Pastor Tim Gahles, now chaplain at Fellowship Village retirement center in Basking Ridge, worked at the New York Stock Exchange in a previous life. That life was the one he was leading on Sept. 11, 2011. Gahles described his experiences as part of an ecumenical "Community Service of Reflection and Hope," held Sunday evening at The Presbyterian Church of Basking Ridge." Erik Thomas of Basking Ridge, one of the local high school students who was a young grade schooler when the event occurred, dozen speakers at the service. The service followed a day of remembrance recognized elsewhere in …

Editor's Note: The following is the written version of Bernards Mayor John Malay's speech at the Sept. 11 dedication of the 9/11 firefighters memorial, unveiled on Sunday at the Liberty Corner firehouse. Malay was keynote speaker. His speech, and some of the other speakers and music, was videotaped by the Basking Ridge Patch at the event. Good afternoon. Thank you for inviting me to speak on this occasion. As we all know, the facts are these. Ten years ago today America suffered the worst attack on its home soil since Pearl Harbor precipitated us into World War II. 9/11 launched its own war: …

TD Bank Park honored the heroes and families of 9/11 victims with a pre-game ceremony Sunday that featured 3,000 flags in the shape of a heart in front of the building and on field activities. The event began with an introduction by Board of Freeholders Director Robert Zaborowski. He was followed by a video and music montage displayed on the large screen in the ballpark prior to the Somerset Patriots' doubeheader against the York Revolution. More than 300 cub, boy and girl scouts from throughout New Jersey were invited to stand on the first and third base lines while area firefighters held a …

The speakers, musicians and other presenters at the Liberty Corner Fire Company's public unveiling of a 9/11 memorial that was a year in the making became a touching gathering place for a community that remembers the events of Sept. 11, 2001 all to well. The Basking Ridge Patch captured some of the comments and moments from the ceremony, held on noon on Sunday. While most of the memorial is complete, additional landscaping and other work needs to be done. Bricks are still on sale for $100 apiece to fund the remainder of the public piece, topped with a piece of steel from the World Trade …

Editor's Note: The following story was submitted to the Basking Ridge Patch by Juliana Tobin, a Ridge High School junior who also is features editor of The Devil's Advocate school newspaper. She said she previously was part of a 9/11 Student Journalism Project at Rutger's University, and had an opportunity to interview family members of 9/11 victims. Below is her article: On September 11, 2001, Herb and Todd Ouida, father and son, left for train station and headed toward the World Trade Center, where they worked every day. Spontaneously, due to the fair weather, Herb had chosen to take the …

One of biggest concerns of former Bernards Township Mayor Ali Chaudry, elected to the Township Committee in the months following 9/11 and now a Rutgers professor, is his fear that the 10th anniversary of 9/11 could spur unjustified paranoia against Muslims. Chaudry spoke with the Basking Ridge Patch in a phone interview just prior to Sept. 11. He also appeared at an ecumenical community service at The Presbyterian Church of Basking Ridge on Sunday evening to recite a prayer in Arabic and to offer the hope, "Let us move forward from the darkness out of the past." He did not discuss these …

They were running up while others were running down the stairs of the Twin Towers. That theme was the one that was driven home multiple times at the Liberty Corner Fire Co.'s Sunday afternoon dedication of a memorial for the 343 firefighters killed in the Twin Towers on a Sept. 11, 2001. The memorial, which stands outside the Liberty Corner Firehouse at 95 Church Street in Liberty Corner, is a simple set of concrete stairs leading to a twisted piece of metal from the 9/11 site. The fire company last year obtained the metal from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey with the …

Somerset County came together Sunday morning to remember the 39 county residents who died in the 9/11 attacks and to recognize the first-responders who assisted with the rescue efforts 10 years ago. For a full story and photo gallery of the event, click here.

