a company whose 2000 annual revenue was $2.4 million.
"This GSA work was a blessing, it really was, because I wasn't counting on it, and it came on board right away," Paolantonio, 39, said.
He might not have been counting on the contract, but Paolantonio had been angling for something similar. "I've been after these guys for 10 years, trying to get a hold of somebody, but I never could," Paolantonio said.
A few weeks ago, a new distributor told Paolantonio he was going to sell to the government and asked if Colonial could handle a major knife contract. "They all have to be American-made, and there aren't that many knife companies left in the United States," Paolantonio said, "so he knew who the players were, as did I."
In a closed bid, Colonial Knife beat out nationwide competitors Gerber Knife, Camillus Cutlery and W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery, claiming contracts for three out of four knives. They refused a contract for a marlin spike knife, a survival knife for the Navy, because the order was too small for the knife's complicated construction.
Vincent Vitralia, department supervisor, said the workers' morale has gone through the roof since the company landed the contract. "We are all very glad to do this work," he said.
Colonial Knife hasn't had a government contract this large since World War II, when the company made fighting knives - bayonets, Navy deck knives, airmen's survival knives, machetes - for the GIs. Paolantonio's grandfather, a blacksmith in the Rhode Island calvary during World War I, started the business in 1917, working out of his garage and catering mostly to the then-booming jewelry industry in Providence. "He made knife skeletons, a couple knives a day, for the jewelers, and they would put pearl and ivory inlays in them," Paolantonio said.
The World War II contract allowed the company to expand from the late 1930s until the 1970s, with two 300-worker shifts per day. For the most part, Colonial's meat and potatoes customers came from mom-and-pop hardware stores, which ran the company into trouble as major chains such as Wal-Mart, Target and Home Depot began to put Colonial's customers out of business.
"You could be kind and say we've had some financial problems. ... It's been hard, it's been really hard, because we don't have that many retailers left," Paolantonio said. "You've got some Mid-west regional chains but they aren't going to last much longer, either. There's got to be a half-dozen major players, and if you're not selling to them, you're not selling to anybody."
Since the 1980s, Colonial has struggled to stay afloat. Two years ago, the company changed its focus from small retailers to the industrial tool market - the "tool-belt, hard-hat guys" such as Stanleyworks, Cooper Tools and Danaher Corp., makers of Craftsman tools.
But before the contract, it was difficult to get noticed. "A company called Kline Tools, it's phenomenally huge, and I emailed them, I said look, I just landed a $4.5 million deal," he said, "They've never heard of Colonial Knife, even though we've been around for 70 years, because we haven't made a big push into this industry."
"This [contract] is buying me time to go after the industrial tool market," he said. Paolantonio is now in negotiations to make knives under the Stanley label, among others.
The contract even saved one of Colonial's traditional knives, the model 1200 Boy Scout Knife, a tradition for 75 years and destined for the vaults before the GSA's 151,000-piece order.
"We were going to discontinue that knife," Paolantonio said. "That style just is not popular anymore; you know, kids just don't carry knives anymore." Colonial was producing them only on a limited basis for Restoration Hardware, a boutique-style furnishings store.
Colonial will also produce 180,000 of model J316, a locking knife with a single, dull-finished blade and a rubberized handle, for use in survival and maintenance kits.
The most difficult order will be 33,000 switchblade rescue knives, the only pieces not already in production. "It can cut through parachute lines, so if you're stuck in a tree you can get out," Paolantonio said. "The reason it's a switchblade - switchblades are normally illegal - but if you are in a crash situation and your arm is broken you can use it with one hand."
Once the contract was in hand, Paolantonio was able to woo a new engineer, Joe, from a rival company. Joe, who didn't want his last name used, will help tool the machines and organize construction of the switchblades.
"The automatic knife in particular, we're taking it apart and looking at how it's put together, deciding, okay, we can make it like this, because it has to meet government specs," Paolantonio said.
In addition to the engineer, Colonial has started recruiting heavily and has recalled three retired employees to teach the new workers. Paolantonio said he is worried about hiring the 80 new workers that will be needed to start production on time in three months.
"The downturn in the economy might be good, because it might be easier to get good people," he said.
Vincent Vitralia, department supervisor, said the workers' morale has gone through the roof since the company landed the contract. "We are all very glad to do this work," he said.
Mass. Schools to Help Clinton-Dole-Sponsored Scholarship Fund
By Sarah Sparks
WASHINGTON - Former President Bill Clinton and former Senator Robert Dole announced Saturday that they will co-chair the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund to support the education of children affected by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, boosted by an opening $1 million donation from Harvard University.
