Medical Examiner, Contractors Said Remains "Certain" At Fresh Kills
In a response to a motion to dismiss their lawsuit against the City, plaintiffs led by WTC Families for Proper Burial released a series of stunning affadavits this week in support of their claim that human remains from the WTC are mixed in with debris at the Fresh Kills landfill and could have been used to fill roads and potholes at the WTC site.
The affadavits state:
"I believe it virtually certain that at least some human tissue is mixed with the dirt at the Staten Island landfill," -- Charles Hirsch, NY City's Chief Medical Examiner wrote in a Jan. 9, 2003, letter to Diane Horning, head of WTC Families for Proper Burial. Read more in a Bergen Record column by Mike Kelly.
"From my experience at Fresh Kills, I am absolutely convinced that if the City of New York unearthed, resifted and washed the debris at Fresh Kills . . . it would find hundreds of human body parts and human remains," -- Theodore Feaser, the retired director of mechanical operations for the city Sanitation Department, a 20-year veteran who supervised the recovery effort at Fresh Kills for the Sanitation Department. Read more in New York Times coverage.
"I observed the New York City Department of Sanitation taking these fines from the conveyor belts of our machines, loading it onto tractors and using it to pave roads and fill in potholes, dips and ruts" -- Eric Beck, senior supervisor for Taylor Recycling, a private contractor hired to sift through debris trucked to Fresh Kills after the trade center attacks. Before the arrival of Taylor's equipment at Fresh Kills in October 2001, the debris was sifted manually by workers using rakes and shovels. "Fines" are fine debris taken to Fresh Kills from the WTC site that likely contained some human remains. Read more in NY Daily News coverage.
The families' lawsuit would force the city to restart the sifting and remains seach process of thousands of tons of debris at Fresh Kills that still includes body parts and other human remains from the landfill. It would also require the city create a formal burial place for them. Possible sites for a burial place include areas of the Fresh Kills site that have never been used as landfill, or the southern end of Governor's Island in New York Harbor. The city has contested the lawsuit vigorously in Federal court, and their lawyers issued a statement claiming "To our knowledge, there is no truth to these claims" that human remains were in the WTC fines taken to Fresh Kills, and could remain there, according to Bergen Record coverage.
 Many family members believe the city has been callous and dismissive of their attempts to reopen the search. Family members and supporters are shown at left at a September, 2006 rally. "I have been told I am just unhappy about the death of my son," Diane Horning is quoted in a Newark Star-Ledger column by Bob Braun. "That's right. I will never be happy again, no matter what happens. But I'm not asking anyone to make me happy. I want my son to be buried properly." Though it is likely that the city's motion to dismiss will be denied by Judge Norman Siegel, VOICES e-Newsletter will continue to keep you updated on any developments in the case. To learn more about the remains issue, please visit the Remembering and Healing section of our website, and the website for WTC Families for Proper Burial.
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Though the date for the transfer has been pushed back repeatedly, mostly to address the concerns of broadcasters, many lawmakers on the subcommittee seem committed to the current date: February 17, 2009. After that date, U.S. television stations will be required to air only digital broadcasts, freeing up 108 megahertz of analog airwaves. Of the total, 24 MHz is being set aside for public safety and the rest will be auctioned. "We cannot violate a sacred trust to those that died on 9/11. I will do whatever I can do not to let this deadline slip," said Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), as quoted in