Few occasions arise when a person has the opportunity to be a witness to history – or in former NYPD Detective Enrique Colon’s case, to be called directly to it. Colon, like many American citizens, witnessed the crash of the first hijacked plane into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001 and was summoned to duty soon after the second plane also made its collision.  A near 21-year veteran who retired from the police force in 2006, Colon, 46, came to the Manchester branch of the Ocean County library on Friday afternoon to share his story to a small, but rapt audience. “I’m not here to …

In Holiday City, Toms River and elsewhere, Jersey Shore residents remembered, cried and came to terms with what happened 10 years ago, when 3,000 people - some of them local, others not - perished at the hands of terrorists. A large crowd gathered at Holiday City at Berkeley's Clubhouse 2 for a ceremony to honor those who were lost during the attacks of 9/11. Berkeley Mayor Jason Varano addressed the audience and said although the tragedy was horrific, it united the country. "While the loss was great beyond description... we came together to support each other during those terrible days," …

The light was unmistakable. Not from the flames, dripping through the ceiling of an abandoned hallway, but from the sun, the actual sun. And there in the stairwell, at nearly 1,000 feet above the ground, a soft breeze carried the air – fresh air from the east – in through a gaping hole in the side of the skyscraper on a cloudless morning in New York City. Reflecting on that day nearly a decade ago, there’s a hint of regret in John Pyndus’ voice as he recalls seeing, with unparalleled clarity, the faces of those he knew who would never make it out alive. Perhaps it’s simply a realization, …

The story that follows is another in our series profiling local residents affected by 9/11. As the 10th anniversary of the attacks approaches, Patch is inviting all readers to share their stories of that day and its aftermath. Salvatore Velez watches every 9/11 special and documentary he can find. When police and fire communications from the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center are released, the retired New York City firefighter listens to all the recordings. He's not trying to torture himself. He said he’s just trying, from the distance of a decade, to catch a glimpse of the friends he …

In the days surrounding Sept. 11 this year, many will find personal ways to reckon with the tragic events of a decade earlier. Some will travel to New York City, Washington D.C. or to a field in rural Pennsylvania to visit memorials established to honor those lives lost or changed forever on that day. But residents of Brick Township have a very special monument in their own backyard.  In Windward Beach Park, just off Princeton Avenue, they will find a statue titled, Angel in Anguish. Kneeling in a circular garden near the edge of the Metedconk River, this sorrowful bronze figure wraps her …

Laraine Sgroi will be speing the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in Brick. That's just where she was when they occured, claiming the life of her ex-husband, Thomas, who worked on the 95th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center when it was hit. "We avoid the city altogether," she said, when asked if she would be attending the memorial event in New York City scheduled for the anniversary next month. "I don't put the TV on. I don't watch the ceremony, because for us it's not just that day. It's every day." But Sgroi still wants her hometown to remember what happened. …

OCEAN COUNTY BARNEGAT 9-11 ceremonyBarnegat American Legion and Township CommitteeSunday, 11 a.m.Location: Municipal Dock 411 East Bay AvenueMemorial ceremonyPresentation of a 9/11 flagSunday, 11 a.m.Location: Four Seasons at Mirage clubhouse1 Esplande Drive 9/11 memorial dedicationFriday, 6 p.m.Location: Township memorialNear Barnegat High School football field BERKELEY September 11 memorial service and dedication of Twin Towers SteelSaturday, 6:30 p.m.Location: Veterans Park Annual Sept. 11 memorial serviceSunday, noonLocation: Holiday City at BerkeleyClubhouse II on Port Royal Drive BRICK …

As a poet from a working-class New Jersey background who teaches at a small community college tucked into the Northwest corner of his home state, BJ Ward is accustomed to being ignored. Which makes the public’s awareness — and gratitude — for one of his poems, For the Children of the World Trade Center Victims, all the more remarkable to him. Ten years after the Sept. 11 attacks, Ward still hears from the children and wives of Sept. 11 (but no husbands so far) emailing or calling to thank him for expressing what they are still trying to absorb. “They are the living victims. They still have an…

I've long wondered how I should lend my voice to the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. As the Jersey Shore regional editor for Patch.com, I often get called on to write the obituary of record, or to find the right prose for the event of the month—Hurricane Irene, for example—that commands the attention of my hometown area.This time, I was expecting to step into the background, and let others shine. Little did I know, however, that the words were already written.The book of my family, "A Legacy of Madness: Recovering My Family From Generations of Mental Illness," will be released on …

"This is the hour of lead Remembered if outlived, As freezing persons recollect the snow — First chill, then stupor, then the letting go." —Emily Dickinson   Colleen Meehan Barkow and her mother JoAnn Meehan spent the weekend before Sept. 11, 2001 happily shopping for towels and linens for the 26-year-old's new home in the Poconos. Colleen and her husband Daniel, married less than a year, were planning to move into the house at the end of October. It meant a long commute into New York, where Colleen worked as a facilities director for Cantor Fitzgerald, on the 103rd floor of the North Tower …

