Outrage, concern for firefighters

Koeckeritz

relieved

daughter is OK

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- The various offices at the Brown County Courthouse buzzed quietly with the news of the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington D.C. early Tuesday morning.

Bill Koeckeritz stood before the county board's chambers talking to onlookers about his daughter, Anna, who works in Washington for Rep. Betty McCollum. He got on his cellular phone and called her and learned she was OK.

When he first called Anna Tuesday Koeckeritz got a busy signal, which prompted the feeling of anxious uncertainty parents get when their children are in trouble. Fortunately, after three more tries, he heard Anna's voice. She was OK at a house on Capitol Hill with a fellow employee.

"It was like a terrible dream, think you'd wake up, but it isn't a dream," Koeckeritz said later that day.

Brown County Commissioner Charles Guggisberg told the group he was going to have to cancel a plane trip to Alaska, where his son was getting married today. Guggisberg said he was still unsure as to whether he would be able to be there or not.

Other county commissioners also commented on the day's events.

"We're at war," said Commissioner Richard Seeboth.

In other parts of the courthouse, Brown County Sheriff's Department Dispatcher Dave Jensen sat behind the console in the dispatch room and watched the live television coverage intensely. At around noon, the footage of one of the World Trade Center towers collapsing was rebroadcast.

"Good God!," exclaimed Jensen as sections of the building fell away in a great cloud of thick, grey ash.

"I think it's horrendous and unbelievable," said New Ulm Police Department Parking Enforcement Officer Sharon Kiel. "That's all I can say."

NUPD Commander Erv Weinkauf had some perspective on the unfolding events.

"It's a tragedy. And as many different agencies, all of these different groups train for something like this, but it's different," Weinkauf said. "Even though a lot of training is simulation, you don't have the panic and paranoia that you actually experience."

Weinkauf said his wife has a high school friend who works at the Pentagon, whom they just spoke with last week, but can't tell if the friend is OK yet.

"The reality of it is, if your time is set, it's set. You can get killed walking across the street," Weinkauf said. "It's something you can prepare and prepare and prepare for, and you hope you don't have to experience it, but we just have."

New Ulm Fire Chief Dave Wolf was coaching a football game at the time the news went out over the air. He said he was mainly concerned about the estimated 200 firefighters that may have died in the attack.

"It's not a good sight. This is how a terrorist attack happens. They want you to put all your emergency personnel in one place and then something else happens. They're setting you up for a second one," he said from his home in New Ulm.

"To lose 200 firefighters, that's a near atrocity," Wolf said. "That isn't all of it yet."

The event also generated widespread speculation as to the role of the Minnesota National Guard. Specialist Anna Lewicki said there will be no mobilization because there is no threat in Minnesota. So the first battalion of the 125th Field Artillery Regiment, stationed in New Ulm, will remain at quarters until further notice.

'There are no state active duty plans," she said from St. Paul. "We're using heightened security."