911

EAGLE SCOUT CANDIDATE JEFF COX HAS GARNERED NATIONAL ATTENTION IN HIS WORK TO BRING A 9/11 MEMORIAL TO WINDERMERE WITH STEEL FROM THE WORLD TRADE CENTER. HE HAS APPEARED ON THE FRONT PAGES OF THE NEW YORK TIMES, AND THE ORLANDO SENTINEL, AS WELL AS FOX NEWS, SCHOLASTIC NEWS, AND TALK RADIO WOR - 710 AM IN NEW YORK CITY. READ, HEAR AND SEE IT ALL HERE

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FROM THE SEPTEMBER 7th NEW YORK TIMES

FROM THE SEPTEMBER 11th ORLANDO SENTINEL

FROM THE SEPTEMBER 10th SCHOLASTIC NEWS

FROM THE OCTOBER 21st WEST ORANGE TIMES
WINDERMERE APPROVES 9/11 MEMORIAL PLAN

JEFF COX APPEARS ON BUD HEDDINGER'S SHOW ON FEBRUARY 15, 2010 - CLICK HERE TO HEAR THE INTERVIEW



	Eagle Scout Jeff Cox is pictured in front of the Windermere Town Hall on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009. Jeff is one of the few people in the country to get a hold of an official piece of the 9-11 World Trade Center wreckage and will use a steel frame to hold the artifact in a 9-11 memorial at Town Hall. (STEPHEN M. DOWELL/ORLANDO SENTINEL / September 9, 2009)

When Jeff Cox, a 15-year-old candidate for the rank of Eagle Scout in Windermere, Fla., approached the small town’s mayor with park improvement ideas to help earn a badge, the mayor informed him that those projects were already covered. “He came back and said, ‘Would the town like a memorial if I can get World Trade Center steel?’ ” Mayor Gary Bruhn said. “I was stunned. I said, ‘Son, the town would be elated to have something like that.’ He said, ‘I think I need the town’s support. I don’t think they’re going to just give it to me.’” No, they would not — but close. As the anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, approaches on Friday, pieces of the World Trade Center rubble from that day have never been more accessible. A new campaign is under way to speed up the process and increase the volume of giving away pieces of steel big and small from the debris. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the steel, will invite police and fire departments and mayors and other leaders of cities and towns throughout the country to ask for pieces for memorials. The Port Authority has filled about 25 requests in the last year, and has about a dozen more pending. In recent weeks, trucks have hauled twisted steel columns that weigh hundreds of pounds to York, Pa., and Westerville, Ohio. A smaller piece was shipped to the Air Defense offices of the United States Air Force in Rome, N.Y. “The best way we can honor the memory of those we lost on 9/11 is to find homes in the W.T.C. Memorial and in cities and towns around the nation for the hundreds of artifacts we’ve carefully preserved over the years,” said the Port Authority’s executive director, Christopher O. Ward. The Port Authority hopes to generate more interest in the steel with new advertisements in police, fire and municipal trade magazines. There are 1,800 to 2,000 pieces, half of them very large, which are available for carting away, at the recipient’s expense. This does not include some 200 pieces, among them the most familiar and iconic, that have been claimed by the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum. Among the pending requests are one from Las Vegas, where the Atomic Testing Museum wants a 79-inch piece to fit in its custom-made case, and one from Eastern Kentucky University, which requested a piece one and a half feet long. There is a also request from a group of fire departments in France. “The Saint-Etienne fire brigade would very much like to exhibit an artefact from the World Trade Center in order to pay tribute to the victims, civilian and fire fighters of the 11th September attack,” wrote Col. Yves Bussiere, of the regional fire department. The pieces — some weighing tons, others little more than twisted sheets of metal the size of a street sign — are stored at Hangar 17 at Kennedy International Airport. The 80,000-square-foot hangar is divided by several large plastic tents, where machines regulate the humidity so the steel doesn’t rust. In one tent, a New York City police car sits crumpled in the corner, as if tossed there. Lee Ielpi, president of the September 11 Families’ Association, is sending letters to public safety agencies offering artifacts. “Any bona fide city, town, county, state, corporations, other countries, France, Paris, Lyon, that would want a piece of steel, it would behoove us to accommodate them,” he said. In the years immediately following the attacks, donations of 9/11 artifacts trickled out to various entities, but the requests were not handled by a single organization, the Port Authority said. The agency requires a detailed description in each request of how the steel will be displayed. Individuals cannot receive artifacts, only cities or organizations. The requests that are pending supplied detailed specifications for the pieces they want: “I am looking for an ‘I’ beam roughly 8’ in length; however, anything that we could have would mean more than words could ever express,” wrote Lt. Michael L. Zarella with the fire department of Mendon, Mass. He visited and chose the piece he wanted, a 10-foot-long hunk of steel “twisted like a party streamer,” he said. Requests for the steel must also be approved by Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of Federal District Court, who is overseeing the wrongful death lawsuits stemming from the attacks. While the steel is considered potential evidence in those cases, tests on the steel were completed in 2005. The judge has since granted all requests and has given no indication he will do otherwise for the pending ones. The requests are deferential. “All we need is a 1-foot-by-1-foot-by-4-feet tall piece of steel,” read a letter from the mayor and the president of a memorial in Glens Falls, N.Y. “It’s a small piece of steel to fill our big hearts.” In Wichita, Kan., the Transportation Security Administration awaits shipment of a 600-pound piece of steel. Officials plan to chop it into eight pieces and display each piece in one of the state’s airports. “Most of these are really, really small airports,” said Keith Osborn, the security director. Steel will be displayed in two parks only about 20 miles apart in Ohio: one beside the Westerville Fire Division Headquarters (“We plan on standing it up and have it facing in the same direction it was when it was in New York, with the north side facing in the right direction,” said a firefighter, Thomas C. Ullom); the other in Hilliard, which selected three pieces. Both memorials will be called First Responder Park. On Friday, Jack Sommer, the president of Prospect Hill Cemetery in York, Pa., came to Hangar 17 to collect a piece, watching as a cemetery employee strapped a chunk of steel, concrete and gnarled rebar to a trailer. In an added flourish, the men had spread an American flag under the steel. A Port Authority police car escorted them out. In Windermere, a town of 3,000, the prospective Eagle Scout, Jeff Cox, got the mayor’s support for his project and was waiting for his steel. He was just 7 when the attacks took place. “I wasn’t really sure what the building was, but it kind of scared me,” he said. “No one was really sure what was going to happen.” He said he has been promised a big piece. “They sent me about six options to pick from,” he said. “I ended up taking part of a steel beam, about three and a half or four feet, 650 pounds.”

