Below is a Statement by 911 Health Watch on the recently released GAO Report

For Immediate Release from 9/11 Health Watch

August, 25, 2014

Press Contact: Benjamin Chevat (646) 634-9103

ben.chevat@911healthwatch.org

GAO Report Validates Decision to add Cancer to Covered WTC Conditions and Provide Treatment to 9/11 Responders and Survivors

The release of the General Accountability Office Report GAO Report: “World Trade Center Health Program: Approach Used to Add Cancers to List of Covered Conditions was Reasonable, but Could Be Improved” , validates World Trade Center Health Program Administrator Dr. John Howard’s decision to add cancers to the list of World Trade Center Health program covered conditions and provide treatment to 9/11 Responders and Survivors.

Senator Tom Coburn, who had filibustered the passage of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010, which created the WTC Health Program, had requested the GAO review of the decision to add cancer to the list of eligible conditions that would be covered and treated by the Health Program.  The GAO spent more than a year conducting its review and of the decision to add cancers as covered conditions and the impact of that decision on both the Health Program and the September 11^th Victim Compensation Fund and interviewed medical and scientific experts as part of its review.

While its extensive review found that the decision process could have been communicated better, it found that the decision to add cancers was “reasonable.”  Here is an excerpt from its summary:

“According to these experts, a hazard-based approach focuses on identifying whether particular “hazards”—sources of potential harm—are associated with certain health conditions, and does not attempt to quantify the risks of developing those health conditions. The Administrator’s approach used four methods to determine whether there was an association between a September 11 exposure and a specific cancer, and thus, whether to add that cancer to the list.

The experts considered the approach reasonable given the WTCHP certification process for enrollees to obtain coverage for treatment for a condition on the list, the lack of data related to exposure levels and risks, and the use of similar approaches by previous federal compensation programs. “ Page 1, GAO Report: “World Trade Center Health Program: Approach Used to Add Cancers to List of Covered Conditions was Reasonable, but Could Be Improved” http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-606

This extensive GAO review clearly supports Dr. Howard’s decision that had been criticized by some in Congress and others who opposed covering cancers for 9/11 Responders and Survivors and should answer the critics who not only opposed covering cancer but opposed passing the legislation that created the World Trade Center Health Program and reopening the September 11^th Victim Compensation Fund.

Because of Dr. Howard’s decision to add cancers to the list of covered 9/11 conditions, 9/11 Responders and Survivors who have contracted cancer from their 9/11 exposures will be able to seek compensation for their injury.  It is important to note that those who have been diagnosed with cancer have a deadline approaching to register with the September 11^th Victim Compensation Fund in order to pursue a claim  for compensation.

Below is information on the deadline from the VCF.

Important Information on the October 12, 2014 VCF Registration Deadline

The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund is approaching an important deadline: This deadline applies to individuals who were diagnosed with a 9/11-related eligible cancer other than Prostate Cancer on or before October 12, 2012 and who have not already registered or filed a VCF claim.

Claimants diagnosed on or before October 12, 2012 with one of the cancers added to the list of eligible conditions on that date must register with the Fund by October 12, 2014.

Registration preserves your right to file a claim in the future (before the VCF ends on October 3, 2016). Registration is not the same as filing a claim and you are not required to file a claim even if you have registered. Click here for detailed information on filing deadlines. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about registration and filing deadlines can be found here.

Statement on 3^rd Anniversary of the Passage of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010.

