A Tragedy Is Recycled
Giuliani ordered the thousands of tons of WTC steel sold and melted down
before it could be examined by investigators. Much of it was sent to S Korea
where Bush/bin Laden's Carlyle Group has a massive investment. Now it's
being recast as souveniers to be sold near Giuliani's WTC disaster area
tourist-viewing platform.
For detailed coverage of Giuliani's WTC-9/11 coverup see
http://baltech.org/lederman/
Daily News 1/30/2002
A Tragedy Is Recycled
World Trade Center steel
becomes a souvenir
By GREG GITTRICH
Daily News Staff Writer
Georgia metals company has bought 500 tons of steel from the World Trade
Center - and is melting it into "commemorative medallions" that go for
$29.95 a pop.
Front view of medallion
The enterprise has sparked outrage from victims' families, who say company
officials are heartless profiteers cashing in on tragedy.
"I'm going to throw up," said an infuriated Monica Gabrielle. "My husband's
remains have not been found and they are doing this. Bastards."
"This is ghoulish," said Sally Regenhard, whose son, Firefighter Christian
Regenhard, died Sept. 11. "This is so inappropriate. I'm disgusted."
But officials at International Agile Manufacturing insist they mean no
offense by hawking the "Eyewitness World Trade Center Commemorative
Medallions" through their Web site and at collectible stores.
Bruce Zutler of International Agile Manufacturing holds commemorative
medallion being sold for $29.95 on company's Web site.
"At $30 anybody can buy it," said Alfonzo Hall, International Agile's
president and chief executive officer. "That's a small token for anyone who
wants a piece of history."
The Statesboro, Ga., foundry will make "just a small profit" through the
sales, said Bruce Zutler, the company's national marketing representative.
The company has pledged 10% of its profits to the Fund for the City of New
York - and names the charity in its literature. Hall said the fund's vice
president, the Rev. Alfonso Wyatt, visited the foundry. But a fund
spokeswoman said it "never approved" the use of its name or agreed to take
any money.
The 1-pound "individually crafted" medallions feature a flag waving behind
the twin towers. They come with a certificate of authenticity, a plastic
display easel and an American flag fabric carrying pouch - and are forged
from an alloy of which 25% is recycled Trade Center steel. Zutler said the
company could have made the medallions completely out of the Trade Center
steel, but that would have made them much more expensive.
International Agile Manufacturing says it has enough steel to forge 6
million medallions. It pledged to set aside 5,000 to 10,000 medallions that
the victims' families could obtain at no charge.
"I don't want one," said Michael Cartier, co-founder of Give Your Voice, a
civilian victims' families group. "There is going to be a large number of
people never found because their bodies were pulverized. In all probability,
their bodies could be with the steel in those medallions. Where would you
display that?"
Tons to Recycle
About 60,000 tons of steel from the Trade Center have been cut into
manageable pieces and shipped to recyclers around the world. Most was sent
to South Korea, but shipments also have gone to U.S. cities. The steel is
used to make soup cans, appliances, car engines, buildings - and now
medallions.
Hall said his company bought the steel from Metal Management Northeast of
Newark, which did not return calls yesterday. Metal Management is one of two
New Jersey salvage yards that has bought Trade Center steel from the city to
recycle.
The city's decision - made in the days after Sept. 11 - to sell the steel so
quickly has infuriated many victims' families and engineers who want the
recycling halted so the steel can be more thoroughly examined. A federally
commissioned team of engineers is trying to determine how the Trade Center
collapsed.
"We are not trying to offend anyone," said Hall, who noted International
Agile lost 40% of its business after Sept. 11 and hopes to avoid layoffs by
selling the medallions. "Would it be better to see the steel overseas and
see it in a soup can or the fender of a car?" he asked. "We think we are
doing the best thing to honor the victims and to show that the country will
still stand."
About 10,000 medallions have been sold and shipped in recent weeks, he said.
"After the families go through this horrendous grieving period," Hall said,
"if they want a medallion, we will be happy to give it to them."
