West Hempstead Reduces Scale of 9/11 Ceremony, Cites 'Delays' at Halls Pond

To honor the 12 local residents killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center, the West Hempstead Community Support and Civic Association had planned to hold a special ceremony on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

But there was one problem. The site of their vigil, the memorial garden in Halls Pond Park, remained closed to the public until last Wednesday, when Nassau County surrounding the property. When civic members took a tour through the park recently they were disappointed to find it littered with garbage and fallen branches from Tropical Storm Irene.

A spokesman for the County this week, that Irene delayed the clean-up efforts at the park, because DPW workers were busy addressing other problems caused by the storm.

"Due to the very delayed opening of Halls Pond Park we were are unable to hold the planned 10-year Sept. 11 Memorial ceremony," Civic President Rosalie Norton said Friday.

Instead, at 4 p.m. Sunday, members of the civic and Kiwanis Club will meet at the clock in Halls Pond Park, where the 9/11 memorial stands.

"[They will] hold a brief observance for their lost neighbors," she added.

Those neighbors include:

• 25, a former star athlete for the West Hempstead Rams who worked in the South Tower.
• Bruce Boehm, 49, a family man who worked as a broke for Cantor Fitzgerald, who lost 658 employees that day.
• Winston Grant, 59, a specialist for Blue Cross Blue Shield and a caregiver to his wife.
• Robert DeAngelis, Jr.,47, a fire commissioner and project manager who helped evacuate coworkers from the World Trade Center.
• Mark Schwartz, 50, an EMT who was last seen on the stairs of the second tower.
  
• Robert Linnane, 33, a New York City firefighter that responded to the World Trade Center.
  
• Ralph Licciardi, 30, a family-oriented electrian who was working on a job in the South Tower.
  
• William Steckman, 56,an engineer for NBC known as "Pop Pop Bill" to his grandchildren was in Tower 1. 
  
• John Fanning, 54, a FDNY Battalion Chief who was last seen at the command post of the South Tower. He was also a father to two autistic children and after his death, his wife started the Angels for Autism foundation in his memory.
• Jason Cefalu: 30, a broker for Cantor Fitzgerald who was in Tower One.
• Scott Bart, 28, a newlywed and up-and-coming vice president at Marsh & McLennan in the World Trade Center.
• Jeffrey Dingle, 32, a devoted husband who was at a breakfast conference at Windows on the World in the WTC.

On Friday afternoon, some community members were at Halls Pond cleaning up the area around the memorial and encouraging others to help.

"Anything you can bring, such as garbage bags, hedge trimmers, brooms, etc. would be great!" Terese Russo Santoro posted to Facebook from the park. "Flower donations are also welcome!"

You can also honor the legacy of these local men by giving blood this Sunday at a memorial drive held at the from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Check Patch later today for more details.