Friday, June 13, 2014 Below are summaries with url’s to news articles that appeared recently about 9/11 Health and Compensation issues.  An archive of past articles by year, can be found on the 911 Health Watch website at  http://www.911healthwatch.org/news/ : June 12, 2014 -- NYCHealth -- Heart Disease Hospitalization After 9/11 June 12, 2014 -- NCBI -- Chronic physical health consequences of being injured during the terrorist attacks on World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 Few studies have focused on injuries from the World Trade Center disaster on September 11, 2001. Severe injury has health consequences, including an increased mortality risk 10 years after injury and the risk of mental health problems… June 11, 2014 -- Digital Jounral -- A State Appeals Court Decision may Make More World Trade Center Ground Zero Volunteers Eligible for Medical Compensation, Parker Waichman LLP Comments Parker Waichman LLP, a national law firm, comments on a state appeals court decision that may now make many more Ground Zero volunteers eligible for medical compensation. June 10, 2014 -- Naperville Sun -- 9/11 first responder battles health woes; service dog has cancer After writing recently about putting our family dog to sleep, I heard from a lot of people who love their four-legged buddies just as intensely. June 10, 2014 -- NY Post -- De Blasio, Bratton honor slain 9/11 heroes Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton gave medals on Tuesday to mothers, wives and children of 12 heroes who died of 9/11 related illnesses. June 9, 2014 -- Chicago Tribune -- Bonus payout for WTC site workers premature: court A judge acted prematurely in awarding a $55 million bonus payment to thousands of rescue and cleanup workers at the World Trade Center site who settled lawsuits against New York City over damage to their health, a federal appeals court … Continue reading → June 8, 2014 -- NY Post -- 9/11 first responders have high levels of binge drinking: study Frequent binge drinking among 9/11 first responders is higher than in any other group affected by the terror attacks, an alarming new study finds. June 6, 2014 -- News 12 Long Island -- New York appeals court rules Sept. 11 volunteers not affiliated with agency or group are entitled to benefits A state appeals court has ruled that volunteers who worked at Ground Zero independent from any group or agency are also entitled to health benefits from the World Trade Center Volunteer Fund. June 6, 2014 -- NY Daily News -- State appeals court rules more 9/11 volunteers can get money from compensation fund The ruling states that first responders and 9/11 volunteers do not need to be part of an ‘authorized rescue entity or volunteer agency’ to be eligible for funds. June 5, 2014 -- FoxNews.com -- Ground Zero volunteer wins 13-year battle to prove service, get help It’s been more than a dozen years since Jaime Hazan rushed to Ground Zero to help clean up the toxic pile of rubble as America sought to recover from one of its darkest days. June 3, 2014 -- NY Daily News -- Retired firefighter dies from brain cancer connected to Ground Zero work Lt. Steven Reisman, 54, was with the Fire Department for 23 years and, after working extensively at the World Trade Center site post-9/11, he fell victim to an aggressive form of brain cancer. May 25, 2014 -- NY Post -- Ground Zero funds dwindle as Buffet takeover plan stalls Mayor de Blasio is sitting on a controversial proposal to let billionaire Warren Buffett take over a $300 million taxpayer fund expected to pay future claims by Ground Zero workers stricken with cancer. May 21, 2014 -- CBS News -- 9/11 attacks leave legacy of chronic illness After the 9/11 attacks, Glenn Garamella spent months at Ground Zero, helping families who lost loved ones from the New York City Police Department. He worked around-the-clock as an employee relations manager. May 21, 2014 -- City & State -- We Have More To Remember The opening of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum is a clear sign that the nation has not forgotten the events of that horrible day now almost 13 years ago. May 15, 2014 -- NEW YORK, NY – Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, U.S. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, U.S. Rep Jerrold Nadler, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, N.Y. State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, N.Y. State Senator Daniel Squadron, NYC Council Member … Continue reading → Ben Chevat Executive Director 9/11 Health Watch

December 22, 2013

Today is the 3rd Anniversary of the passage by Congress of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. Although it was only three years ago, we should remember how difficult it was to get Congress to finally act and address the health effects of the 9/11 attacks. When the Congress finally acted, they established a program for comprehensive medical care for the Responders and Survivors who were injured and made ill by the toxins at Ground Zero, and they reopened the September 11^th Victim Compensation Fund to provide compensation for economic losses for those illnesses and injuries for Responders, Survivors and their families.

Since the legislation was signed by President Obama, the World Trade Center Health Program, under the direction of Dr. John Howard, is now providing health care and medical monitoring for injured World Trade Center Responders and Survivors and for Responders to the Pentagon and the Shanksville crash sites. The program has added over 4,200 more Responders and Survivors since it started in July 1, 2011 with a total of over 65,000 program participants. This includes hundreds that are now getting treated for covered cancers, including prostrate cancer that was just added to the list of covered cancers, and more than 15,000 Responders and Survivors that that have received medical treatment for the full range of covered conditions in the last year.

The World Trade Center Health Program has made major progress in meeting the goals of the legislation passed three years ago today, the September 11^th Victim Compensation Fund has yet to meet our expectations. While the VCF has registered many thousands of responders and survivors, the program has been slow to provide final determinations.