"One of the problems with human tragedy of this breathtaking magnitude is that as it fades and we return to normal life - and we all know, someday, sooner or later, that will happen - the long-term needs can be forgotten," Clinton said, "and there is no more important long-term need than to see that the children who were affected by this tragedy, when they come of age - whether that is this year or 18 years from now - will have the opportunity to have an education."
Cynthia Pfeffer, director of the Childhood Bereavement Program at New York Presbyterian Hospital, testified before the Senate last week that the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon left thousands of children without one or both parents. The problem of how to ensure education for those children was severe enough to bring together long-time political adversaries Clinton and Dole.
"As evidence of how totally un-political this is," Clinton quipped at the scholarship's unveiling at Georgetown University, "I hope somebody noticed he (Dole) was standing on my left today."
"There's not any politics or partisanship in an effort like this," Dole agreed. "We're both Americans, we both love our country, and we'd like to do something in a positive way."
Citizens' Scholarship Foundation of America, Inc., which runs Dollars for Scholars and other student aid programs will also run the Families of Freedom fund, said Citizens President Bill Nelson. The group is already working with government officials to create a database of those lost in the attacks.
"Any child or spouse - since you may have spouses who may have to go back to school as a result of this tragedy - of any person killed or permanently disabled as a result of this tragedy and the follow-up rescue efforts will be eligible," Nelson said. Money from the fund will be allocated according to standard need-based financial aid standards.
Andrew McKelvey, CEO of TMP Worldwide, who provided the initial $1 million to create the fund, said that there was an immediate outpouring of money from those who wanted to help orphaned or bereaved children.
Harvard's Sept. 11 College Fund, which will be folded into Families of Freedom, donated $1 million in a joint effort with the American Council on Education.
Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers said in a Sept. 19 letter to the Harvard community that the university would donate the money by "working with colleagues in the field of higher education to identify the most effective way to organize a scholarship fund to meet educational needs."
Dole compared the fund to the post World War II G.I. Bill, which helped him and other students go to college or trade schools.
"I think that this will be a living memorial, and they [children] will understand as they grow older that America continues to care," Dole said. "By this effort, the young people who may be infants 15 or 20 years from now will understand that somebody in America cared enough to make a contribution to make it possible for them to pursue their dreams."
Mental Health Facilities “Overwhelmed” By Sept. 11 Aftermath
By Sarah Sparks
WASHINGTON - In the weeks following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, America turned out overwhelmingly to help the wounded, with millions of dollars in donations for aid and medical supplies and lines out the doors at blood banks around the country. But now lawmakers and health experts are debating how caregivers best can treat the mental scars that could last months or years after physical wounds have healed.
"Mental illnesses suffered in the wake of tragedies like the assault on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are a silent scourge," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., during a hearing yesterday on the psychological trauma of the attacks.
"Like the war on terrorism itself, the struggle against the psychological trauma inflicted by terror cannot be won without substantial resources and a substantial national commitment," Kennedy said at the hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions which he chairs.
The Pew Research Center's post-attack survey of 1,200 Americans found that 71 percent said they have felt depressed since the attacks; nearly half have had difficulty concentrating; a third had trouble sleeping.
Unfortunately, the people most at risk may be those who have given the most: the rescue workers and physicians.
Spencer Eth, vice chairman of psychiatry at St. Vincent Catholic Medical Center, the trauma hospital closest to ground zero in New York, said the staff has been strained to breaking with more than 7,000 victims needing care. "I can attest that my many hospital colleagues are more anguished now than at any previous time in their careers," Eth said.
Kerry Kelly, director of medical services for the New York City Fire Department, was at the World Trade Center, helping firemen, when the towers collapsed. "It was like a battlefield, with bodies and debris raining from the sky," Kelly said.
In New York, 60 fire companies have lost one or more members; of the 343 members missing or confirmed dead, 75 have close relatives still in active duty. "We have retired officers digging for their sons, two brothers uniting in grief to search for a third sibling," Kelly said. This additional shock makes many rescue workers doubly at risk for trauma-related disorders.
Kennedy agreed, citing statistics from police and rescue organizations on hand at the crash site of Pan Am Flight 103 in Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. A quarter of the Lockerbie rescue workers who handled the bodies of victims took early retirement within 18 months, Kennedy said; since the crash, 78 rescuers have committed suicide.
The mental health professionals testifying urged Congress to quickly reinforce the country's strained support network. "Just as emergency rooms were quickly overrun with the wounded and dying in the first hours after this disaster, existing mental health infrastructures may be overwhelmed in the coming months," said Carol North, psychiatrist and disaster studies expert the Washington University School of medicine in St. Louis, Mo.
