It was a somber observance, Monday morning, on the Mill Street Plaza in Grass Valley, of the 22nd anniversary of the Nine-Eleven terrorist attacks. Mayor Jan Arbuckle was among the speakers to a modest gathering of residents, public officials, first responders, and members of the American Legion Post 130. She said although the official death toll is placed at 29-hundred-77, the exact number will never be known from that day. That also included 343 first responders. And toxic dust has also resulted in many more victims over the years…

click to listen to Mayor Arbuckle

Grass Valley Fire Captain Tony Scarafiotti was part of a cleanup team and was also there on the day of the attacks. And he reminded us that many first responders knew their fate had been sealed during rescue efforts at the World Trade Center Towers…

click to listen to Captain Scarafiotti

Scarafiotti rang a bell once for the fatal locations, as noted by Police Chief Alex Gammelgard…

click to listen to Chief Gammelgard

Four airline jets were hijacked, with two crashing into the Twin Towers. Another one crashed into the Pentagon, with the fourth one not making it to Washington D.C, due to a passenger revolt that caused it to crash in a field in Pennsylvania. There was also the Nine-Eleven Staircase Challenge, featuring the symbolic climbing of 110 stories in 2200 steps, among other features of the morning.