911 Health Watch will continue to actively monitor both the health program and the VCF and to offer suggestions on how these programs can be improved. The many people who have suffered as a result of the 9/11 attacks deserve excellent and responsive medical and compensation programs.

November 22, 2013

The re-opener of the New York State Workers' Compensation and Disability Retirement Registry for workers at the 9/11 site , Assembly Bill 7803A  sponsored by Assemblyman Abbate /Senate bill 5759A  sponsored by Senator Golden, has been signed into law and is Chapter 489 of the Laws of 2013.

The legislation extends workers' compensation eligibility and benefits for 9/11 World Trade Center workers. Most notably, the legislation reopens the NYS Workers Compensation Board’s World Trade Center Registry; extends the deadline period for filing Form WTC-12, Registration of Participation in World Trade Center Rescue, Recovery and/or Clean-up Operations, with a new deadline to September 11, 2014. The Legislation also reopens previously time-barred World Trade Center claims and considers them timely; and adds new qualifying conditions to the law.

The NYS AFL-CIO will be working with its affiliates to spread the word, answer questions about eligibility and encourage any members or other workers who may be eligible to register, to do so prior to the new expiration date of September 11, 2014.

For more information and for copies of the form you can visit the NYS Workers Compensation Website.

A complete description of all the programs available to 9/11 Responders and Survivors can be found on the 911 Health Watch website.

An archive of past articles by year, can be found on the 911 Health Watch website at  http://www.911healthwatch.org/news/ :

November 11, 2013 -- Daily News -- First responder claims daily exposure to debris at Ground Zero damaged kidneys
She worked for nearly four months handling the rubble at Ground Zero — and it likely damaged her kidneys.

November 10, 2013 -- New York Post -- Warren Buffett’s 9/11 payday
Mayor Bloomberg has recruited fellow billionaire Warren Buffett to take over a taxpayer fund set up to pay claims stemming from the toxic Ground Zero cleanup, The Post has learned.

November 11, 2013 -- Science 2.0 -- Albuminuria: 9/11 First Responders Have Higher Prevalence Of Kidney Damage
First responders working at ground zero in New York City following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center were exposed to cement dust, smoke, glass fibers, and heavy metals.

November  9, 2013 -- Long Island Newsday -- Signs of Early Kidney Damage Found in Some 9/11 Responders
Some first responders who toiled at the World Trade Center site after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks are now showing signs of early kidney damage, a preliminary study finds

October 21, 2013 -- NY Post -- 9/11 victim fund covers cancer for first time
The federal 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund has for the first time paid out cash awards for cancer.

October 14, 2013 -- NY Daily News -- Five NYPD police officers who died from 9/11-related illnesses and cop killed in on-duty accident added to memorial near Ground Zero Grieving families joined Mayor Bloomberg and NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly Friday when the names of six cops who died in the line of duty were added to the police memorial near Ground Zero.

                                                                          

Article can be found at http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20130819/NEWS/130819895

Secret evidence disputed in 9/11 case

Pretrial hearings began Monday for halid Sheikh Mohammed and four other men accused of plotting the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

News Release: December 22, 2010

The Senate passes compromise bill providing free health care to First Responders of NYC 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Contacts:

TUESDAY, MAY 25, 2010

AS THE 9/11 HEALTH BILL (H.R. 847)

APPROACHES A CRITICAL VOTE...

WE NEED YOU TO REACH OUT TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY IN EVERY STATE

* * Ask them to make calls to their Representatives in Congress TODAY or on MONDAY, May 24th

The 9/11 Health and Compensation Act (H.R. 847) will be voted on by the full House Energy and Commerce Committee in a "markup" session that will be held on Tuesday, May 25th.

• Thousands of first responders and others exposed to the toxins of Ground Zero are now sick and need our help. These individuals include New York Firefighters, EMTs and Police, construction workers, clean-up workers, residents, area workers, and school children, among others.

• Although most of these people live in the New York/New Jersey area, at least 10,000 people came from around the country to help in the aftermath of the attacks.  They hail from all 50 states and nearly every congressional district.  Many are sick and others are very concerned about their health.  (Please see a map of Registry enrollments nationwide and a list of enrollments in each congressional district.)