Kennedy vowed the committee would work to bring more aid to mental health programs. "One hundred families in my own state of Massachusetts were personally affected," Kennedy said. "Our goal is to do all we can to help those affected by the attacks ... and to be fully prepared for any future disasters."
Kennedy and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., are two of 61 Senate co-sponsors for the Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act, set to go to the Senate floor Monday. The bill, proposed by Sens. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., and Pete Domenici, R-N.M., would require group health plans that offer mental health coverage to treat those benefits the same as medical and surgical benefits - preventing insurance companies from imposing treatment limits only on mental health care, for example.
"The role of private insurance is especially critical," Kennedy said. "There must be no skimping or rationing of needed care for victims of this assault on America."
North advised Congress to take a two-pronged approach. First, for those who suffered mild trauma - from watching the attacks on television, for example - community leaders should offer crisis counseling and public forums for people to share their grief, anger and fear. For those highly traumatized - such as survivors, rescue workers and families of victims - doctors must quickly identify patients developing depression, post-traumatic stress syndrome or other disorders and set up a long-term treatment plan.
"People so traumatized by the disaster that they are emotionally numbed and can cope only by avoiding all reminders of it are at particularly high risk," North said.
Flag Orders Swamp Capitol Offices
By Sarah Sparks
WASHINGTON - The calls are coming into the front desk three every minute, so fast the aides can barely say, "Hello, Sen. Edward Kennedy's office," before another line rings. Among the praise and protest there are the requests for flags. Hundreds of them.
At every office in Congress it's the same. Calls are pouring in from people all over the country who want to buy flags that have flown over the Capitol, if only for a few seconds. Last September, the Senate Stationary Store sold about 1,500 of its popular 5x8 flags; this September, the store sold 7,500.
"We're just swamped," said Chris Benza of the House Flag Office, which supervises the flying of the flags. "We can't even count them all. Normally we fly about 350 a day. A few thousand has been added onto that." The five-person flag-raising team - up from three normally - has been running flags up and down all day every day for the past two weeks.
"We have always answered requests for these flags but over the past few weeks there has been a definite increase," said Steven Schwadron, Chief of Staff for Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass. He said that the office has so far been able to get flags for those who request them, but, "Congress-wide there has been a bit of a problem because of the nationwide rush."
Flags cost between $14, for a small flag, and $25 for a large cotton flag. "You pay a little extra to get them flown over the Capitol," said Matt Ferraguto, spokesman for Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. "Almost everybody does; that's why they call, or else they'd just go down to Wal-mart and buy a flag."
Benza said the flag requests have not tapered off much in the two weeks since the attacks. The office is giving families of victims first priority. "As they come up with names, the families call their members for flags," Benza said. We try to do the requests for the victims first, because they're having the funerals."
Benza said she thinks people are ordering flags to show unity with the victims of the attack. "It's the only way they can show their sadness, their sorrow," she said, "and it's a way to show that we all stand together."
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. bought 160 flags himself, to send with personal letters of condolence to families of Massachusetts victims.
"I think it's great," Ferraguto said. "Every so often you get times like this when people want to do things and feel part of something bigger. It's really nice."
Massachusetts Delegation Reacts to President Bush’s Address
By Sarah Sparks
WASHINGTON - Massachusetts members of Congress rallied to President George W. Bush's call to arms in an address to a joint session of Congress and the nation last night, agreeing with the President's ultimatum to Afghanistan, "They will hand over terrorists or share in their fate."
"He set the mark high," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. "I think he weighed out the measure and did not shortchange the magnitude of this battle."
With the number of those missing and presumed dead in last week's terrorist attacks raised to more than 6500 people from 80 countries, the President asked for military, financial and intelligence aid from other nations to root out cells of the al-Qaida terrorist organization: "This is the world's fight; this is civilization's fight."
"Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists," Bush said to Afghanistan and the other nations of the world.
"The President's speech was exactly what the nation needed," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. in a statement. "[It was] a message of determination and hope, of strength and compassion."
Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., approved of the President's "blunt and candid" explanation of the length of the anti-terrorist campaign and the need for a hard line against Afghanistan.
"I think the administration has done a good job of making this a concerted effort all over the world," Meehan said. "He also made it clear that the Taliban have tortured and hurt its own people."
Yet the members agreed that the President drew a clear distinction between the terrorists and the rest of the Islamic world in saying, "Those who kill in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah. They are trying to hijack the Islamic faith."
