Terry Foster: ‘The 9-11 Experience, That Happened Before 9-11!’
My 9-11 experience began exactly three months before the towers fell in New York City. I roamed a darken patch of open fields in Oklahoma City outside a Federal prison talking about the terrorist attack on the United States. It was the morning that master mind Timothy McVeigh was executed in a Federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana for the bombing of the Alfred Murrah Federal building , killing 167 people and injuring 684.
I roamed the dark that night as a Detroit News reporter because 264 family members of the dead watched the execution on closed circuit television. I was also there because co-conspiracist Terry Nichols was born in Lapeer, Michigan and it is believed that much of the bombing plot was executed in the back woods of Michigan.
During my trip I toured the Oklahoma City memorial. I talked to a pastor in his church a mile away from the bombing. He said the aftershock of the attack blew out most of the windows at the church. I talked to dozens of people during my three-day visit.
But here is the part of the trip that still haunts me today. Several people told me that the United States did not take this tragedy seriously enough because it happened in Oklahoma City, a forgotten city.
They predicted that another attack was impending on a much larger scale. I wrote that in my final column in The Detroit News. It was taken out of the story. An editor explained to me that the paper did not want to plant such evil into the stratosphere, that someone might act on it. The predictions did not appear in the paper.
The evil the editor wanted to avoid played out in real life.
The attack that the people in Oklahoma City predicted happened on a much larger scale in New York City, Washington D.C. and in an open field in Shanksville, PA. It’s been 25 years since those attacks changed life for us. We observed the 25th anniversary of those attacks.
On the night of the attacks we were asked to pray for the victims, to pray for our nation and to be kind to one another. I did all of that, but I mostly felt anger toward all the people that caused such grief.
I lit a candle that night and placed it on my front porch. I also said a prayer for the victims and families of the Oklahoma City bombing. I vowed to never forget.
We did not know if more attacks were planned. I needed to bring my two-year-old daughter Celine from day care. She brought the only moment of levity on 911. As replays of the plane slamming into the twin towers were shone again, Celine walked up to our television, lightly touched it and said “hot.”
It was the innocence of a child, but as a dad I could not help think “What kind of world am I bringing my children into.”
After the attacks I was mesmerized about how kind we were to each other. Strangers reached out to ask how you were doing. In my world, the sports world, this period of kindness lasted until Nov. 3. That’s when the Wolverines and Spartans began their holy war over Clock gate. In the final moments of a close game Spartans will tell you that MSU quarterback Jeff Smoker spiked the ball with one second left to give the trailing Spartans one more chance to win the game.
The Wolverines will tell you that Smoker spiked the ball with no time left. Officials allowed one more play to be run. Smoker hit running back T.J. Ducket for the game-winning score.
All hell broke out between the Spartans and Wolverines. The feel-good moments after 911 were forgotten.
We still hate each other. I blame clock keeper Sparty Bob.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Terry Foster is the self proclaimed Minister of Words with Woodward Sports and fills in on shows when folks need time off. He worked at the Detroit News and Free Press for 37 years and co-hosted the Valenti and Foster Show for 13 years at the Detroit Lions flagship.