9-11 memorial: Windermere teen awarded chunk of World Trade Center The New York Port Authority, which owns the debris from the 2001 attack, has granted Jeff Cox a 650-pound hunk of twisted steel from one of the fallen twin towers. WINDERMERE - A 15-year-old Eagle Scout candidate's proposal to build a Sept. 11 memorial has accomplished a rare feat: He's getting an official piece of the fallen World Trade Center to be used in the monument. Jeff Cox of Windermere and Boy Scout Troop 6 got word last week. "I just think it's awesome that they're giving this to us," the teen said. "I hope we can make something that can take such a tragic thing and turn it into something where people can reflect and remember." That's what the nation will be doing today, eight years after nearly 3,000 people died when terrorists flew two hijacked airplanes into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. That same morning, 125 died in a similar attack on the Pentagon. And 44 were killed when a fourth plane crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought their hijackers. Much of the Trade Center buildings' debris has been recycled under the authority of New York City. The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, which owns the remaining debris, as well as the federal judge overseeing the artifacts from the 2001 attack, have granted Jeff a 650-pound hunk of twisted steel from one of the fallen twin towers. "We granted just 25 requests last year and have 12 more pending," said Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority. An unknown number of artifacts have been given to private citizens, largely from firefighters, police and ground zero workers on the site in the disaster's aftermath. "We have to be very careful and respectful about where these artifacts wind up," Coleman said. "No one should profit from them, and we don't send them to private citizens for personal collections." Jeff's story was first featured in Monday's edition of The New York Times, in a story about how debris from the Trade Center is being used in memorials. More than 1,000 artifacts are still stored in an 80,000-square-foot hangar at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, and they are considered crime-scene evidence until a federal judge releases items on a case-by-case basis. Jeff, who was just 7 when the towers fell, said he wanted to honor the people who died in the attacks. "I remember 9-11," he said. "There were people dying on TV, my teachers were freaking out and my mom came and got me out of school. We didn't know what was going to happen next." Now a 10th-grader at a private academy, The Crenshaw School, Jeff got the memorial-building idea after talking to a summer camp counselor in June on possible service projects to complete his work for his Eagle Scout badge. "It was just a lot of work," he said. "I didn't even know if this was possible, but I wanted to try." Jeff is now going through the design phase of his project, and some local engineers and architects are helping with his vision of a steel cradle to hold the artifact. He is planning for a Feb. 20, 2010, dedication. At Jeff's request, UPS is going to ship the artifact for free, saving about $1,200 in freight charges. No shipping date has been arranged yet. The teen's efforts made him a celebrity in the town of 3,000 in southwest Orange County after he appeared on the front page of the Times. His mother, Margaret Cox, said that the family was stunned. "It was just absolutely wonderful," she said. "For all his hard work to get recognized, it's wonderful." To make the project happen, he made lots of telephone calls and was polite and persistent, his mother said. He approached Windermere Mayor Gary Bruhn after a church service at St. Luke's United Methodist Church and asked for a letter.

