Citizens throughout the Triangle will come together to remember and reflect Wednesday, in a variety of religious and nondenominational community events honoring the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
A ceremony paying tribute to local heroes will be held Wednesday morning at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The event, sponsored by the City and County of Durham and the American Legion Post #7, will begin at 8:15 a.m.
A procession of local emergency medical service workers, firefighters, deputy sheriffs and police officers will mark the beginning of the ceremony. Bells will ring at 8:46 a.m. and 9:03 a.m.-the times that commercial jetliners struck the two World Trade Center towers. Brief remarks by Mayor Bill Bell and Board of County Commissioners chair MaryAnn Black will conclude the event.
State government officials are also planning to commemorate the day with a public ceremony on capitol grounds in Raleigh. Gov. Mike Easley and his wife Mary Easley will lead the event, which will feature a reading from the Declaration of Independence and patriotic songs.
In addition, a number of religious events will pay tribute to local heroes and offer a chance for meditation and community.
The Ar-Razzaq Islamic Center will host a prayer service and award ceremony Wednesday from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. to pay homage to the police, fire and sheriff departments in Durham.
"We just wanted to thank the firefighters and law enforcement and give tribute to their efforts in helping us and helping us to be safe," said Imam Abdul-hafeez Waheed, spokesperson for the event and a religious life advisor at Duke.
Waheed said that aside from one negative phone call last year after Sept. 11, the Durham community has expressed strong support.
"People have actually embraced us more, as opposed to being hostile, and have expressed a desire to want to know more about Islam," he said.
The Entertainment and Sports Arena in Raleigh will host the One Heart Worship Service, an inter-denominational Christian prayer service. The event has been organized by a steering committee comprised of pastors and a wide cross-section of Triangle churches.
"The vision is to strengthen the church and spiritually impact the Triangle area by uniting Christians of different denominations and races through worship and prayer," said Tim Sauve, the event's organizer.
One Heart is free, open to the public and begins at 7 p.m.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has also scheduled commemorative programming. Chancellor James Moeser will lead a convocation at noon and there will be a campus vigil at 8 p.m.
Other area events include a tree-planting ceremony at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and a performance of Mozart's "Requiem" by the North Carolina Symphony, both in Raleigh. (See story, page 6).
Despite the large number of public gatherings, police officials said there will not be a heightened police presence in Durham, nor will they be on alert. Instead, there will be "heightened awareness," said Lt. Norman Blake of the Durham Police Department.
"We've met within the agency and devised a response plan in the event that we have to respond to something major," he said.
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