Region takes precautions in wake of attacks

Region takes precautions in wake of attacks

Sept. 13, 2001

By PAULINE ARRILLAGA
Associated Press Writer

Baseball games were canceled, highways and airports closed. Restaurants shut down for the day, while government buildings — even casinos on the Las Vegas Strip — heightened security.

And from the Colorado Rockies to the deserts of Arizona, Westerners expressed fear, outrage and, finally, resolve Tuesday in the wake of a series of terrorist attacks on the eastern United States.

"Every single American, no matter where you live, the whole country’s on edge," said 42-year-old Linda Wilson of Denver.

Richard Paynter, a Korean War veteran from New Mexico, urged the government to "forget about diplomacy, find out where they are and blow them out."

While many in the western United States still slept, two hijacked airliners slammed into the World Trade Center in New York, sending the twin towers crashing down in a ghostly pile of ash and smoke. About an hour later, a third plane crashed into the Pentagon, slicing off part of the building that houses the nation’s military.

Those flights all were bound for Los Angeles. A fourth jet headed to San Francisco crashed near Pittsburgh and is believed to also have been hijacked in connection with the attacks.

With all four planes headed to California, officials there took no chances. State offices were shuttered and all nonessential state employees ordered home. The airports in Los Angeles and San Francisco were evacuated as counseling centers were established for relatives of the victims.

All across the West, daily life drew to a standstill as people struggled to cope with the tragedy while wondering if more attacks were on the horizon.

"I’m sure I’m thinking the same thing every city and government employee in the country is thinking. Who’s next?" said Jim Fitzpatrick, a programmer for the city of Phoenix, where some doorways into the state Capitol and City Hall were locked to limit the number of entry points.

Security was heightened at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generation Station west of Phoenix, the nation’s largest nuclear plant, while most of the 5,000 workers at a nuclear weapons plant near Denver were sent home. Nonessential workers also were released from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

Ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona and California remained open, although federal officials were on high security alert looking for any signs of terrorist activity.

"It’s chaos," said Lauren Mack, spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. The district INS office made the call to keep the border open because they were unable to reach officials in Washington, D.C., Mack said.

Other transportation routes were closed, however. Washington state ferries stopped carrying vehicles on routes across Puget Sound because of the risk of car bombs, and northbound traffic was halted on the interstate over Hoover Dam, linking Arizona and Nevada.

From Washington state to California, major landmarks — seemingly any symbol of American pride — were closed for security: the Space Needle in Seattle, Knott’s Berry Farm in California — even Disneyland.

Rafting trips at the Grand Canyon were scrapped for the day, as was the entire major league baseball schedule. In Los Angeles, the Second Annual Latin Grammy Awards, scheduled for Tuesday night, were postponed along with the 53rd annual Primetime Emmy Awards that had been set for Sunday.

On the Las Vegas Strip, gambling continued as usual, although security guards at six MGM-Mirage casinos checked loading dock deliveries and inspected convention group luggage at check-in.

Utah officials were reviewing security plans for the 2002 Winter Olympics, but Gov. Mike Leavitt vowed the games would go forward as scheduled. "We have a strategic plan in place and we will continue to strengthen it. Today’s event only strengthens that resolve," Leavitt said.

Elsewhere, others also refused to give in to the fear. Washington state Gov. Gary Locke ordered the Capitol building closed to the public but refused to evacuate and said it would reopen soon.

"We are not going to shut down the government," he vowed. "The last thing we want to do is give the terrorists any satisfaction."

Many sought to help in the most helpless of situations. In Phoenix, the American Red Cross was inundated with offers to give blood.

Others searched for hope on a day with seemingly little. At one Phoenix-area hospital, even as terror gripped the rest of the United States, a woman gave birth to a healthy baby girl — a tenuous reminder that there is life in death and some good even in the midst of evil.