•  Their illnesses include respiratory and gastrointestinal system conditions such as asthma, interstitial lung disease, chronic cough and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), leukemia, and mental health conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

• More than 400,000 people are believed to have been exposed to toxins from the World Trade Center site.
  

Next...an article from mom, Diane Horning,,,

At the Hour of Our Death. by Rose Marie Berger. Sojourners Magazine, February 2008 (Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 27-31). Features.

At the Hour of Our Death

Is a proper burial for World Trade Center victims a justice issue? Diane Horning's vigil for the conscience of America.
by Rose Marie Berger

It was a clear May day on Staten Island in New York, clouds high and wispy against the cerulean sky. A slight Atlantic breeze bent the scrub grass along the highway. Then the wind direction changed, and I inhaled the sickly sweet smell of decomposition. I had arrived at the Fresh Kills Landfill run by the New York City Department of Sanitation-the mass grave for hundreds of victims of 9/11.

"It's a pretty formidable place," Diane Horning told me as we looked across nearly 2,200 acres of prettied-up garbage dump, approximately 40 acres of which holds refuse from the World Trade Center. "You can't bring the elderly. You can't bring young children. There's no place to put flowers."

Diane and her husband, Kurt, had met me at the landfill to talk about the World Trade Center Families for a Proper Burial.

The Horning's 26-year-old son, Matthew, was killed on Sept. 11. He worked for the Marsh & McLennan insurance company on the 95th floor of the north tower at the World Trade Center. O f the 295 Marsh & McLennan employees killed that day, many have had no remains found. Of the 2,749 people killed at the Trade Center, more than 40 percent lack any identified remains.

In 2003, Diane Horning founded World Trade Center Families for a Proper Burial with Arlene and Arthur Russo, whose son Wayne had also died. The organization's express purpose is to retrieve the remains of the 9/11 victims in the Fresh Kills Landfill and give them a proper burial. They represent about 1,000 families.

The proper burial of the dead has been called "the last office of humanity." The 15th-century poet-philosopher Giambattista Vico identified it as among the three characteristics, along with religion and marriage, of a civilized society. "[From] these three institutions are the origin of all civilizations and therefore they must be most devoutly guarded by all," Vico wrote, "so that the world should not again become a bestial wilderness."

IN THE DAYS FOLLOWING the collapse of the Twin Towers, firefighters and others began the painstaking task of recovering the remains of their lost comrades and hundreds of civilians using a "hand and shovel" digging method. To find and return remains to family members for proper burial was a matter of honor, dignity, and respect for the dead. But political expediency took precedence over basic human decency. "[Then-mayor Rudy] Giuliani wanted to make sure that the Trade Towers were at ground level before he left office," Kurt Horning told me, "which is why they went to the 'scoop and dump' method once they recovered the gold."

According to The London Times, a billion dollar cache of gold and other precious metals had been buried beneath the Trade Center. "The Comex metals trading division of the New York Mercantile Exchange kept 3,800 gold bars . worth more than $100 million" in vaults in the basement of one of the WTC buildings, reported the Times. Comex also held almost $220 million worth of other companies' gold and more than $430 million worth of silver.

On Oct. 30, 2001, workers at Ground Zero unearthed the cache. With more than 100 heavily armed federal agents standing guard, police and firefighters were redeployed from recovery efforts to load up armored trucks with the treasure. Within hours of finding the gold, Giuliani stopped the recovery effort and pulled workers off the pile.

The "scoop and dump" method was for clearing the site, not recovering the dead. Earthmovers and steam shovels scooped up debris at Ground Zero and dumped it in trucks that took it to barges. It was floated up the Arthur Kill tidal strait and then trucked to the Fresh Kills Landfill to be sifted for remains and personal effects. According to the sworn testimony of workers there, whole bodies were still in the wreckage. Taylor Recycling's site supervisor for the Fresh Kills sifting job, Eric Beck, testified in conjunction with a law suit the World Trade Center Families have brought against the city of New York, "I vividly remember our finding a man's full chest and the full body of a man still dressed in a suit." Beck also testified that Department of Sanitation workers were told to take the fines (the sifted, screened, and washed soil)-in effect the cremated remains of WTC victims-and use them to pave roads and fill in pot holes.

