CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Former Charleston Mayor Jay Goldman was in a meeting at city hall on Tuesday morning, Sept. 11, 2001, when he got a call from his wife. She told him something awful was happening in New York City and he should turn the TV on.
America was under attack and Goldman’s focus that day and the following days for the state’s Capital City changed.
“It was a shock to us like everybody else,” Goldman told MetroNews this week as he remembered the events of 25 years ago.
Goldman’s main obstacle was getting accurate information. He said he didn’t know if the attacks would continue and if state capitals would be targeted.
“I was lucky. There was a lady who worked in the bankruptcy court at he federal courthouse that I knew real well, her sister worked for me at the real estate office, and she seemed to have better connections to information coming of Washington (D.C.) than anybody,” Goldman said. “That’s where I got a lot of my information.”
Goldman said the first move was to protect government buildings.
“We placed police cars around city hall, we blocked some entrances,” Goldman said.
Current Charleston Police Chief Scott Dempsey only had about a year under his belt as a police officer when Sept. 11 happened. He was home when he got a call that then Chief Jerry Riffe wanted officers to report to help protect the city. Dempsey got dressed and drove to downtown Charleston.
“Our main mission at the time was to guard public, government buildings, which city hall was included, the (county) courthouse, the federal building, just about everything in the city at the time,” Dempsey said.
Charleston police cruisers formed a circle around those buildings.
“I remember it was a very tense time and I still remember sitting in a patrol car and still seeing planes in the air and thinking, ‘My goodness. I know West Virginia is probably not a target but what if it is?’ It was a pretty scary time,” Dempsey said.
Dempsey said he’ll never forget the bravery of those first responders that ran into the World Trade Center as its burning.
“You always think to yourself ‘Am I capable of doing that as a police officer?” The answer obviously is yes,” Dempsey said. “Any police officer is capable and any police officer would run right into the danger to do what they have to do,” he said.
Dempsey said the first responders at the scenes of the attacks were the real heroes.
The rumors
Goldman said along with the uncertainty were the multiple rumors about who was in Charleston and what they could be possibly planning.
“We had so many rumors going around town—people of foreign descent were in Charleston asking how to get to Summersville Dam. You thought, ‘Are they going to blow up the dam?’ Who new?”
A state of emergency was issued. Gov. Bob Wise shut down state government. The Kanawha County Commission shut down county government Goldman followed with city government.
“It was just the unknown,” Goldman said. “Lord knows you get all of the rumors and the TV pictures and you think, ‘what’s next?’ and you think could there be a hit on Richmond (Va.), Charleston or other capital cities?”
The results
Goldman said the city realized that day it didn’t have the proper emergency communications. Goldman hired an architect and a contractor to redo the communication facility located in Spring Hill Cemetery.
“We built a brand new building and I took the responsibility of getting it done and then I’d deal with council later,” Goldman said.
Dempsey said his big takeaway from the tragedy was the immediate strong patriotism in the U.S.
“On September 12th we were all Americans,” he said. “We wanted this country to heal and to be safe.”
Those with ties to West Virginia who died in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks include:
–Parkersburg native Mary Lou Hague who worked as a financial analyst on the 89th floor of the South Tower at the World Trade Center
–Huntington native Dr. Paul Ambrose who was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon
–Former WVU quarterback Chris Gray who worked for Cantor Fitzgerald in the North Tower at the World Trade Center
–1993 WVU graduate Jim Samuel who worked at the World Trade Center
–West Virginia Wesleyan graduate “Huck” Farrell who worked in the South Tower at the World Trade Center
–Shelley Marshall, the wife of a Morgantown native, who died at the Pentagon