SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2021
MEMORIES
of the adults around them.
Second, they wanted
answers.
Continued from A1
“Their need to want
She had to repeat the figure definitive answers of what’s
happening and what were the
twice.
consequences. And there were
“It was amazing,” Whit-
no answers,” Mitchell said.
ney said. “We came together.
He did have one truth to
We were all just devastated.
offer.
How can you have any petty
“I told them things are go-
squabbles with anyone when
you see something like that?
ing to change,” he said.
So many people wanted to
He has not yet returned to
volunteer.”
New York City.
Two decades later, it’s that
community spirit that helps
Grant Johnson
Whitney balance the sadness
Johnson, now 32, was one
of her memories of what she,
of the seventh grade students
along with so many millions of in Mitchell’s classroom that
Americans, saw that day.
morning.
He remembers watching
She wasn’t born when
news coverage of the attacks
President John F. Kennedy
on TV before he left for school.
was assassinated on Nov. 22,
When he got to BMS, John-
1963.
And although she remem- son said students, rather than
dividing into groups of friends
bers Jan. 28, 1986, the day
as they normally did, were
the space shuttle Challenger
congregated in one large mass,
exploded, Whitney said 9/11
all of them, he said, “talking
will always be the day that
about what we had seen.”
stands out.
Johnson said Mitchell
She was an adult that day,
helped him, and his class-
and a parent.
mates, understand the historic
“I remember being fully
aware that these were parents nature of what had happened
and moms and dads and aunts — and indeed, what was
still happening as they sat in
and uncles,” she said.
“When you’re a parent you their desks.
“I think Mr. Mitchell re-
understand better the devasta-
ally recognized the gravity of
tion that’s happening before
that event,” Johnson said. “I
your eyes.”
don’t think we, as students,
Bill Mitchell, retired teacher understood the full magnitude
of what was happening.”
Sept. 11, 2001, was a
Johnson said the sober
Tuesday, and every Tuesday
Bill Mitchell played basketball expressions on the faces of
at 6 a.m. before heading to his his teachers and other adults
was at least as compelling, in
classroom at Baker Middle
School, where he taught social terms of the significance of
that day, as anything else.
studies.
“To see a building collapse,
As the time for school ap-
proached, he headed to get his that’s pretty startling,” he said.
Johnson chuckles as he
mail at the school office.
“It’s just as clear as if it was admits that he has a “terrible
memory.”
yesterday,” he said.
But he also understands
Dana Blankenship, who
that one reason his recollec-
taught science at BMS, met
tions aren’t as vivid as they
Mitchell at the stairs.
“He said ‘It’s Pearl Harbor might be is that the situa-
tion changed so rapidly that
all over again. Turn your TV
morning — first the views of
on.’ ”
Mitchell did, and watched the towers on fire, then their
the chaos in New York City, a collapse.
He’s still grateful for
place he’d visited several years
before with a group of middle Mitchell for helping students
deal with events that were
school students.
And on that day, a Tuesday unprecedented in their lives.
“I think he put it in context
ingrained in so many Ameri-
can memories, he would stand for us,” Johnson said. “He
realized this was a tremen-
before multiple classes.
dous moment.”
“I remember thinking
the lesson plan for today has
changed drastically. It became Tabor Clarke
a question-and-answer day,”
Clarke, a Baker City
he said.
jewelry store owner, was in an
unusual, and troubling, situ-
Mitchell remembers two
ation on the morning of Sept.
reactions from his students.
First, they were picking up — 11, 2001.
His father and mother, F.B.
and absorbing — the anxiety
events are important, they
should be overseen by their
current sponsors.
Continued from A1
“I agree with that, it makes
perfect sense and we shouldn’t
support from the county
have events being handled
through the lodging tax.
by whoever gets this contract
“That would be a total
with visitors services,” Nichols
miscommunication that we
said. “Events should be
are trying to stop them and
handled by, and this is not just
I think it’s really important
my idea but multiple people,
they will continue, it’s just
going to continue in the right that the one that has the
event should be responsible
fashion and the right format
and that’s where it’s at,” Ben- for that event.”
Bennett said he doesn’t
nett said.
think it’s appropriate to
But Bennett said he
include language in the new
believes the visitors center
visitors center contract that
contract should deal with
operation of the center and not requires the contractor, in ad-
other tasks, including manag- dition to operating the center,
to manage events.
ing events.
