Dear Families and Friends,

Winter has arrived in full force here in the Northeast with a heavy snowfall Friday. As the holiday season continues, VOICES is providing events and services to help our families cope with what can be a difficult time of year. First, we hope all of you will join us for a Service of Remembrance at St. Paul's Chapel across from the WTC site. The program will include a candle lighting service and performances by several renowned choirs and musicians. Following the service families will be invited to sign their loved one's name on the base of a sculpture created for the 9/11 families in memory of our loved ones. Following the service family members will also be able to access Ground Zero. At 2:30 p.m. we will proceed down to Ground Zero to pay our respects. More details on this exciting program are available below. Reservations are required and seating is limited. Read more details for the event below and contact our office to make a reservation.

Recognizing the increased needs of those affected by 9/11 during the holidays, VOICES is offering several drop-in teleconference groups this month for family members, rescue workers, survivors and witnesses. Information about the support groups is available below.

Sadly, the 9/11 Commissioners formally concluded their work this Monday after continuing for a year as the 9/11 Public Discourse Project. All of us at VOICES are indebted to each of them for their commitment and dedication to making the country safer. We especially commend Chairman Tom Kean and Vice-Chair Lee Hamilton for their steadfast bi-partisan leadership. As you know, implementation of the 9/11 Commission recommendations is a focus of VOICES advocacy work, and we will continue to promote comprehensive reform on a host of preparedness and response issues.

I was shocked by the Commission's report on how little progress has been made toward the implementation of vital reforms. Our government has not acted with a sense of urgency. We appreciate the Commissioners' dedication, and VOICES will continue that same commitment through our own advocacy work. The 9/11 families are one of the few groups who can compel action from the government. Please contact our office at (203) 966-3911 or by e-mail at email@voicesofsept11.org to let us know what issues are important to you and your family.

As we approach the holiday, all of us at VOICES are thinking of you. We hope to see you all at the Day of Remembrance on Saturday. Feel free to contact us toll-free at (866) 505-3911 if we can be of any assistance.

Warm Regards,

VOICES invites you to very a special Service of Remembrance for families in memory of those who perished on 9/11. The service will be held on Saturday, December 17 from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. at St. Paul's Chapel in New York City, directly across from the WTC site. The program will include a candle lighting service and performances by several renowned choirs and musicians to honor loved ones. Special guests include the Harlem Gospel Choir, Loco-Motion Children's Dance Theatre, Sonny Fortune, renowned saxophonist, flutist and composer and the Cheam High School Chapel Choir from Surrey, England. SEATING IS LIMITED AND RESERVATIONS REQUIRED.

Following the service, families will be invited to write their loved one's name on the base of the sculpture, "Ascent", created for the 9/11 families by Artist Mark Pilato. In addition, messages written during the service will be enclosed inside the base of the sculpture. St. Paul's Chapel also invites families to bring an ornament in memory of your loved one that will be placed on the tree in their courtyard. The Port Authority has generously agreed to allow families attending the Remembrance Service to have access to the WTC site from 2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. At 2:30, families will leave the courtyard of St. Paul's and be escorted down the ramp at Ground Zero to pay their respects.

All events for 9/11 Families only

Tuesday, Dec. 12th at 6:00 p.m.
Christmas Tree Lighting with Fr. Brian Jordan - Family viewing area - Entrance is at Gate 7 (Liberty and Washington). Families can provide ornaments.

Sunday, Dec. 18th 11:00 a.m. 3:00 p.m.
Family Access to Ground Zero -- 9/11 Families will be escorted down the ramp at the WTC site to pay their respects.

Saturday, Dec. 24th from: 11:45 p.m. to 12:45 a.m.
Midnight Mass with Fr. Brian Jordan -- Family viewing area.

Every night starting Sunday, Dec. 25 5:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Menorah lighting at Family viewing area, Rabbi Potasnik will coordinate each night.

Please click here to send us information on your memorial or foundation event. The information will be posted on the VOICES website and included in upcoming e-Newsletters.

The funds raised from the sale of a postage stamp commemorating the heroes of Sept. 11 are now available to relatives of emergency workers killed in the line of duty. "We created the 9/11 Heroes Stamp, not only to honor those men and women who rushed in to help on the fateful day but to provide help to those who were forever impacted by their brave actions," Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) is quoted in a recent NY Daily News article.

The stamp, which features the image of three firefighters raising a flag amid the devastation of Ground Zero, sold for 45 cents, 8 cents above the normal cost of a first-class stamp. The difference created the fund. Proceeds from the sales of the stamp, issued in June 2002 and discontinued on Dec. 31, 2004, totaled $10.5 million. Families of emergency personnel killed or permanently disabled while serving in the line of duty on 9/11 are eligible for funds. Applications are available on the Fund’s FEMA website or by calling (866) 887-9107. Applications must be received by April 3. So be sure to act quickly to ensure your family gets the support it deserves.

