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East Palestine officials look back at that fateful day

EAST PALESTINE — Ron Novak remembers he was working at the East Palestine High School when news of the World Trade Center nightmare hit the airwaves 16 years ago.

He remembers seeing the students “panicking” — some of whom were especially concerned for the people they knew that worked at the Pittsburgh International Airport.

It was Sept. 11, 2001, and the United States was under attack. The Twin Towers had both been struck by hijacked airplanes, and another hijacked airplane had not yet landed at its destination. The sunny skies turned into a realm of horrible possibilities, as people everywhere worried how many other planes would wreak havoc on the nation.

“They were really upset,” Novak recalled of the students that day.

Novak, a longtime board of education member, was working as a high school guidance counselor at the time, a position he held from 1975 to 2003.

Board member Rube Ginder also remembers.

“I knew exactly where I was and what I was doing both times that day,” Ginder said, referring to when he heard about the first tower, and then the second tower destroyed by the attacks.

He said the moment is etched in most people’s memory the same as the President John F. Kennedy assassination was for those who witnessed that horror as well.

“They used to say, ‘I remember where I was when President Kennedy got shot’ … then this happens,” he said.

The board took a few moments to remember on Monday, the anniversary of the attacks.

“It was a heartbreaking day for our country,” Superintendent Traci Hostetler said.

Not far away from the school that same evening, village officials held a moment of silence during the regular council meeting to honor those who lost their lives in the attacks.

kwhite@mojonews.com

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