Ron Viola laughs when he talks about the nicknames firefighters give each other. “Everyone has a nickname: Joey Bag of Donuts, Frankie Love Handles, Billy Bones,” Viola said Then growing serious, he pauses to add, “But on 9/11 they all had one name: Brother.” Everybody has a story about where they were when the planes hit the World Trade Center. If you’re old enough to remember the events of that day then you’re old enough to have a unique story to tell.  On September 11th, 2001, Viola, a Fort Lee, N.J., native, was working for Seagrave Fire Apparatus, one of the power house companies that …

It has been 10 years since the tragic events of September 11, 2001. This year, the Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders had a new memorial to display during the annual ceremony. A piece of the steel from the World Trade Center was donated to Ocean County and unveiled at this morning's ceremony.  Fire departments from Toms River, as well as police, EMS, the Ocean County Clerks office, public works, and Dr. Jon Larsen from Ocean County College were in attendance for today's ceremony as were many members of the public coming to observe the anniversary. The event began with the singing of the…

Since 9/11, Exelon Nuclear has put more than $400 million toward physical security upgrades to its 10 power plants, including Oyster Creek Generating Station in Forked River, spokesperson April Schilpp said. “Each plant was required to make substantial physical modifications, including additional barriers, more security observation posts and fortified and improved checkpoints,” said Neil Sheehan, spokesperson for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Exelon used that money to change the physical look of the plant by adding structures and different defenses to strengthen Oyster Creek’s …

Editor's note: Many New Jersey residents saw firsthand the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. Now, 10 years later, we've asked some of them how the event changed their lives. We'll be sharing their stories all this week. Steve Napolitano, who was the General Manager of the George Washington Bridge and Bus Station on Sept. 11, 2001, remembers standing on the sidewalk the day after the terror attacks, staring at the American flag workers had just unfurled on the bridge "while car horns beeped as they drove beneath it." “It was really important that we do that; that we hang that flag…

The guessing game had already been played: reporters dispatched to places most likely to produce the news for the next day’s paper. Seldom have the guesses been more wrong than those made on Sept. 10 about what needed covering on Sept. 11, 2001. My assignment was to cover a stop by a Democrat running for governor at the Ramada Inn on Route 9 in Toms River, early that morning. It was early in the race, and solidly red Ocean County was hardly the place a Democrat would pick for a major campaign announcement, but I was there anyway. Jim McGreevey seemed in a hurry when he burst through the door…

For every year since the attacks, the county has held a ceremony in its courtyard. This year, a piece of steel from the World Trade Center joins the monument. This year’s Day of Remembrance Ceremony, which marks the Sept. 11 attacks, will be held 8:30 a.m. Friday at the county’s monument, 129 Hooper Ave. Said Freeholder Director Joseph H. Vicari in a prepared statement: “This year, we are fortunate to be adding a piece of World Trade Center steel to our Sept. 11 monument in the courtyard. This steel represents a part of history that changed allour lives. It is our privilege to place it on …

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, New York City Police Detective Enrique Colon Jr. was at home watching live coverage of the first hijacked airplane that struck the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. When a second plane hit the other tower, he said he knew the U.S. was under attack. He ran to his car. Moments later, he got the call to come in and joined a team whose function was to locate and rescue survivors. Colon will speak for the first time publicly 2 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 16 at the Manchester Branch of the Ocean County Library about his experiences responding at Ground Zero the day …

We looked at the Jersey Shore to see how the events of Sept. 11 had changed people's lives. Here are their stories, as well as those of more than two dozen others from across the state.

During the summer, Patch began collecting readers' photos of the World Trade Center, a growing gallery in tribute to the Twin Towers. As the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks draws near, we'll be remembering New Jersey residents who died that clear September morning. But we also wanted to pay tribute to the towers—iconic symbols of hope and prosperity—when they stood tall and proud, dominating the New York City skyline.  We asked and you delivered, sending in more than a hundred photos statewide that represent your favorite memories: the shimmering skyline at nightfall, the view…

It wasn't supposed to end this way. But U.S. Marine Cpl. Nicholas S. Ott finally came home today, his body laid to rest as a Mass and burial service celebrated his life. A Mass for Ott, a Manchester native who was killed on Aug. 10 in Afghanistan, was held Friday at Saint John's Roman Catholic Church in Lakehurst, one day after hundreds of mourners paid their respects during a public viewing at the same location. Brian George, 38, who served in the U.S. Air Force for 18 years, was one of the many onlookers lining Myrtle Avenue in the borough to say goodbye as Ott's procession exited the …