nmah5652.xml

nmah5652.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-09-07

One of the things a courier does is hold a place i8n line for Congressional hearings for those who would rather not get in line a day or more before in order to get a seat at an important hearing.

On September 11, 2001, I had been holding a spot since 5 am for a 10 o'clock hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The client arrived at 9:45 and told me things were happening. At that moment the order came to evacuate the building. I had another stand starting at 11 am in the Rayburn House Office Building and proceeded over there on my bicycle.

At First Street and Independence Avenue SE there was a road block on First Street south of Independence Avenue with a policeman on duty. While I was waiting for a green light, he repeatedly shouted at me not to run the roadblock and I repeatedly signaled a left turn onto Independence Avenue to no avail. When the light turned green I made my turn and stopped out of sight of the policeman in order to call dispatch on my mobile phone. As in the blackout August 15, 2003, my phone didn't work. All circuits were busy. As in the blackout, my RIM pager did work, and dispatch told me to forget the 11 o'clock stand and head home. The route home took me through the park between Union Station and the Capitol. It was packed with evacuees from Union Station.

I came across Teresa, a fellow line stander and chatted with her for a few minutes. Meanwhile, a lady with a radio announced that one of the towers had collapsed. Teresa is a veteran of Vietnam and the Gulf War, retired from the Army. She takes nothing from anybody. During the Gulf War, her unit had ptiched camp when an Arab officer told Teresa that she should run some barbed wire around her camp to keep his men out. She told that officer that HE should run some barbed wire around HIS camp to keep his men in.

Shortly after I left, a policeman found an unattended package and bellowed, "get the ((*&%$%$^&&^^&$ out of my park!!!!! Teresa demanded his name and he would not give it. Instead he made a series of threats whereupon Teresa opened her back pack, pulled out pencil and paper and proceeded to write down the threats. She then located a supervisor and told him she wasn't complaining, but if someone did, he would have his evidence.

Meanwhile, I had to walk my bike through the crowds for three blocks before I could find room on either the street ot the sidewalk. Meridian Hill in 16th Street normally has very light pedestrian trafic and is a favorite route for bicycles. On September 11, 2001, however, it was as crowded as any downtown sidewalk. People were walking home. Motor vehicle traffic was gridlocked and all public transit had been suspended.

September 11, 2001 wasn.t the end of it. There was the anthrax menace, and Teresa was exposed to it and was treated. Fall out from these events continues to this day. The city lost a lot of tourist business. The messenger industry in Washington is highly dependent on Capitol Hill. Daily, there were distributions, i. e. deliveries to every congressman and senator on the hill. Such a job could easily pay one or two hundred dollars. These have ceased, since all deliveries still have to go to Ohio for decontamination. Some deliveries get through, but the addressee has to come out to get it; the messenger can't go in. Mopeds and scooters have to parked outside the "perimeter," and then it's a three block walk to the Rayburn Building, where most business takes place. Only a bicycle is practical on the Hill.

The result is that my company (www.qms-dc.com) had to close down its dedicated Hill radio channel. While business was off by 23%, all those Hill bikers were added to the downtown force, resulting in substantially longer waits between jobs.

It will transform the country into a police state.

Yes. I have always respected the flag. It stands for the country we should be.