The magnitude of what had happened didn’t hit her until the Greyhound bus bound for New York rounded a corner and the empty sky where the Twin Towers once stood came into view.
Though more than a month had passed since two hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center, passengers cried and screamed out as the bus approached the city.
“It made it real,” said Sherri Coner, a former Daily Journal reporter who was sent to New York for a week to cover the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“I guess people could see the Twin Towers from there in the past,” she said, recounting the experience this week for the 20th anniversary.
Coner left for New York on Oct. 16, 2001, and arrived in the city the next day. She chronicled her experiences as someone who was not a native New Yorker, and reported on how those affected by the attacks were wading through the aftermath.
Now, 20 years later, the Daily Journal is taking a look back at our coverage of the attacks on Sept. 11, and in the days and months that followed.
Special edition ‘a herculean effort’
Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 started out like any other day.
The main story on the front page of the Daily Journal was about timber frame construction, a 1,000-year-old building technique. A Franklin couple had decided to use the method to build their new home because they loved antiques and woodworking.
Also on the front page was a story about a pair of Indian Creek Middle School students who were studying the effects of erosion on tombstones. Another was about a parenting conference on raising teens that was going to take place at Center Grove Middle School.
That edition of the Daily Journal had already been delivered to doorsteps when news broke at 8:46 a.m. that a plane had crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Less than 30 minutes later, a second plane crashed into the South Tower.
As the attacks unfolded, staff at the Daily Journal began to prepare the paper’s coverage of the attacks. Editors realized that based on its publishing schedule, an up-to-date newspaper would not go out for another 20 hours.
“That was unacceptable to us. Instead, we geared up to publish the first special edition in Daily Journal history,” then-editor Scarlett Syse said in a letter published Sept. 18, 2001.
By 9:45 a.m., the Daily Journal’s staff mobilized and spread out across the county to cover the local impact of the attacks. About 10 a.m. the paper worked on finalizing the printing and distribution of the special edition, set to go out that afternoon. By 12 p.m. articles were due, and the special edition was being designed. By 3 p.m. the presses were rolling.
Above the masthead read “Special Edition.” Below, in big bold letters, read “ATTACK,” followed by ‘This is the second Pearl Harbor.’”
About 5,000 copies of the special edition were printed and distributed throughout the county. The edition featured local reactions to the attacks. Athletic events were canceled at many schools across the county, and the Greenwood Park Mall closed its doors.
It is always important to get national and global perspectives, but people in Johnson County also had thoughts and feelings about the attacks, Syse said.
“It was a herculean effort to do that … and to get that published,” Syse said. “This was a story that impacted everyone in America.”
Covering the story from all angles
Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2001 was not like any other day.
The country grappled with a new reality and a sense of loss not seen since the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Johnson County was no exception.
“DAY OF TERROR” was stripped across the front page of that day’s expanded edition of the Daily Journal.
The front page featured stories about former President George W. Bush’s response to the attacks, how the attacks had rocked America’s sense of security and how county residents were praying for victims and the nation. Across the county, flags were lowered to mourn the many victims of the attacks.
At Franklin City Hall, the city operated under normal conditions immediately after the attack. Every TV and radio in the building was on as people tried to make sense of what happened.
Twelve miles south, at Camp Atterbury, it was not business as usual. Following the attacks, the base was put on high alert.
“We are doing things that we don’t normally do. We are checking cars coming in much closer,” said Col. Michael P. McGowen, base commander, at the time.
Camp Atterbury was not alone. The Indiana National Guard increased security measures at all of its installations, and activated its emergency operations center in Indianapolis.
Also in Indianapolis, tens of planes sat on the tarmac at Indianapolis International Airport, unable to move due to both the airport and airspace being shut down.
Back in Johnson County, rumors spread of some sort of gas shortage. Nervous Johnson County residents flocked to gas stations to fill up before prices rose or supplies dried up. Along U.S. 31, from Franklin to Greenwood, traffic slowed as cars lined up at gas stations along the highway. Whiteland police had to direct traffic at one station, and break up scuffles at others as tensions flared between customers.
