Diary: 6/10/2006 - Ground Zero New York City

I wanted to tell you all about the most incredible day I had in New York City at Ground Zero, the site of the 9/11/2001 attacks of the World Trade Center towers. I got there early because I had never actually been there to see the area. My wife and I had driven by there one time when we drove to New York one time but this was my first time being there. You can't get too close. They have it fenced off and there are areas where they have openings you can see a BIG HOLE in the ground. They are supposed to be working on building the new Freedom Tower, according to what I have read in the paper but all I saw was a lot of men walking around and a lot of trucks driving around and a lot of nothing getting done. But it was Saturday but there was an awful lot of activity in that hole.

Every Saturday my 9/11 group www.ny911truth.org goes to Ground Zero and hands out flyers and holds our banner and our story boards, telling the real truth behind the attacks on 9/11/2001. We are a group trying to get the government to answer the unanswered questions that the 9/11 Commission did not answer or did not cover in their investigation. So we just stand there or walk around and hand out our pamphlets and talk to the people if they ask us questions. Several of us hold court when we get enough people looking at the boards and we explain what they mean and many people ask questions and we answer them. A lot of people are extremely satisfied with our answers as we are beginning to convert a lot of people as the recent Zogby poll said that 42% of Americans, which translate to 70 million, want a new independent investigation started into what really happened on 9/11/2001. And, of course there are our detractors who say we should be ashamed of ourselves or who outright flip us the bird or curse at us but we expect that. But most of the people that don't want our flyers just walk right by without saying anything.

Today was also the Puerto Rican Day parade so there were a lot of extra people in town. One of the highlights was when a young lady came to us and started giving us a hard time and she had literature of her own yelling to the people that she had evidence to debunk what we had that was all circumstantial evidence. Well, the more she yelled, the more some of the guys in our group that were her age talked with her and that calmed her down and for the four hours we were there, the younger crowd had her thinking that maybe she was wrong. As a matter of fact, one of the sons of one of our group got her email address. We were kidding him about it afterwards. Maybe we have a convert in the making.

But I had 2 significant highlights. The first is that I had Leonardo DiCaprio come right up to me today. I was stunned at first and then I tried to hand him one of my flyers. He looked at me and shook his head. I was surprised at that because he is pretty progressive. And NO I didn't ask for his autograph. I have a policy that I do not bother stars or athletes on their free time. They're humans and deserve their own time and don't need to be bothered. To digress a bit, that policy started when I was at the theater one time and I was standing stall to stall in the men's room with Buddy Ryan, the old Philadelphia Eagles football coach. I was, of course, stunned. I just said, Hey Coach, Good Luck on Sunday, (keeping my eyes at eye level ) Do you think we got a chance? And he said, Every Sunday we got a chance. And we parted. I have seen many celebrities on their off time, Bobby Clarke, a Philly Flyer hockey player, Jaromir Jagr, a Pittsburgh Penguin hockey player, at the time, etc and just said hello and good luck stuff like that but never bothered them. So I digressed too long, sue me! The second thing was that I handed a flyer to a couple of young teenagers and I walked away. As they were reading it, I came back to them and told them and you will read it below in my signature that the FBI has taken the fact off of Osama bin Ladens Most Wanted poster that he is no longer wanted for the 9/11 attacks. (Added 11/5 - I later learned that the fact was never PUT ON UBL's Most Wanted poster) The federal government has found no credible evidence to prove that he is responsible for the attacks. That's right, click on the links in my signature and look for yourself. But as I was talking to these young guys, the talk started to grow and they were asking me more questions. But a strange thing started to happen, the group started to grow. It started at 4, then 6, then 8, then 12 and it finally grew to about 20, which was half of their class that was there for the parade. And what was the best thing in my mind was that these were teenagers who were listening to me, a balding 53 year old man and they weren't laughing at me or teasing me or even giving me a hard time. They were listening to me and asking me pertinent questions. After they left, I didn't know who to tell first. It was my first time. Talking to a group of people about our cause. I was high as a kite. One of the guys said that it's like your first cup of coffee in the morning. He's too young but I said, nay it felt like I was smoking a joint. Now, I walk with a cane and standing for long periods of time are hard on me. So I had to sit on the trash cans and there was a fire department sprinkler standpipe that I could sit on but after that talk I was rejuvenated. My legs were hurting but it was like being a virgin. My friends saw how excited I was. I learned a lot from them today. I've only scratched the surface, though. There is a lot to learn.

So that is my fantastic day in New York. But it started out a little rough. In the bathroom at NY Penn Station I was waiting to get into a stall and I almost had my wallet picked. I turned and whacked the guy with my cane. I was fortunate that a transit cop was the next guy behind the pick pocket. LOL What a dope! Then I'm standing in line to get a commuter ticket for the subway and a lady comes up to me asks me if I needed a one trip pass. I said I don't know. She said she had one. Then I said, No I need two. Like I'm really going to buy a ticket in New York from someone I don't know. Because you see those tickets are magnetized coupons and they swipe through a reader to get on and off the subway. BUT you get to keep the ticket when you're done. AHA, she saw the Phillies cooler bag I had and thought, Here's a yokel who'll buy my bad ticker. LOL I ain't that stupid. Then I'm trying to walk up the steps to get to the platform. A VERY steep set of steps (I couldn't find the elevator) and I'm holding the railing. I'm bad on concrete steps without a railing and my cane. Half way up there was a guy who stopped. I said excuse me 3 times and he would'nt move. On the 4th time, I yelled at him and he yelled a few New York expletives at me and told me to move around him. Him being a normal person and me being handicapped had to move. Fortunately once again, a transit worker saw what was happening and came to my aid but by then the jerk went down the steps. But Stupid (me) went up the wrong steps. She came to help me up the steps but told me where the elevator was to get to the right platform. But from that point on, my day in New York City was FAN DAMN TASTIC.

Next week, the city is honoring the First Responders and we will be there in their honor. I was an FDNY fire dispatcher in the late 80's. Some of you know that, some don't. I had many dinners in the Wall Street district fire houses. I may not have known them personally but I will bet that some of the 343 brave firefighters that died on 9/11/2001 made dinner with us dispatchers many times. So I will be there next Saturday, in their honor and once again to try and get more people convinced that there are too many unanswered questions about that day and to get a new independent investigation started. Thank you for staying with me through this long email. I will be starting a blog of my times with my 9/11 group. My first time was when we protested the opening of United 93. Anyone is more than welcomed to discuss any portion of this email with me. If you have questions, feel free to ask. I have a multitude of websites you can look at to prove what I am saying. It's all there for you to see. Even the government has it on their own websites, proof that what happened at day was a little questionable.