More than 500 people came Sunday morning to the “crossroads of Somerset County” to remember the 39 county residents who were killed in the 9/11 attacks. "I thought it was my responsibility to come here and honor those who died,” former Bedminster Mayor Joseph Metelski said. For a video of the ceremony, click here. As a living memorial to those who died in the attacks, the county freeholders planted a weeping cherry tree on the front lawn of the courthouse, not far from the county’s 9/11 memorial at the corner of Bridge and Main streets in Somerville. The solemn ceremony under gray skies was …

This morning, the Huffington Post published its online mosaic of 911 scenes that recall or commemorate 9/11 from Patch sites stretched across the United States. Millions of people across the country were affected by the 9/11 attacks. Some experienced the tragic loss of a loved one, some found an inspiring way to help those who were grieving, and others experienced a political awakening.  To help reflect the endless diversity of their experiences, Patch looked out across our sites to pull together 911 snapshots of everyday Americans whose lives were changed by the events of that day.From …

In Basking Ridge, N.J., as elsewhere, it was a day that tore so many hearts apart, and yet also brought us together as a community. As the back of the meeting room at the town hall, there is a photo of the candlelight vigil held shortly after Sept. 11, 2011, attended by so many of our neighbors, in which we stood silently trying to concentrate on the flicker of lights rather than our collective pain. There also were so many acts of kindnesses that followed, both on an individual and communitywide basis. With the help of friends, Eileen Hannaford of Basking Ridge started the Kevin J. Hannaford…

Since the middle of last week, those who drive by the Bonnie Brae Educational Center on Valley Road have been able to see a field filled with 2,977 American flags. The school's Field of Flags was officially dedicated last Friday. It was both an occasion of remembrance and a more current thank you for local firefighters, first aid squad members and police. The Bonnie Brae School on Valley Road, which last Tuesday and Wednesday erected almost 3,000 flags to recall each of the victims of 9/11, including 18 in Basking Ridge by one count, later held an official dedication to remember those who …

The Liberty Corner Fire Company has been planning and laying the groundwork for more than a year to create and construct a 9/11 firefighters memorial that will be dedicated in a ceremony at noon this Sunday, Sept. 11, at the firehouse on Church Street in Liberty Corner.The memorial, created mostly by firefighters with assistance of some professionals who discounted and donated services and materials, was nearly complete at the beginning of last week. One question left hanging, according to Marc Friedman, the company's first assistant chief, was whether 50 or 500 people will show up on Sunday…

Most of us who are out of middle school have our own memories of 9/11 2001, and its aftermath, or impact on our lives. Some people also were intimately involved in assisting others or working together with other rescuers at the scene in the immediate aftermath or days following the terrorist attack. On Tuesday, Dick Eick and Barbara Steel of the Bernardsville First Aid Squad recall the roles that they played in responding to a tri-state emergency. On Wednesday, Steel also talks about her own experiences. On Thursday, Bernards Township Committeeman Scott Spitzer recalls how he got home from …

Editor's Note: This column originally ran in September 2010, shortly after I became editor of the Basking Ridge Patch. The students who are mentioned in this article are now sophomores, mostly at Ridge High School. By coincidence, I ran into one of the girls who sat next to my son in kindergarten at last night's Ridge vs. Immaculata football game. Nine years ago, with tears blurring my eyes, I handed over my younger son at the Henry Street entrance to the Oak Street Elementary School, where he was about to begin kindergarten. That was in September 2001. A few days later, many more of us were …

How some of our local residents, and those in charge, responded to the events of Sept. 11, 2001. In a separate video, Bernards Township Committeeman Scott Spitzer talked about how he had to struggle to return from a trip in Arizona at the time of the terrorist attack, and how he responded to his company based in New York City. In that same video about reactions of people in the Basking Ridge/Bernardsville area, the Basking Ridge Patch features a more detailed video about how Bernards School Superintendent Valerie Goger and other school officials deployed a plan to keep students safe and …

"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 …

In view of the New York City skyline, two 208-foot long walls designed to resemble the Twin Towers lying on their sides create a space for reflection at Empty Sky, New Jersey's monument to those lost in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.  On Saturday, families will gather to dedicate the New Jersey 9/11 Memorial in Jersey City’s Liberty State Park. After the 11 a.m. ceremony, which will be open strictly to family members of victims, the memorial will officially open to the public. James “Rick” Cahill, of West Caldwell, Chairman of the New Jersey 9/11 Memorial Commission, who lost his …

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, …

It was time for a change. After terrorists hijacked four passenger planes and slammed two into the World Trade Center buildings, one into the Pentagon, and another into a field in Pennsylvania, the way professionals approach security for mass transportation needed an overhaul. For NJ Transit, which operates 2,027 buses, 771 trains and 45 light rail vehicles over a service area of 5,325 square miles that meant a change in mindset. “In the past we only focused on crime and great service to customers, but now, here at NJ Transit, what we try to drive home to all our officers is that their main …