"Matthew's wallet and a piece of his occipital bone have been recovered from the debris brought from the WTC to the Fresh Kills Refuse Site," Diane stated in her law suit testimony, "and have been returned to us. I became a plaintiff in this law suit, in order to have Matthew's remains accorded a proper and decent burial in a place of honor and respect consistent with the free exercise of his and my religion, so that his final resting place is not a landfill used as a garbage dump."

THE NEW YORK CITY mayor's office has repeatedly stated that the WTC debris brought to Fresh Kills was thoroughly sifted down to a quarter inch and that every effort was made to recover any evidence of personal items or human remains and to keep the WTC material separate from the household garbage. In 2001, several WTC victims' families were contacted by the FBI and told that they could view the sifting operation at Fresh Kills. Diane asked if she could have some of the fines for burial when operations were completed. In July 2002, when it was announced that the sifting was finished, Diane called the mayor's office to reiterate her request. "I was told that they didn't know what I was talking about. That began my effort to find out what was going on. Where was this material?"

Diane and Kurt were finally allowed onto the area of WTC debris at Fresh Kills to view the soil that had been supposedly sifted down to a quarter of an inch. They found massive sections of blistered steel, huge lengths of rebar, and hundreds of smaller items. Kurt recalled, "There was a new level of dirt a foot high. I asked them, 'You removed all the debris, the tires, the broken glass, the clothing, the carpeting?' They said, 'Oh no, we didn't remove anything. We are just covering it up.'"

Six years later soil erosion continues to push bones to the surface. More often, the forces of water, wind, and gravity expose shoes, watches, credit cards, and jewelry. "We found a Bible," said Kurt. "We found a doll."

"This is a landfill that never had a liner," said Diane. "It was established before they needed to have liners and so it's just sort of percolating down into the garbage. That's so distressing to us. They didn't even bother to put a liner down on top of the household garbage.

"Originally, all we wanted was the fines," Diane continued. "We thought that they had honestly sifted it all down and if we could just have those fines, then we'd be satisfied. But when we saw what was going on down at Ground Zero, where they've now found over 1,500 pieces of human remains since the recovery process ended that had been overlooked or deliberately built on, we wanted more than just the fines. We are saying to the city that they can dig everything out and put it all together in a new location that doesn't have garbage under it, or they can re-sift it and give us the results of the siftings. We are willing to do it either way."

As I walked through the debris with the Hornings, I found wall tile, bits of china, parts of a tennis shoe, and a section of marble that could have come from a church altar or a high-end corporate office. According to a chart compiled by the Department of Sanitation, more than 200,000 tons of debris that arrived at Fresh Kills from the WTC in the first 32 days is unaccounted for. It wasn't sifted. It wasn't tracked. It was dumped and covered over.

"We began to realize that human remains were in the debris when human body parts began to be found in the debris that had been sifted," testified sanitation worker Theodore Feaser, "and when the sifted and bulldozed debris was suddenly subjected to droves of seagulls that swooped down, attracted by the human body parts contained therein."

While USA Toda y touts former mayor Giuliani as the "hero of 9/11," the real heroes of Sept. 11-the first responders and victims' families-are dismayed and angered at Giuliani's disregard for the dead.

"We have remains of dead heroes out at the garbage dump because of Giuliani and his administration," said New York City Fire Department Deputy Chief Jim Riches, who lost a son in the Towers. "They are still there today, and they won't remove them."

Diane Horning is disgusted. "Now we've got people like Rudy Giuliani who ordered all this nonsense running for president! I'm absolutely dumbfounded. This is a man whose claim to fame was that he's the one who let them use my son as pothole fill. Is this what our nation has become?"

Diane Horning, a Roman Catholic, has turned to the church for help. Catholics consider the proper burial of the dead as "a corporal work of mercy" and believe in the inherent dignity of the human person and the resurrection of the body. Caring for the body even in death "grows out of a reverence and concern for the person whom the church now commends to the care of God," according to the U.S. Catholic bishops.

Sadly, when Horning brought her cause to Cardinal Edward Egan of New York, she says he refused to meet with her. Horning then went to the apostolic nuncio in Washington, D.C., and he turned her away, telling her to speak with the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference.