Vincent Ragusa, whose firefighter son Michael was killed, said that day
won't come. "They are profiteering off a terrible, terrible incident,"
Ragusa said. "When does it end?"
- Newsday.com - Rudy to Get Reagan Freedom Award
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-rudy0129.story
Rudy to Get Reagan Freedom Award
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
January 28, 2002
Former first lady Nancy Reagan will present Rudolph Giuliani with
the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award for the former New York mayor's service to
freedom-loving people around the world.
The Freedom Award is given to an individual who contributed to the
cause of freedom worldwide, and Reagan said Giuliani was the obvious choice
for this year's award.
Giuliani is the eighth recipient of the Freedom Award, the Ronald
Reagan Presidential Foundation's highest honor. Past recipients are Mikhail
Gorbachev, Colin Powell, Yitzhak Rabin, King Hussein, Margaret Thatcher, the
Rev. Billy Graham and Bob Hope.
Giuliani will be honored during a $1,000-a-plate Ronald Reagan Presidential
Library fund-raising dinner March 8th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Copyright © 2002, Newsday, Inc.
http://newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-rudy0129.story
Here's what the president of the Rudolph W. Giuliani Center for Urban
Affairs Inc. has to say about Giuliani stealing public records. For the real
deal on this felony (at least two counts of grand larceny) see
http://baltech.org/lederman/
Daily News 1/29/2002
Critics Err - Rudy Papers Will Be Open
By SAUL S. COHEN
The not-for-profit Rudolph W. Giuliani Center for Urban Affairs was
established in response to the extraordinary level of national interest in
the achievements of the Giuliani administration. One of the primary charges
of the center will be to make available to the public the records of
Giuliani's years in office in an organized, indexed and comprehensive
fashion.
In the past, it has taken years to organize the materials of mayoral
administrations. Since there is virtually no public awareness of the
existence of these materials, they are rarely viewed or used. This is a real
loss to New Yorkers and others who love our great city.
To expedite the organization of the Giuliani records, the center, after
speaking to the heads of New York's major libraries, entered into an
agreement to work with the city's archives by providing archival expertise
and storage space - all at the center's own expense.
In light of the substantial public value that will come from the
establishment of the Giuliani Center and the speedy and efficient
organization of the materials, I am surprised that some people have raised
questions about its efforts to preserve and organize these records.
These critics either are unfamiliar with the limitations of the city's
archiving resources or don't know that, as with every other mayor's records,
the city's own archivists will routinely distinguish personal documents from
official documents.
And the critics may not know that if there is any dispute, the city can call
back all documents by terminating the agreement, a right it may exercise at
any time it chooses.
Perhaps the critics' status quo attitude would be satisfied if both official
and personal documents were left to deteriorate in a City Hall subbasement.
Since the city does not now have an appropriate location that meets archival
standards, the records are being temporarily stored at a leading document
depository in Queens. There, while they are properly organized and indexed,
the documents remain the city's property and the city has unrestricted
access to them.
When the classifying job is done, the center will make and keep copies, and
the official originals will be returned to the city.
In addition to preserving the Giuliani administration's records, we created
the center to sponsor, either on its own or in affiliation with one of the
city's universities, educational forums and programs to foster in the U.S.
and overseas the best practices in city management.
With the support of private citizens, the center will provide America's
brightest students with scholarships and internships to study urban issues.
The critics, distressed by the Giuliani administration's successes, follow a
double standard. That is why New York has yet to hear one word from them
about former Mayor Ed Koch, who, although himself a vocal critic of the
center's efforts, has refused to let anyone except his biographer see his
personal papers.
The center will create the Giuliani archives in record time, in strict
compliance with the law and the highest archival standards. The archives
will be an extraordinary resource for New Yorkers. I would think it will be
hard even for the critics to carp at that.
Cohen is president of the Rudolph W. Giuliani
Center for Urban Affairs Inc.
Original Publication Date: 1/29/02
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