Harborside Middle School Sent Into Lockdown

Earlier today news arrived that Harborside Middle school was sent into lock down. Students there indicated to me that they heard an announcement over the loudspeaker calling for a "Code White" of which indicates a security condition. A similar lock down occurred at Simon Lake school not even three weeks ago.

At approximately 3:30 today I contacted the Milford Police Department and the officer on duty declined to comment, but did refer me to a community office. That office is expected to release an official press release. For now this blog is only going to report the information provided by persons on school premises. Students and teachers indicated that they believed the school was called into lock down for the safety of the students. Some students were scared, and indicated that police cars were buzzing the school. Some students indicated that they felt the school was ill prepared for a lock down and some teachers did not draw their blinds and lock their doors as required. Some teachers were unsure as to what a "code white" even was.

The story on the street is that a local downtown bank was robbed and the police were concerned for school safety as they were in pursuit of a robbery suspect. The entire incident resulted in nothing more than a big scare. The students and school were eventually called off lock down and the local Milford Police Department indicated the situation was "under control."

Children were also sent home with a letter this afternoon indicating the lock down condition, but the letters offered no explanation as to the events resulting in the school scare. For now we will be waiting for the official press release of which will be due out shortly.

Remembering 911

This day was as powerful a day for me as was the Kennedy assassination to my parents. While I was too young to remember the tragedy of that day, my parents were old enough to live through yet another.

On September 9th of that same year my partner and I took a picture together in the lower lobby. I was there that day because I thought how spectacular the view from atop of the greatest city on earth was. Terri my now life partner, had never seen the top and I am glad she did. We had made plans to return with the kids, as we felt they would enjoy the great experience we had. We thought they would like to shop for souvenirs and look out the binoculars onto Manhattan and its boroughs. That day of return was expected to have been sometime around the terror attacks.

The morning of Sept 11 I woke to turn on the T.V. in my basement bedroom and saw the scarred and burning skin of one of the towers. Like many I thought it to be nothing more than a horrible accident. The media was reporting as such also, as that day transpired I continued on to work and saw on the news in my office that a second plane had hit. This was the point when I realized that the odds of two such accidents were impossible and that our country was under attack.

As the news broke, the country went on high alert and more high jacked planes were perilously headed toward suspected targets in the capitol. Both towers collapsed and a panic was set in motion throughout New York City and within the suburbs that I lived. While I was uncertain as to the outcome and meaning of why we were attacked I was very concerned that something more catastrophic was in the works. Fortunately the smoke cleared four planes down three direct hits and the saga ended with no more threats beyond Washington and N.Y.

The news broke for days, weeks and months, my brother Sam called me and informed me that we lost two of our childhood friends. Keith Coleman, 34, and Scott Coleman, 31, died in the collapse of the World Trade Center, they were brothers who worked for Cantor Fitzgerald, the bond trading firm. Keith, of Warren, New Jersey, is survived by his wife, Elodie, and two young children, Neva and Vaughn. Scott, of New York City, was engaged to be married to Jessica Nardone. They were sons of Neil and Jean Coleman, longtime members of the Unitarian Church of Westport, Connecticut.

Keith and Scott were great friends of my brother and I through middle school in Westport where we played for the Westport PAL soccer league. Knowing that there is no opportunity to ever reconnect I write this and pause and ask that we all take a moment of silence for all our fallen heroes today, especially the emergency personell who fought so hard to save so many lives. May we never forget!

Link for more Information:

http://leagueathletics.com/Page.asp?id=11724&org=WESTPORTSOCCER.ORG