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Community Corner

Thousands of Flags Honor 9/11 Fallen

Many more memorials are listed throughout the area.

Thousands are expected to view a 9/11 memorial display on the front lawn of Shepherd of the Hills Church on Rinaldi Avenue in Porter Ranch over this weekend.

On Saturday, many began the five-block tribute of memorial flags depicting nearly 3,000 lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001, in the worst terrorist attack on United States soil.

Laminated posters about 2-by-1½ feet displaying the names, occupations and hometowns of the victims were attached to 2-foot wooden dowels hammered into the ground and decorated with different color ribbons to show where each died. Soft classical music played in the background nearby.

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Joy Krauthammer of Porter Ranch was one of those who walked solemnly passed the display. Like many there, she did not personally now any victims.

“It should not have happened. It was pure terror. It should not have happened,” said Krauthammer as tears streamed down her face.

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Sunday is the 10th anniversary of the hijacking of four commercial jetliners by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists who flew the planes into the Twin Towers in lower Manhattan, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and an empty field in Shanksville, PA.

Tributes were scheduled throughout the country to remember those who died in the air and on the ground, while many media outlets wrote stories, interviewed survivors and family members a decade later.

Krauthammer said she realized on Saturday that she has been numb for the past decade and seeing the faces on the posters allowed her to finally feel the heartbreak.

“(Today) is about souls connecting. I’m surprised about my emotions,” she said. “Look. A 24-year-old. A student from Japan. Mothers, fathers, grandmothers, police, firefighters, young people and they are still out there trying to get us."

On the one year anniversary, church officials attached balloons and photos to two banners representing the height of the Twin Towers.

One woman on Saturday said she’ll never forget it.

Granada Hills residents, Maureen Nolan and her daughter, Linda Nolan, said the display was overwhelming as they moved inch by inch, stopping at each picture stacked four rows deep.

“You can’t stop and look at one and not the other,” Maureen Nolan said.

Lisset Valencia, who is a member of the church, walked the lined sidewalk with her oldest daughter who was four months old at the time of the attack.

“I didn’t know anyone. I’ve never been to New York,” Valencia said as tears began to form. “Everyone was loved; a husband, a wife, children. A life was taken in a horrendous way.”

Valencia remembers watching television that morning as she nursed her newborn baby.

“This puts a face to the tragedy,” she added.

Her daughter, Alanah, 10, said seeing all of the posters made her sad.

"Those mean people were very mean,” Alanah said. “There were lots of people in the plane; pregnant women and children.”

Alanah said she was glad some of the passengers and crew aboard United Airlines flight 93 fought the terrorists before coming to a crashing end in a Shanksville, PA, field.

“They were defending themselves,” she said.

The posters will be displayed Sunday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 19700 Rinaldi St., Porter Ranch, at the corner of Corbin Avenue.

The posters weathered  sudden thunderstorm midday on Saturday.

Bill Hoffer, spokesman for the National Weather Service, said Saturday’s drenching was “very unusual” and produced rain drops a half-inch in diameter and wind gusts up to 40 m.p.h. along with thunder and lightning.

Hoffer said the storm, centered in Moorpark, moved East through Simi Valley and the Chatsworth area.

He said September has been unusually hot and humid, and an air mass mostly from the Gulf of California and a little from Gulf of Mexico, formed the thunderstorm.

“It’s moist and stable air coming into a dry, hot atmosphere,” Hoffer said. “That was the kicker.”

Hoffer said no thunderstorms are predicted for Sunday.

Here are some other area tributes scheduled for Sunday:

Nationwide

  • Check out ActionAmerica.com if you'd like to tell the country how you're taking positive action in your community.
  • There will be one minute of reflection at 10 a.m., with ringing of bells and sounding of sirens, to remember the terrorist attack victims who died at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in Shanksville, PA.

Burbank

Canoga Park

  • Barger Harley-Davidson, 22107 Sherman Way, Canoga Park, will host a fundraiser from 10 a.m to 3 p.m. to honor 9/11 victims and servicemen and women as well as benefit the Veterans Home of California.

North Hollywood

  • Councilman Tom La Bonge and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa are scheduled to attend a memorial ceremony, 4-6:30 p.m. at North Hollywood Park, 11455 Magnolia Blvd.

Northridge

Reseda

Sherman Oaks

  • Interim Fire Chief Brian Cummings will attend a Memorial Fountain ceremony, 7 p.m., at Fire Station 88, 5101 Sepulveda Blvd., Sherman Oaks. Details, 818-406-8013.
  • The final performance of " Firehouse," a play about the moral choices of firemen, will be 5 p.m. at the Whitefire Theatre, 13500 Ventura Blvd., in Sherman Oaks. Tickets are $25.

Simi Valley

  • The remembrance program at the at Ronald Reagan Presidential Library includes music and keynote speech at 4:30 p.m. by Lt. John McCole, a New York Fire Department first responder. That will be followed by a 1.8-mile walk at 5:45 p.m. The library is at 40 Presidential Drive, Simi Valley.

Tarzana

  • There will be an Interfaith choral concert, 7 p.m. at Temple Judea, 5429 Lindley Ave., Tarzana. Make reservations on the website. Details, 818-758-3800.

Woodland Hills

  • The Valley Cultural Center is sponsoring an information fair at 5 p.m.; remembrance talks at 7:30 p.m., and a screening of New York Says Thank You at 7:45 p.m., at Warner Center Park, 5800 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Woodland Hills. Details, 818-881-5000.

Listings compiled from various news sources.

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