Ceremony To Be Held At Mt. Kisco's 9/11 Memorial

MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. – Mayor Michael Cindrich, members of Mount Kisco’s Fire and Police departments, assorted county dignitaries and village officials will gather Tuesday night to honor those who died 11 years ago on Sept. 11, a day that Americans promised never to forget.

The service commemorating the victims of the attacks on New York City will be hosted by the Mount Kisco Volunteer Fire Department, whose 9/11 Memorial, located by Village Hall, was fully funded by individuals and businesses in town.

“People need a place to go and reflect and remember,” said Paul Felice, who co-chaired the department’s 9/11 Memorial Committee along with Rich Alexander, “and if you don’t provide a place to do so, it’s hard to ask people to.”

The memorial, which consists of two pillars of black granite symbolizing the World Trade Center towers, was dedicated to the village last September in a special ceremony on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington.

“We’re really hoping that on the 11th each year people do show up to remember and respect the victims,” Felice said. The names of all New York City firefighters killed and the two Mount Kisco residents, George Morell and Michael J. Berkeley, who died that day are inscribed on the pillars.

Last year, Fire Department members went on a tour sponsored by the 9/11 Foundation which visited all three crash sites, riding on a fire engine that took part in the rescue efforts that day. Fifty flags decorated the fire engine, and for the next 50 years, a different one of those flags will be flown on the monument flagpole.

The Mount Kisco Chamber of Commerce honored the Fire Department’s 9/11 Memorial Committee at its Citizen of the Year awards banquet in May.

Gina DiLeo-Acuna, Fire Department secretary and one of the 13 committee members honored, said upkeep of the memorial is constant: weeding. mulching and cleaning out the moat that surrounds the memorial. Felice, who owns Mount Kisco Pool Service, inspects the filtration system each week.

“Everybody [on the committee] pretty much has their own day and pretty much every day somebody is cleaning,” he said.

The ceremony begins at 6:15 p.m. on the Village Green. Light refreshments will be served afterward at the Mutual Engine and Hose Company No. 1 firehouse, 99 E. Main St. Motorists should note that Main Street will be closed before and during the ceremony.

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