" The bishops told us that it was a local issue and they don't get involved in politics," reported Horning. "I'm just absolutely shocked that they would tell me that they don't get involved in politics. Where were you all with Terri Schiavo? Where are you now when they are asking Roman Catholic hospitals to give out birth control after rape? Don't tell me that you don't get involved with political issues that are faith-related? You do! And if this is a tenet of the faith-the proper burial of the dead-then where are you?"

Local churches, both Catholic and Protestant, have helped the WTC Families for a Proper Burial in small ways through supporting a petition drive, attending meetings, and writing to local leaders. Archbishop John Myers of Newark has expressed general support. But, overall, national religious leadership has been silent on this issue.

"We're just floored that the clergy is no where on this," Diane said. "I keep hearing that these things take time . as I watch my son's remains wash into the Arthur Kill. I don't understand how much time it's supposed to take.

"A grief deferred is a very dangerous thing. Things keep getting taken from me. My son was taken from me. I think my country was taken from me. My faith has been taken from me. If it weren't for the wonderful people I've been meeting, especially those who have suffered loss, I don't know where I'd be."

THEN THERE IS the issue of money. "I can't tell you how many people have said to me, 'Well, how much would [re-sifting] cost?'" said Diane. "I have to say back, What difference does that make? That's like saying, This child is ill but the medical bills are going to be a certain amount of money, so forget it, let her die. But I did try to find out how much the federal government paid for the 9/11 clean up. FEMA allotted $125 million for the clean up at this dump site. They spent $67 million. So I called FEMA and I asked, 'Are these figures accurate?' They said, 'Yes.' So I asked, 'What happened to the rest of it? Where is it?' They said, 'Well..it's not like it's held in escrow someplace.'

"So the city took half of the money that FEMA gave them. They got their work done under budget in less time than they had allotted. Then they reapportioned the rest of that money to pay for straight-time salaries and security-neither of which FEMA ever pays for. So the city won the lottery!"

Eric Beck, the Taylor Recycling site supervisor at Fresh Kills, confirmed the timeline in his court statement. "I was told that the recovery job at Fresh Kills would be a two-year project. We finished in 11 and a half months."

As Diane asserts, "For the city to say now that it would be too costly to properly bury our dead, I have to say back to them that the money was there. But you chose to use it some other way. And you had no right to do that. They came in under budget and under their funding and now body parts are being found all over Ground Zero. . Rudy Giuliani wanted to look like the take-charge guy who got it done fast."

She muses on the deeply personal consequences of these bureaucratic and political decisions. "I do try when I come here to say prayers. We bring flowers. Of course, there's no place to put them, but we bring them. I try to have some kind of community with my son here. But I'm not able to do it. Once in awhile you'll get some little wildflowers here and that's nice. But the bottom line is that there's garbage under him. I just don't think a civilized society does that."

LISTENING TO DIANE HORNING calls to mind the story of Rizpah in 2 Samuel. Rizpah kept vigil for months over the exposed bodies of her two sons whom King David, for political reasons, had handed over to be killed. "She allowed no bird to set upon them by day nor any wild beast by night" (21:10). Eventually, Rizpah's campaign forced David to give her sons, and the others killed with them, a proper burial.

Catholic catechism teaches that "the body that lies in death recalls the personal story of faith, the past relationships, and the continued spiritual presence of the deceased person. This is the body once washed in Baptism, anointed with the oil of salvation, and fed with the bread of life. Thi s is the body whose hands clothed the poor and embraced the sorrowing."

Sept.11 has been excessively sentimentalized on one hand, which prevents genuine grieving and authentic resurrection. On the other hand, there is the obscenity of the Fresh Kills landfill where the bodies are kept hidden-because to look at them truthfully may raise questions about America's existential innocence.

I look over the piles of rocks used at the dump site to fill in erosion holes. "It looks to me like a cairn," says Diane, "like an ancient cairn." Together, we pray the Lord's Prayer and set flowers against a piece of metal jutting from the ground. "The Franciscan priests have forged a beautiful bell for us," Diane tells me. "It's called The Bell for the Unforgotten. I would love to have a bell tower where we could put it. Just something very simple. A place where we could remember Matthew."

Rose Marie Berger, an associate editor of Sojourners, is a Catholic peace activist and poet. For more on this story, please visit www.sojo.net and www.wtcfamiliesforproperburial.com.

At the Hour of Our Death. by Rose Marie Berger. Sojourners Magazine, February 2008 (Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 27-31). Features.