Tuesday, October 2, 2001

Cold hinders recovery work
By Sara Kugler
Associated Press

NEW YORK — Rain and wind chill into the 30s on Monday numbed the hands of rescue workers picking through more than a million tons of rubble at the World Trade Center site in New York. Across town, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani called on the United Nations to remember its “primary mission as peace-keepers” and hold those who support terrorism accountable.

The tedious work requires dexterity even in perfect weather, workers said, and the raw weather, the coldest since the Sept. 11 attacks, hampered the already-backbreaking task. More rain and wind were forecast.

“It’s turned pretty miserable. It’s making a tough job even tougher,” said Luis Montero, a 38-year-old laborer.

In making his speech, Giuliani became the first New York City mayor in nearly 50 years to address the General Assembly. He told the representatives from more than 150 nations that terrorism threatens freedom, democracy and the underlying principles of the world body itself.

“This is not a time for further study or vague directives,” he said. “The evidence of terrorism, brutality and inhumanity is lying beneath the rubble of the World Trade Center less than two miles from where we meet today.

“The United Nations must hold accountable any country that supports or condones terrorism or you will fail in your primary mission as peace-keepers,” he said.

Morning rush hour traffic was moderate as commuters returning to Manhattan faced the same restrictions that were tested Thursday and Friday. Mandatory carpooling resumed at bridges and tunnels heading into lower and midtown Manhattan from 6 a.m. to noon.

Trains and buses were crowded, but not unusually so, transit officials said.

Also Monday, the Borough of Manhattan Community College reopened for the first time since the terror attacks. It is four blocks away from the trade center and, while not substantially damaged, was taken over by up to 2,000 emergency workers who slept, ate and showered there.

“Everybody is being really, really positive,” said college vice president G. Scott Anderson. “The students are really up. They are glad to be back at their school ... They are happy to be alive.”

One student is believed lost. More may turn up missing as the college checks on the whereabouts of students enrolled on Sept. 11 who do not return to classes this week. Grief counselors were available to students and staff.

The latest police figures showed 5,219 victims missing at the trade center — down more than 400 as cross-checking eliminated duplications. Officials said 314 bodies had been recovered, with 255 identified.

Nearly three weeks after two hijacked jetliners slammed into the twin towers, Gov. George Pataki announced that the National Guard will supplement security at 19 airports around the state. Starting Friday, more than 300 armed Guardsmen will be stationed at the airports, though Pataki provided few specifics about their duties.

“It’s like having a cop walking in front of your store while he’s walking the beat,” Pataki said. “It’s reassuring and it’s effective.”

President Bush has urged that Guardsmen be stationed at airports around the country to restore America’s confidence in airport security.

“I’m satisfied that the president will lead us to victory over the terrorists militarily,” Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist said Monday on NBC’s “Today” show. “We want to win the war of the economy. It’s time for families to conduct their lives in a normal way and get out and do things.”

Sundquist was part of a group of governors who traveled to New York on American Airlines on Sunday to show support for air travel and tourism.

With him were the governors of Arkansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi and Mayor Anthony Williams of Washington. They stayed overnight in Manhattan after eating dinner in the midtown Theater District and seeing “The Lion King.”

The group visited with New York City firefighters but not the World Trade Center site, saying they wanted to focus attention on promoting tourism.

Later Monday, the governors flew to Washington, where they also planned to promote tourism by visiting the Smithsonian and shopping downtown.

Meanwhile, U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert visited the ruins on Sunday with Giuliani and again Monday with more than 100 fellow members of Congress. He said no one can tell if the $20 billion-plus in federal money earmarked for New York is enough.

“We don’t know if that’s the iceberg or the tip of the iceberg,” Hastert said Monday.

Hastert promised New Yorkers, “We will come back to New York again to see this town full of people and to see this town rise back from the ashes that we saw today.”