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Sept. 11 memorial to salute heroes
A 300-pound piece of the World Trade Center will serve as a tribute to fallen firefighters.
By TAMARA EL-KHOURY
Published September 11, 2005
OLDSMAR - Four years after the collapse of the twin towers, a little piece of the skyscrapers will stand immortalized in Oldsmar.
In a tribute to firefighters who died on Sept. 11, 2001, the city will erect a monument in front of the fire station on Pine Avenue. The $11,000 monument, funded through private donations, will showcase a steel beam recovered from ground zero. It is expected to be finished around December.
It's important to have a lasting memorial, said Oldsmar Fire Rescue fire Chief Scott McGuff.
The beam is about 3 feet long and weighs about 300 pounds. It will be displayed on two slabs of granite. A walkway will have 343 bricks engraved with the names of the 343 firefighters who died. An engraved stone will list contributors to the monument.
Another will explain the significance of the rusted chunk of steel and how it got there.
The portion of a steel girder was given to fire Capt. Jerry Gabardi by Lee Ielpi, the father of a New York firefighter who died on Sept. 11.
Gabardi sent about $3,000 in donations to Ielpi's group, which was working toward the preservation of ground zero.
The donations were collected by selling CDs of a song about the tragedy that Gabardi's Christian band wrote and recorded.
"He actually shipped (the beam) here and asked me to do something with it," Gabardi said. He said Ielpi told him, "Don't take it home with you. If you would, please do a memorial somewhere in your city."
Gabardi said he and the committee he put together envisioned a simple, reflective monument. He said the community has been generous to the cause.
Tampa's Coloroc Materials donated the bricks for the walkway. Colwill Engineering, also in Tampa, donated the lighting. Oldsmar's Coating Technology has the piece of steel now and is putting a protective coat on it.
"To actually have a piece of the World Trade Center in little old Oldsmar, if you want to look at it that way, I think it's awesome," Gabardi said. "It's an honor to have it here."
[Last modified September 11, 2005, 01:12:29]
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