“There’s multiple appli-
Nichols agreed with Ben-
nett that although community cants and what if the people
VISITORS
BAKER CITY HERALD — A3
LOCAL & REGION
Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger-TNS
Flags placed on the Braintree, Massachusetts, Town
Common in honor of those killed on 9/11.
and Zona Clarke of Baker City,
were in an airliner.
And in those anxious
minutes, when it was not clear
how many planes might have
been hijacked, and from which
airports, this seemed a precari-
ous position indeed for worried
relatives such as Clarke and
his brother, Nelson, who also
lives in Baker City.
Tabor Clarke was at home
that morning when his wife,
DeeDee, heard something
on the radio about a plane
crashing into one of the Twin
Towers.
They turned on their TV.
“There it was,” Tabor said.
At that moment he didn’t
know exactly where his par-
ents were — or even whether
they were on the ground in Il-
linois, where they had traveled
to visit F.B. Clarke’s sister, or
already airborne.
As it turned out, the latter
was the case.
The Clarkes were en route
from Chicago to St. Louis
when the plane’s captain told
passengers about what by
then was believed to be a
planned terrorist attack. The
flight was diverted from St.
Louis to Wichita, Kansas.
Back in Baker City, Tabor
and Nelson learned about
10 a.m., from a phone call from
their father, that their parents
were safe on the ground.
during cleanup, and search
and rescue. One of them
developed severe lifelong
health issues from breathing
whatever was in that dust.
The loss of life and other
damage to people extended
far beyond what happened
that morning, and continued
for years afterward. The only
bright spot was that for a
little while, people everywhere
came together to support each
other, and remembered what
America felt like.”
caught in traffic.
Kassien said he started try-
ing to call many of his friends
and relatives who were sup-
posed to be in Manhattan that
day. Cell service was sketchy,
and in many cases he wasn’t
able to reach his loved ones.
He continued to watch TV
coverage.
He watched the South
Tower collapse, followed, 29
minutes later, by the North
Tower.
“I was sitting in the
kitchen of my friend’s house in
complete and utter disbelief,”
Kassien said.
Lori Lien
Lien submitted her memo-
ries by email:
“My husband and I had
only been home a few days
from having our second child
at the local St. Elizabeth
Hospital. On the morning of
9/11, we were up early with
baby Eli and my mom called to
alert us to what was happen-
ing. Turning on the TV, I could
not grasp the evil that would
inspire the events unfolding
before us. I was holding the
Jamie Kassien
most precious gift life can offer
Kassien, who grew up in
anyone — our brand new baby
New York, was about three
boy. I remember thinking that
hours from Manhattan, at a
the world that I grew up in
friend’s house and watching
NBC’s “Today” morning show, would never be the reality for
when he saw video of the first my two young children. Hold-
tower in flames.
ing my kids throughout that
Initially, he said, the pre-
day, gave me immense peace
sumption was that this was an that my family was safe and
accident, not a terrorist attack. at the same time, immense
fear that I may not be able to
But Kassien continued to
protect them in a world where
watch. And he remembers
events like this can happen on
how somber Matt Lauer, the
any given Tuesday.”
“Today” show host, looked as
he interrupted the program,
his hand to his earpiece, to tell Mark Bennett, Baker
viewers that a second plane
County commissioner
had slammed into the other
On Sept. 11, 2001, Bennett
tower.
was the county’s emergency
“Instantly my stomach
management director and
dropped,” Kassien said.
planning director.
He had two friends who
He was at his ranch near
worked in the North Tower.
Unity, getting ready to drive
One worked on the 82nd
the 50 or so miles to his office
floor, about 10 stories below
at the Courthouse in Baker
where the plane struck.
City, when he got a phone call
Kerry McQuisten, Baker
Kassien later learned that from Grant Young, then the
City mayor
assistant planning director.
McQuisten submitted her that friend had missed work
that day because he had at-
“The nation’s under attack,”
recollections by email:
“I was living near Seattle
tended a party the night before Bennett recalls Young telling
him.
at the time. I remember my
and had a hangover.