Several gas stations across the county ran out of gas before the day was done and had to get a second shipment. Prices did rise at some stations, but most stayed around $1.57 per gallon for the day, not nearly as much of a crisis as people thought it would be. Some oil refineries closed as a safety precaution, but there was no immediate effect on the nation’s gas supply.
County residents also united in prayer, and to offer aid to those affected. Churches opened their doors for residents to pray across the county, and the Johnson County Ministerial Association hosted a community prayer on the lawn of the Johnson County Courthouse.
The Franklin Fire Department collected donations for rescue personnel who died in New York, local businesses helped gather donations for the Red Cross, and many people donated blood for the victims.
Local schools advised teachers to talk with students if questions were asked, but then to move on. ISTEP testing was underway that week at area schools and was expected to continue.
At Franklin College, students tried to wrap their heads around a national tragedy most had not experienced in their lifetimes.
Many residents looked toward government leaders for guidance and assurances. Officials from all levels of government issued statements.
“As we wait for more information on what has transpired, it is important that our citizens remain calm and don’t panic,” former Gov. Frank O’Bannon said.
“The terrorists who perpetrated these atrocities on the United States, killing perhaps thousands of people, should have absolutely no place to hide,” former U.S. Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind, said.
“Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. … We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them,” former President George W. Bush said during a national address the evening of Sept. 11.
Both Bush’s and Burton’s words would become a reality almost a month later.
“America Strikes Back” read the front page of the Daily Journal on Oct. 8, 2001. Inside, there were stories about the initial airstrikes against targets in Afghanistan, and what Osama bin Laden said about the Sept. 11 attacks. The strikes would mark the beginning of the War in Afghanistan — the nation’s longest war — that ended just weeks ago.
Bearing witness to pain, patriotism
A few weeks after the start of the War in Afghanistan, Syse decided to send Coner, a features reporter at the time, to New York for a week.
The idea of a small-town newspaper reporter going to New York to cover a national tragedy might seem odd now, but the reasoning behind it was not, Coner said.
“We may have been in Johnson County, but everyone in the nation was affected. Our firefighters were just as distraught as the ones I talked with in New York,” she said.
The attacks were felt in every corner of the world, and Syse wanted to capture for local readers the sights and sounds of a city that was on its knees, she said.
“Our fellow Americans had lost their lives. We wanted to show that through the eyes of a reporter who didn’t have a national perspective (and) had more of a local perspective, (a reporter) who could find stories that maybe the national media didn’t tell,” Syse said.
Coner embarked on a nearly 33-hour bus ride to New York City. Covering the attacks was almost unbelievable, and there was a heightened level of fear in the city. When she first arrived, the motel she was staying at was evacuated due to a bomb threat, she said.
“It was a tough and scary time,” Coner said.
Though the country was in a dark place, love and patriotism stemmed from that darkness. The attacks brought both pain and healing, she said.
“You could almost feel the pain in the air, and then you’d just walk around the corner and see people holding each other,” Coner said.
She remembers clearly going to bus stations around the city and seeing droves of young men and women leaving to join the military, she said.
“It was the full definition of patriotism without words,” Coner said.
She wrote about the city of Ridgewood, New Jersey, located about 20 miles from the Twin Towers. After losing dozens of neighbors in the attack, its residents were learning how to move on. Other stories focused on volunteers, and how the attacks affected first responders. More than 340 New York City firefighters lost their lives, and the city’s police officers adjusted to longer shifts.
Back home, Daily Journal staff sought to cover all angles of the impact, from the goings on at Camp Atterbury, to organized donations, to families who had loved ones in the military. The paper also covered the changing attitudes toward Muslim Americans.
“Because one religion may commit a crime, (that) doesn’t mean that you paint a broad brush and paint everyone that way. That was an important message to get out,” Syse said.
In a way, it feels like the attacks were a long time ago. But it also feels like it just happened, she said.
“It is an interesting confluence of events that 20 years ago we attacked Afghanistan and now we — members of the military — are caring for Afghan refugees right here in our own community,” Syse said. “What a full circle moment.”