"I think he made the point pretty clear" that Americans must not blame or attack Muslims as a whole, Rep.John Tierney, D-Mass said.
"I think the leaders of the House will continue to keep that message," Tierney said.
Kennedy agreed. "Congress and the nation will respond effectively to defeat the terrorists," Kennedy said, "and we will do so in a way that preserves our ideals and protects the fundamental rights and liberties of the American people."
Tierney said he felt the most surprising announcement was Bush's call for the creation of a Cabinet-level position of the Office of Homeland Security and the appointment of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge to head it.
"It's a concept that's been having hearings for the last couple of years ... It's a surprise that the appointment was made tonight." "It's the right step. We will have more to do, but it's definitely the right step," Kerry said, adding that he thinks the plan to control terrorism on America's home turf will be more effective "under one person who's accountable."
Kerry said he and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., have also proposed that the administration appoint someone to oversee airport security around the nation.
Kerry said, "We must vastly reconfigure" our intelligence operations in terms of both investment and strategy, adding, "I think he (Bush) hit the right balance in preparing the nation for the challenge."
Kennedy said he is confident "that Congress will join the President in meeting the nation's other immediate challenges, including supporting the many victims of this tragedy, and strengthening our economy to help all Americans."
Hill Re-Examines Evacuation Policy
By Sarah Sparks
WASHINGTON - Congress has always had pages' worth of protocol on emergency procedures, from warning alarms to voice-mail systems to notices on members' beepers, but during last Tuesday's evacuation, the most potent warnings still came from word-of-mouth.
"One of the Capitol Police actually ran door-to-door, telling us to get out," said Matt Ferraguto, press assistant for Senator Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. "Then, the chief of staff (Mary Beth Cahill) and the deputy chief of staff actually went through the office and made sure every single person in the office was leaving. They were the last ones to leave."
The Capitol has had as many real evacuations in the last week as it has had drills in the last year. In light of the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center in New York City, the U.S. Capitol Police have set up a task force to re-examine emergency procedures. It will scrutinize "existing physical, operational and technical security needs, and will provide the Member(s) with written proposals" to correct problems, according to a memo by Wilson Livingood, House Sergeant at Arms. System-wide, the task force will work to improve emergency communication and extend escape plans.
"After all, this was the first evacuation in the Capitol's 200-year history in which we had to evacuate all 19 buildings at once," said Lt. Dan Nichols, spokesman for the Capitol Police.
It has never been needed before. According to Bruce Milhans, communications officer for the Architect of the Capitol, the last real emergency evacuation came from a small office fire in the Canon House office building. Normally each building separately schedules one morning and one off-hours all-purpose drill; there are no specific procedures for bombing evacuations and no Capitol-wide simultaneous drills.
Steven Schwadron, press director and emergency point-man for Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., said the office's own emergency measures are flexible. "It depends on the nature of the threat. How far away do you have to get? From what direction does the threat come? Is it fire or airplanes? It's difficult to be precise about that," Schwadron said.
"As for what happens after you get out of the building, well, I guess it depends on which way the smoke is blowing."
Kelley Benander, press secretary for Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass, said the senator's office is close to the exit in the Russell Senate building, and staff members are able to get to their designated spot on the West side of the building quickly.
Ferraguto, whose office is just a few doors down, agrees. "We all come out the same door so it's very easy to see each other. Last time (during the false bomb threat) it took a matter of two minutes to find everyone," Ferraguto said.
Kennedy is considering selecting another meeting place outside of the Capitol center, but so far, neither Kennedy's, Kerry's or Delahunt's offices have secondary meeting places for staff members who have to leave the area entirely.
And once members or staff become separated, it can be difficult to get information. "We're in scattered locations so it's difficult to do this," Schwadron said. "We have peoples' cell phones and home numbers for emergencies, but of course that day (of the attacks) neither of those worked. We just had to be patient."
Many members of Congress and their staffs complained about sketchy and scattered information during the crisis, Nichols said. Better communications systems are a top priority for the Capitol Police. They are planning to use everything from public address systems and bullhorns to messages on Congressional beepers to keep the members informed.
Delahunt said most of the responsibility for evacuations lies with members and staff themselves. "It's not a military operation. (In Delahunt's office) it's a small number of people, all of whom are mature and responsible people who can size up danger when they see it."
Stranded R.I. Businesspeople Hit The Road
By Sarah Sparks
WASHINGTON - Don Sweitzer didn't want to wait for the airports to be up and running. He was stranded in Lexington, Ky., surrounded by the governors of eight states, desperate to get home. So he hit the road.
