Flight 93 Families Seek Funding

Family members of those who died on United Airlines Flight 93 when it crashed into an abandon strip mine in Somerset County September 11th 2001 are seeking more federal money for a 9/11 memorial crash site. Family members will go before Congress today to ask members to approve the $3.7 million for the memorial requested by President Barack Obama in his new budget.

The memorial's first phase, including a wall with the names of the 40 passengers and crew, is set to open on the 10th anniversary of the attacks of September 11th. The price tag for the memorial is expected to come in at $60 million. Congress has already provided $10 million, Pennsylvania is giving $18.5 million and about $20 million has been raised privately.

Work on the sight has already begun.

Rocky Bleier To Host Fundraising Dinner In Support Of Flight 93 Memorial

Former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rocky Bleier is holding a dinner in support of the flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, PA. Bleier spoke today about the event with former Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani. Bleier said it is important to ensure that people remember what happened in Shanksville and on 9/11. Bleier said he was inspired to host the dinner because he wanted to help make sure that people are able to see the memorial and remember the heroic actions of the passengers of flight 93.

Eminent Domain Delayed For Flight 93 Memorial

The National Park Service has backed off on earlier plans to use eminent domain to get the land in Somerset County for the Flight 93 National Memorial......for now. After meeting with landowners yesterday in Somerset, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said negotiations would continue for a week, but if there is no agreement by then, the government will proceed with using eminent domain to acquire the land. Last month National Park Service officials said negotiations had failed and they planned to use eminent domain. But some landowners said there were never any real negotiations.
Randall Musser, who owns 62 acres near the site where Flight 93 went down as passengers wrestled with terrorists for control of the plane, says Secretary Salazar apologized for the way the government has characterized landowners over the past month..."He said he wants to make it clear that the landowners aren't the villains here, aren't the problem here, and that going forward that's not the way they'll be portrayed."
Salazar says 80% of the land needed for the memorial has been purchased and they want to have it ready for the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

Flight 93 Landowners Talk to Federal Government

Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar and Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter held a meeting with landowners of the Flight 93 crash site today. The landowners got the chance to voice their concerns about the price of the land to be sold for the memorial and the possibility of eminent domain. Flight 93 Memorial Deputy Superintendent Keith Newlin, who attended the meeting, says Salazar has not ruled out that option. "[Salazar is] quite clear that we're going to meet the schedule. We brought the landowners in and we hope to open dialogue with them and talk to them, but we are going to meet the schedule, and if that does require the use of eminent domain as a backdrop, that's what we'll do," says Newlin. He says the memorial needs a whopping 2200 acres to be completed before 2011. "The primary reason that the boundary is so large is that there were local concerns raised during the planning process about the number of vehicles on local roads, and folks really wanted to maintain the tranquility of their local environment. They preferred that the [National Parks] Service build a road that could handle all this traffic, and it's considerable," says Newlin. Though negotiations with the landowners will need to continue, Newlin says he's glad discourse with the federal government is on the table. "The landowners did get to express their opinions. They have frustrations and it's well they should have been able to do that," says Newlin. "The landowners didn't ask for that plane to go down in their property either."

Flight 93 Familes Turn to Washington

Relatives of those who died aboard United Airlines Flight 93 want the Bush Administration to seize the land needed for a memorial where the plane crashed. The Families of Flight 93 sent a letter two weeks ago asking President George W. Bush to empower the Secretary of the Interior to take the land needed to finish the permanent memorial site. Svonavec Inc. owns the land that includes the impact zone. The company has been unwilling to sell. The families offered $750-thousand for the land but were rebuffed. Families of Flight 93 Vice President Patrick White says Svonavec asked for $10-million but the company disputes that. Company Treasurer Mike Svonavec says the Park Service has not done enough to negotiate a deal and he is just looking for a fair price. An independent assessment of the land is to be completed a week from Monday. The land in question is an abandon strip mine. White says ground must be broken early next year in time for a memorial to be built for the 10th anniversary of the crash in 2011.