story11375.xml
Title
story11375.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2005-04-18
911DA Story: Story
I had dropped my son off at Solomon Schechter Day School which was then located in the old Malvern Elementary School. He was in 3rd grade, and that past June we had spent our summer vacation in NYC, doing all the tourist and historical stuff that our family loves.
On the way to my office, I stopped at Panera Cafe at Van Aken Shopping Plaza for coffee to go. I was listening to a sports talk station--WKNR in Cleveland just before entering Panera--as I came out a few moments later, the tone of the show changed--anchor Bruce Drennen was no longer his jovial self, as he talked about "a plane that crashed into the World Trade Center in NYC."
I began switching stations and there was nothing on AM or FM including NPR. Setting my car radio on "scan" I found that Howard Stern was getting first hand reports from the streets of NYC on what had happened. Members of his staff had gone out with cell phones to find out what had happened--someone reported in that a second plane had crashed.
There is a veteran media person in Cleveland by the name of Norman Wain. Among other things, Norm established the Cleveland station that put Howard Stern on the air here--I knew Norm well and called him to tell him that Stern was being a jounalist and to find out if Norm had heard from his son, movie producer David Wain (Red Hot American Summer) who lives in NYC. Norm appreciated the call and he had just heard from his son.
By then I arrived in my Beachwood, Ohio office. Being an employee of an Israeli university, raising funds for it here in the US, made me keenly aware of what "probably" had happened. I was joined in my office by several others who had business offices, etc in the same location and we gathered around my television. None of the news was good, and truth be told, it got worse as planes crashed into the Pentagon and later in a Pennsylvia field.
I got on the phone and called my son's school. They had a plan to not let the younger kids outside for the rest of the day, to tell them that the area was sprayed for bees. The younger kids were kept away from the older kids all day to make sure that they were not told--it was best for the parents to tell them. Very concerned about the safety of the kids at the school, I called the mayor of Shaker Hts., and actually got to talk with her. My point was that a school full of Jewish kids could be a target--she imediately had the building protected by a series of patrol cars for the rest of the day.
Having a great many friends and colleagues in NYC, I called and got through to many via cell phone. Thank G-d that they were all safe and were trying to make there way back home--my friend Paul Jeser may have been the last car through the Lincoln Tunnel as he rushed back home from Manhattan to New Jersey, while my friend Richard Goldstein and his wife Ellen met up somewhere in NYC and took a ferry across from Manhattan and somehow got home from the docks in New Jersey.
Dr. Howard Schwartz, a noted Cleveland allergist, was concerned about his son, Michael, a student at NYU, and his other son, Adam's family living in Maplewood, NJ. Adam was on business in Israel, presumed safe. No one knew the where abouts of the others. Paul Jeser went to work, calling the Schwartz household in Maplewood and reporting back to me via AOL Instant Message that the Adam Schwartz family was fine. I reported that back to Dr. Schwartz.
My wife, Linda and I spoke by phone several times, and she decided that she would pick our son up after school that day. Once safely in the car, she told him what had happened. At home, I was transfixed by the television, but Jake chose to go play alone in his room, obviously in denial. Two hours later, he came out, curled up next to me and watched the events on television for hours.
Other things--I stopped at a couple of grocery stores on my way home and bought several flats of bottled water, canned foods, candles, batteries, etc. I also filled my car with gasoline and got several hundered dollars of cash from an ATM.
On the way to my office, I stopped at Panera Cafe at Van Aken Shopping Plaza for coffee to go. I was listening to a sports talk station--WKNR in Cleveland just before entering Panera--as I came out a few moments later, the tone of the show changed--anchor Bruce Drennen was no longer his jovial self, as he talked about "a plane that crashed into the World Trade Center in NYC."
I began switching stations and there was nothing on AM or FM including NPR. Setting my car radio on "scan" I found that Howard Stern was getting first hand reports from the streets of NYC on what had happened. Members of his staff had gone out with cell phones to find out what had happened--someone reported in that a second plane had crashed.
There is a veteran media person in Cleveland by the name of Norman Wain. Among other things, Norm established the Cleveland station that put Howard Stern on the air here--I knew Norm well and called him to tell him that Stern was being a jounalist and to find out if Norm had heard from his son, movie producer David Wain (Red Hot American Summer) who lives in NYC. Norm appreciated the call and he had just heard from his son.
By then I arrived in my Beachwood, Ohio office. Being an employee of an Israeli university, raising funds for it here in the US, made me keenly aware of what "probably" had happened. I was joined in my office by several others who had business offices, etc in the same location and we gathered around my television. None of the news was good, and truth be told, it got worse as planes crashed into the Pentagon and later in a Pennsylvia field.
I got on the phone and called my son's school. They had a plan to not let the younger kids outside for the rest of the day, to tell them that the area was sprayed for bees. The younger kids were kept away from the older kids all day to make sure that they were not told--it was best for the parents to tell them. Very concerned about the safety of the kids at the school, I called the mayor of Shaker Hts., and actually got to talk with her. My point was that a school full of Jewish kids could be a target--she imediately had the building protected by a series of patrol cars for the rest of the day.
Having a great many friends and colleagues in NYC, I called and got through to many via cell phone. Thank G-d that they were all safe and were trying to make there way back home--my friend Paul Jeser may have been the last car through the Lincoln Tunnel as he rushed back home from Manhattan to New Jersey, while my friend Richard Goldstein and his wife Ellen met up somewhere in NYC and took a ferry across from Manhattan and somehow got home from the docks in New Jersey.
Dr. Howard Schwartz, a noted Cleveland allergist, was concerned about his son, Michael, a student at NYU, and his other son, Adam's family living in Maplewood, NJ. Adam was on business in Israel, presumed safe. No one knew the where abouts of the others. Paul Jeser went to work, calling the Schwartz household in Maplewood and reporting back to me via AOL Instant Message that the Adam Schwartz family was fine. I reported that back to Dr. Schwartz.
My wife, Linda and I spoke by phone several times, and she decided that she would pick our son up after school that day. Once safely in the car, she told him what had happened. At home, I was transfixed by the television, but Jake chose to go play alone in his room, obviously in denial. Two hours later, he came out, curled up next to me and watched the events on television for hours.
Other things--I stopped at a couple of grocery stores on my way home and bought several flats of bottled water, canned foods, candles, batteries, etc. I also filled my car with gasoline and got several hundered dollars of cash from an ATM.
Collection
Citation
“story11375.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 1, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/3686.