Sweitzer, senior vice president for public affairs at Gtech in West Greenwich, heard about the World Trade Center attack at a meeting of the Southern Governors Association in Lexington, which he was attending to promote his company. He joined several other Rhode Island businesspeople who were stranded far from home and decided to hit the road.
James LeBelle, national sales manager for KVH in Middletown, was already driving in a rented car when a radio announcer broadcast the first plane attack. LeBelle had left a trade show in Harrisburg, Penn. for a two-hour drive to catch a mid-morning Southwest flight to Providence from the Baltimore-Washington International Airport. When he heard about the multiple attacks, LeBelle said, "I didn't even bother going to the airport or calling the car rental agency because I figured I was probably a nuisance and they were probably overwhelmed with other calls. And I didn't know whether it (the attack) would escalate to something greater."
For the next 15 hours, LeBelle followed a careful course - up Highway 81, over Highway 84 east, across Connecticut and into Rhode Island - stopping only to grab food in gas stations and steering clear of cities. "I entirely mapped it out so I would go way far away. I went almost up into Albany to avoid New York City," he said.
LeBelle was able to get through to his wife's mobile phone from time to time, but most of his information came over the radio. "Unfortunately, I listened to one radio station that said there was something like 30 or 31 planes hijacked, and it took about an hour and a half for them to come out and say that was incorrect," LeBelle said.
"So you're thinking, 31 airplanes hijacked in the United States, that's pretty much every major city. ... All I could think about was: this could escalate to something like war; I didn't know what would happen next."
For the most part, LeBelle found the radio comforting, though. Sweitzer listened too in the car he was driving, though he said the radio made the trip difficult; it was a constant reminder of the tragedy unfolding in New York and Washington.
Kristen Levy, press representative for American Power in West Kingston, at least had human comfort. She and her 12 co-workers caravanned back in several cars from a trade show in Chicago after their flights were cancelled. "Everyone was afraid and just unsure of what was going on. We were all worried about family and friends and that sort of thing," Levy said. "It was just shock ... we were all at a loss for words for what was going on."
At least a hundred Rhode Island businesspeople are still marooned across the country and overseas, and as airports remain closed day after day, more and more of them may be forced to drive or find another form of transportation. Jane White, human resources director for Textron in Providence, said that two employees locked out of flights in Chicago and Atlanta also rented cars and drove back.
And Bob Richer, human resources director of Brown & Sharpe in North Kingstown, said the company is urging 25 to 40 grounded employees not to fly home right away even if airports open before Monday. "We're just telling them to sit tight," Richer said, until it is clearly safe to come home.
But for those like Sweitzer and LeBelle, work and family pulled them home as fast as they could drive. Sweitzer went straight to work, arriving at 4 p.m. Wednesday and filling in his colleagues before going home to sleep.
LeBelle returned to Providence at 2 a.m. Wednesday and was back at work early the next day.
Rhode Islander Witnesses Pentagon Attack
By Sarah Sparks
While a hijacked airliner was heading toward its attack on the Pentagon, intern Briana Angelone of North Scituite, R.I., was attempting to deal with the response to the two earlier terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.
In the office of House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., Angelone, 20, tried to calm panicked constituents calling the office. "As we were watching it, we saw another plane crash into the World Trade Center and people were calling up. … One lady called up and was like, 'What are you going to do about them bombing the World Trade Center?' "
I said, "Listen, ma'am, I'm sitting in the Capital here; I'm a little nervous myself."
Hastert was in his office getting briefed on the Trade Center attacks, Angelone said, when she and the rest of the staff met in the main conference room, which overlooks the Washington Monument and the Pentagon.
"We're sitting there and through the window we see this plane," she said. "Somebody says, 'Look, look!' We all looked out the window and there was all this billowing smoke pouring off the Pentagon. It was crazy; I couldn't believe it."
"One guy (from Hastert's office) called the police and said, 'Something just hit the Pentagon,' and they said they already knew."
Angelone, of Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire, and another intern were told to leave. They started for her co-worker's car, parked some distance from the Capitol, but were warned not to take the Metro subway train, she said, because of the possibility of "bombs or anthrax." "The police were yelling, 'Get away from the Capitol,' "
The Capitol and all federal buildings in the district were evacuated, and routes out of the city were choked with traffic. Angelone, who lives in northwest Washington, said that the trip home that usually takes 20 minutes dragged on for two and a half hours. Suit-clad men and women swarmed north, some walking, some - like Angelone - stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
At home, she found seven messages on her voice mail from friends and family hoping she was safe.
"I had messages from people I haven't talked to in a long time. My mom called me up, crying. It's been really bad," Angelone said.