Victims of 9/11 Honored Eagle Scout project to build memorial in Florida By Shelby Fallin \| September 10 , 2009 This week communities across the country are honoring the memory of the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Jeff Cox, a 15-year-old Eagle Scout from Windermere, Florida, wants to give people in his community a way to honor those victims every day. He decided to bring a piece of the World Trade Center buildings to his hometown for a memorial. "I remember I was in second grade and I really didn't know what was going on," Cox said of the attacks. "Then seeing these two huge buildings falling down on TV—it was like a scary movie, and I never really liked scary movies." On September 11, 2001, four consumer airplanes were hijacked and intentionally crashed in a terrorist attack on the United States. Two planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Centers in New York City. Another plane crashed into the Pentagon. A fourth plane was headed for the White House, but crashed instead into a field in Pennsylvania. More than 3,000 people died in the attacks. Many of those people were firefighters and police officers—first responders—attempting to save people from the wreckage. The young Eagle Scout's older brother is a local firefighter who was recently wounded in the line of duty. Cox said he wanted to honor the firefighters and other first responders, as well as the memories of all the people who died that day. To put his plan in action, he first did some research. Cox went online and found that the Port Authority of New York City had preserved pieces of metal from the World Trade Center buildings. He then approached the Mayor of Windermere, Gary Bruhn, to see if the town would be interested in having a memorial. "I thought it was a tremendous idea," Bruhn said. "We have a lot of requests for projects. This is a project that will stand the test of time and generations." The Port Authority gave Cox several choices. He finally chose a 650-pound beam that was recovered from the destroyed buildings. The Port Authority keeps remnants from the attacks in Hangar 17 at JFK Airport in Queens, New York. The next problem was how to ship such a huge hunk of steel from New York to Florida. Cox started looking for sponsors and volunteers to help. It didn't take long. UPS has agreed to sponsor some of the cost of the shipping and local engineers have volunteered to design the memorial. The town of Windermere donated a piece of land where the memorial will be placed. The city is helping Cox find someone to donate a spotlight. Cox hopes to have the memorial finished by the end of the year. He is planning a dedication ceremony on February 20, 2010. "The town of Windermere is celebrating its firefighters and policemen that day and I thought that would be a great day to dedicate the memorial, too," he said. Mayor Bruhn agrees. "It will be a constant reminder of those firefighters and first responders not only on 9/11 but beyond that," Bruhn said. "They serve our community and put their lives on the line everyday." The memorial is not just for Windermere residents, but all of Central Florida as well, the Mayor added. "I think it will touch a lot of people to see steel from the actual towers." You can find out more about the artifacts being preserved in Hangar 17 at JFK airport in New York from a report written by Kid Reporter Juliette Kessler in 2007. Kessler, who was also in second grade when the attacks occurred, was in school only a few blocks from the World Trade Center site. Six years later she toured the hangar and remembered her experiences from that day. About the Author Shelby Fallin is a member of the Scholastic Kids Press Corps.

Windermere approves design for 9/11 memorial By Kathy Aber Windermere-area resident Jeff Cox wants local residents to have a “quiet place to pause and reflect on the tragedy that happened on Sept. 11, 2001, as well as to honor all those who lost their lives.” For his Eagle Scout project, Cox, a 10th-grader at Crenshaw School, has designed a 9/11 memorial for Windermere’s Town Square. The location he selected is behind Town Hall and in a shady area on the north side of the library. The central element in the design is a 650-pound piece of a steel beam from the World Trade Center. It has a slight twist with metal studs welded to the top flange and is 42 inches by 12 inches by 36 inches. “Residents and visitors will be able to easily touch, hug, kiss or cry with the WTC steel,” Cox said in his proposal to the Windermere Town Council last week. The council unanimously approved his design and the general location for the memorial. Cox is meeting with town staff this week to determine if the location might have to be realigned slightly to avoid interference with underground utilities or the septic tank drain field. The overall cost of the project is estimated at $19,000. A structural cradle mounted on a granite base with a copper cap will support the steel. A commemorative plaque will be mounted on the base. The structure will be the central feature in a circular area with a concrete curb decorated with glazed tiles. The plan includes a paver walkway and landscaping that incorporates the existing park benches. Cox and his fellow Scouts are meeting this week at Studio 6 ceramics on Maguire Road to glaze and decorate the tiles. The victims of 9/11 were from 90 different countries, so the tile designs were selected to honor them. Cox decided on the memorial concept after attending the Eagle Encampment summer program and his brother, an injured firefighter and an Eagle Scout, encouraged him to pursue it.After learning that pieces of the WTC were available for this type of project, Cox discussed the concept with Windermere Mayor Gary Bruhn. With a letter of approval from the town, Cox was able to move forward with acquiring the steel. He contacted the New York Port Authority and is waiting for the steel to be delivered. United Parcel Service is handling the shipping. Cox told The West Orange Times this week a court magistrate still has to release the steel for shipment because officially it is part of a crime scene. The monument will be dedicated on Feb. 20, a day Windermere sets aside to honor first responders. Cox was in school when he heard about the events at the WTC. “I was scared and nervous and told my mom, ‘World War III is starting,” he said. “The memorial is for my kids and my kids’ kids who might not really know what happened.”