I-beam from World Trade Center to be unveiled Sept. 11 at City Hall

Carson City will remember those who died on 9/11 with a memorial service at Mills Park next month and a dedication ceremony at City Hall for the I-beam that the city received from the New Jersey Port Authority.

A twisted 1,600-pound I-beam from the demolished World Trade Center arrived in Carson City in June.

The beam eventually will be used to create the Carson City World Trade Center Memorial, said Jim Shirk, a member of the Carson City Cultural Commission who coordinated the acquisition. In the meantime, a temporary site will be set up at City Hall.

It is intended "as a respectful public exhibit of an artifact from 9/11, which will serve as an educational forum dedicated to preserving the memory of those whose lives were lost" that day in 2001, Shirk said.

The first phase of the day's events will kick off at 10:30 a.m. Sept. 11 at the Pony Express Pavilion in Mills Park with a ceremony, "Patriot Day - A 9/11 Remembrance," sponsored by Capital Baptist Church, said organizer Shirley Harris.

"We are so excited about this event," Harris said. "We were all affected by that day in one way or another, and we wanted to do something for the community."

The 1-1/2-hour event is free and open to the public. It will feature several musical presentations, a color guard, remarks from a number of officials and a keynote speaker, Col. Mark Harris, M.D., who will travel from Washington, D.C., for the occasion.

Col. Harris is a senior physician liaison between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Army surgeon general.

"Our slant is toward the military, and we are inviting as many local military and veterans' organizations as we can find addresses for," Harris said.

Said the church's pastor, Lance Hale: "The church plans to honor former and current military personnel, police, fire, paramedics and other service personnel who serve our community and our country."

The I-beam will be available unveiled during the dedication ceremony on the north side of City Hall on Proctor Street.

Representatives from the Carson City Fire and Sheriff's departments, as well as Reno Iron Workers Local 118 will be involved in the dedication, which will start at 1 p.m. Speakers will include the mayor, sheriff and fire chief. Gov. Brian Sandoval also has been invited to speak, Shirk said.

"This is only a temporary site," he said. "We want to have the public involved in designing the memorial. We don't want to take away from the public's right to get involved in this - it's their heritage. I pushed for having a temporary memorial in time for Sept. 11, but we want the public involved in the permanent memorial."

A permanent site has not yet been selected. A plaque will be temporarily mounted to the beam which will read: "This beam, recovered from the rubble of the World Trade Center, is dedicated to the memory of those who perished in the attacks on September 11, 2001. Dedicated on this National Day of Service September 11, 2011.

Shirk said he is grateful to a number of people who have helped make the temporary exhibit possible. Keith Shaffer of Peak Consulting Engineers is designing it, Award Zone is providing a plaque, Radtke Tile & Marble is supplying the granite, and a number of city employees have also been involved in the project.

For more information about the Patriot Day ceremony, call Harris at 883-7475 or Hale at Capital Baptist Church at 885-0880. For more information about the I-beam dedication, call Shirk at 720-5761.