In those first few confusing
mom calling me and telling me
His other friend, whose
hours, before the geographic
to turn on the TV. It was hard office was near the bottom
scale of the threat to the coun-
to believe what I was seeing. I of the North Tower, also was
started flipping through all of supposed to be at work that
try was clear, Bennett said
the news channels that were
morning but his cab was
federal and state officials were
live from around Asia, and
nothing is censored there in
terms of footage, so I saw some
scenes that definitely were
Patrons can reserve
FICTION
not captured on mainstream
• “The Guide,” Peter Heller
materials in advance online
media here.
• “Lightning Strike,”
or by calling 541-523-6419.
“I have friends who ended
William
Kent Krueger
Baker County Library’s new
up traveling to be on the scene
• “The Love Songs of
that are great visitors center
people aren’t capable of man-
aging an event?” Bennett said.
Harvey, though, contends
that including event man-
agement in the new visitors
center contract is important to
formalize what has happened
for many years, including the
Chamber’s management of
Miners Jubilee.
He acknowledged that
event management wasn’t
mentioned in the previous
visitors center contract.
“It didn’t have to be
because they were already
doing the service, it was being
provided for the last several
years so we didn’t think to put
it in before because they were
already doing it,” Harvey said,
referring to the Chamber.
additions include 15 new
bestsellers, four new movies,
20 new children’s books, and
125 other new books, includ-
ing 103 that are available
online. See everything new
this week to Baker County
Library District at wowbrary.
org. Materials featured, and
in library collection, does
not indicate endorsement or
approval of contents by the
library. Selections are based
on factors such as demand,
public interest, diversity
of viewpoint, community
relevance, and others.
W.E.B. Du Bois,” Honoree
Fanonne Jeffers.
• “Ridgeline,” Michael
Punke
• “A Slow Fire Burning,”
Paula Hawkins
• “Velvet Was the Night,”
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
NONFICTION
• “Unsettled : What Climate
Science Tells Us, What It
Doesn’t, and Why It Matters,”
Steven E. Koonin
• “Unwinding Anxiety:
New Science Shows How
to Break the Cycles of Worry
and Fear to Heal Your Mind,”
HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST
Show off your
hunting skills
HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST
Gina Perkins
Perkins submitted her
memories by email to the
Herald:
“The strongest memory of
what our experience was on
September 11, is the complete
normalcy in which the day
began. We lived far from town
and our kids always got up
early to be ready for the bus.
I remember them finishing
breakfast with our two young-
est sitting on the couch with
their coats on watching a little
TV before it was time to go. It
was tuned into the news. And
then the unthinkable hap-
pened right before our eyes.
“My husband and I won-
dered if we should allow the
kids to go to school (which we
did). So unsure of what might
happen, I went to the grocery
store to pick up some extra
things — just in case — and I
remember the utter silence in
the store and nervous glances
between customers who were
obviously worried and scared.
Me, too.
“A couple of days later
when things were in the
midst of turmoil, I remember
attending a football game in
Unity, literally next to a cow
pasture, and how everything
was so peaceful. It was very
hard to imagine the suffering
happening on the other side
of our country. Flags were
everywhere, including in the
backs of pickups and on cars in
the parking lot.
“What seemed to stand
out the most was the noise of
the kids playing and parents
cheering seemed far away as
thoughts drifted, again to what
else might happen.”
New At The Baker County Library
B
BRAGGIN'
RIGHTS
trying to get in touch with all
county emergency manage-
ment directors.
At one point, he recalls,
there was a call to “lock
down” all airports, including a
privately owned landing strip
near Richland.
By mid-morning it was
obvious that there was no sig-
nificant risk to Baker County,
Bennett said.
At that point his role
became not so much official as
that of a citizen, watching and
pondering the situation like
his friends and neighbors.
“I just remember the
shock,” Bennett said.
ENTER NOW
bakercityherald.com/braggin-rights
Judson Brewer
• “We Are What We Eat: A
Slow Food Manifesto,” Alice
Waters
• “Whale Day and Other
Poems,” Billy Collins
• “W1nning : The
Unforgiving Race to
Greatness,” Tim S. Grover
• “The Woman They Could
Not Silence : One Woman,
Her Incredible Fight For
Freedom, and the Men Who
Tried to Make Her Disappear,”
Kate Moore
MOVIES
• “12 Mighty Orphans”
(Drama)
• “In the Heights” (Musical)
• “Peter Rabbit 2: The
Runaway” (Family)