Lake Saint Louis to Observe Sept. 11 Anniversary at Veterans Park

The City of Lake Saint Louis will observe the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks against America with a memorial ceremony scheduled for 1 p.m. Sun., Sept. 11 at Lake Saint Louis . The park is located on the grounds of the (City Hall) near the intersection of Interstate 64 and Lake Saint Louis Boulevard.

“This date marks a tragic, but important, milestone in the history of the United States,” said Karen Vennard, Lake Saint Louis alderman and chairman of the committee planning the observance. “Many of us said, ‘We will never forget,’ when these attacks occurred. Our ceremony is a reminder that we need to keep that promise.”

Featured speaker at the ceremony will be Columbia civic and business leader Richard Mendenhall, a former U.S. Army Green Beret and Vietnam veteran. Mendenhall was president of the National Association of Realtors on Sept. 11, 2001, and created the Realtors Housing Relief Fund, which collected money from real estate agents from across the nation and disbursed it — with no strings and no questions asked — to family members of the victims who had lost their housing or their source of income.

“We cut through all the red tape,” Mendenhall said in an interview with the Columbia Business Times. “We (the NAR) wanted to make sure they wouldn’t lose their homes.” The fund provided either three months’ worth of rent or mortgage payments. As of 2003, the organization was on record as having given $8.3 million to 1,121 families.

The ceremony also will include a memorial to the victims of 9/11, and to the police, firefighters, paramedics, and other first responders who lost their lives in the attacks and the aftermath. According to New York Magazine, a total of 2,819 people died as a result of the four attacks, two on the World Trade Center towers in New York City, one on the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and one in the plane crash near  Shanksville, Pa. The toll included 343 firefighters and paramedics, 23 NYPD officers, and 37 Port Authority police officers.

Lake Saint Louis Police Chief Mike Force will serve as emcee for the ceremony. Rev. Bob Thompson of , Lake Saint Louis, will deliver the invocation and benediction. Other ceremony participants will include Mayor Mike Potter, Lake Saint Louis Fire Chief Jeff Smith, the color guard from the Eastern Missouri Law Enforcement Training Academy, VFW Post 10350 rifle squad, Wee Glee choral singers, and James Elcock.

Limited seating will be provided. Those attending are invited to bring their own lawn chairs.