Sunday, March 25, 2007

The Indignity Never Ends

It didn't make big headlines late last week, but it was revealed that in the rush to get Ground Zero cleaned up in the wake of the September 11 attacks, some human remains were missed by workers who were sifting the rubble, and much of it may have been used to fill in potholes and pave roads.

Four workers have sworn affidavits that that is precisely what happened, at the Fresh Kills landfill site in Staten Island. Only 63% of the 1.65 million tons of rubble were actually carefully sifted through, and the rest were just let go. The city promised that ALL of it would carefully checked.

A spokeswoman for Mayor Bloomberg had no comment about the story.

Here's a good article from Newsday from last Friday about it:
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--attacks-remains0323mar23,0,1769629.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork

The tragedy of the September 11 attacks never seems to end, especially for the families and loved ones of those who perished that day, but especially for those families who have never received any remains from their loved ones. Over 1100 of the 2749 victims basically disappeared without a trace, and now the wounds get reopened yet again with this news.

I pray for the families and friends of the victims every night, and I pray that one day they will all find some kind of peace in their lives and are able to move on. But when revelations like this come to light, it makes me angry to think the city treats the remains of their fallen heroes so shabbily.

They deserve to be treated better, and with dignity, and so do their families.

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