The 9/11 Commissioners, through their successor organization the 9/11 Public Discourse Project, released their final report Monday harshly criticizing the federal government’s response to its recommendations to make America safer. The PDP’s report card, issued in a series of hearings over the past month, graded the government’s progress on an A to F letter scale. The full report card as well as a one-page summary of grades is available on the PDP’s website along with transcripts of the hearings held this summer to address the response. The report card had few bright spots, only one A, for cracking down on terrorism financing, but many F’s. “There are far too many C's, D's, and F's in the report card we will issue today,” 9/11 Commission Chairman Tom Kean said in his opening statement for the report Monday.

"None of this is rocket science," said Commissioner John F. Lehman, a Navy secretary in the Reagan administration, criticizing the lack of a sense of urgency to prevent further attacks as quoted in a Washington Post Article. The commissioners pointed out that the federal government's efforts lack a sense of urgency and do not meet the seriousness of the threat from al-Qaeda and other organizations plotting against the American homeland. Chairman Kean commented in a Los Angeles Times article that "While the terrorists are learning and adapting, our government is still moving at a crawl. Four years after 9/11, we are not as safe as we could be, and that's simply not acceptable."

Officials responded to the criticism by highlighting successes and claiming that all branches of the federal government should share the blame. Bush Administration spokesman Dan Bartlett claimed first responder communications are "getting better" and added "all of us need to be working together to do everything we can," as quoted in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article

Many 9/11 family members, including VOICES Founding Director Mary Fetchet, Frank Fetchet, Carol Ashley and Kathy Wisniewski traveled to Washington for the final meeting of the PDP to express support for the Commission’s work and dissatisfaction with the response to their recommendations thus far. "How many tragedies do we have to have before we have a system put in place that's going to protect our country domestically?" Ms. Fetchet said, according to an Associated Press article. In a statement at the conclusion of the report, Ms. Fetchet thanked the Commissioners for their work on behalf of the 9/11 families and all Americans and for their commitment to seeing their recommendations through. More 9/11 Public Discourse Project information, editorials, and media coverage is available on VOICES website.

House and Senate tentatively agree on Patriot Act reauthorization

The House and Senate compromised over some of the more controversial provisions of the USA Patriot Act, passed by Congress in 2002 in response to the 9/11 attacks. The Patriot Act removed many of the barriers to information sharing and surveillance that allowed the plot to succeed, but certain provisions have come under fire from civil libertarians who believe they give the government too much power. Fourteen of the law’s non-controversial provisions would be made permanent under the agreement. Two that have spurred contentious debate, the government's access to library and business records and the use of roving wiretaps, will be authorized for four years only. Reaction to the conference report was mixed. Striking the middle of the road is a Washington Post editorial claiming: "The Patriot Act cannot be allowed to lapse at year's end, and the current bill is much improved over earlier versions. But it could still be a lot better.”

It is likely that the framework agreed upon Thursday will pass the House and Senate, but members of both chambers have expressed strong reservations, either that the powers go to far or do not go far enough. On Friday, President George W. Bush called on Congress to pass the reauthorization before the Patriot Act expires at the end of this year, according to a Reuters article. "There's no doubt about the need for tools for law enforcement to fight terrorism, both domestically and internationally," said Senator Arlen Specter, who announced the agreement Thursday. "But equally clearly, there's been a need for refinement of the protection of civil liberties and civil rights," he added, as quoted in a New York Times article. VOICES will continue to keep you updated on this important issue as the fate of the framework announced Thursday faces a vote in Congress.

WTC developer Larry Silverstein has come under increasing pressure in recent weeks to speed up development at Ground Zero and consider including residential and retail space along with the planned series of massive office towers. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has asserted himself more in reconstruction since his landslide re-election suggested publicly that some of the $3.35 billion in tax-free Liberty Bonds Silverstein is counting on to help build his office towers could go to other developers for other uses, according to a recent article in the New York Sun. Bloomberg supports a mixed-use site, rather than a strictly commercial development, claiming demand is not high enough to fill Silverstein’s buildings. "There are a variety of projects [the bonds] could be used for," Bloomberg is quoted in a recent New York Daily News article. He added: "Some are Silverstein projects, some are other projects. But we're just not going to give away the bonds willy-nilly."

Silverstein fired back against his critics, claiming that he cannot begin construction until the Government readies the site. "Construction cannot proceed until the government finishes excavating," he said in the Daily News article. Silverstein commented on his sometimes contentious relationship with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in a Daily News editorial this week. He also insisted that his office towers are the only viable plan for the WTC site. "So they don't have to go to New Jersey, they can stay right here in lower Manhattan where we want to put back the 100,000 jobs that were lost on 9/11. They'll go to New Jersey if we can't provide for them," Silverstein said in a New York Post interview published Thursday.

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