THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE RESOLUTION

INTRODUCED BY SANTARSIERO, METZGAR, BAKER, BARRAR, BOBACK, B. BOYLE, K. BOYLE, BRADFORD, BRENNAN, BRIGGS, V. BROWN, CALTAGIRONE, CAUSER, COHEN, CUTLER, DALEY, DAVIS, DELOZIER, DiGIROLAMO, DONATUCCI, ELLIS, EMRICK, EVERETT, FABRIZIO, FLECK, FREEMAN, GABLER, GEIST, GEORGE, GIBBONS, GINGRICH, GOODMAN, HANNA, HARHAI, HELM, HENNESSEY, KAUFFMAN, M. K. KELLER, W. KELLER, KORTZ, KULA, LONGIETTI, MAHER, MAJOR, MANN, MARSHALL, MICOZZIE, MILLARD, MIRABITO, MOUL, MURPHY, MURT, MUSTIO, OBERLANDER, O'NEILL, PASHINSKI, PAYTON, QUINN, RAVENSTAHL, READSHAW, REICHLEY, ROCK, SAINATO, SANTONI, SAYLOR, K. SMITH, M. SMITH, SONNEY, STABACK, STEVENSON, SWANGER, TAYLOR, TOOHIL, VEREB, YOUNGBLOOD AND DAVIDSON, MAY 23, 2011

INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35, MAY 23, 2011  

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Commending the completion of the September 11th National

Memorial Trail and urging all Pennsylvanians to remember

those victims who lost their lives on that fateful day.

WHEREAS, September 11, 2001, was a day Americans will forever

remember because of the terrorist attacks that claimed nearly

3,000 lives at New York City's World Trade Center Ground Zero

site, the Pentagon in Virginia and the Flight 93 crash site in

Shanksville; and

WHEREAS, The September 11th National Memorial Trail Alliance,

the National Park Service, the Department of Conservation and

Natural Resources, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, the Great

Allegheny Passage, the East Coast Greenway Alliance, the

Appalachian Mountain Club, the Susquehanna Appalachian Trail

Club, the Flight 93 National Memorial Advisory Commission, the

Garden of Reflection, the Pentagon Memorial Fund and other

dedicated volunteers are working together to establish a

1,100‑mile hiking, biking and driving trail to create a physical

linkage between the Flight 93 National Memorial, the World Trade

Center Ground Zero site and the Pentagon and to honor the

American heroes who tragically lost their lives on that fateful

day; and

WHEREAS, The first leg of the September 11th National

Memorial Trail is planned to extend from Virginia along the

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, follow the Potomac River to

Cumberland, Maryland, and then continue along the Great

Allegheny Passage until it connects to the Flight 93 National

Memorial site in Somerset County, which is the nation's official

national memorial dedicated to honoring the courageous actions

of 40 passengers and crew of Flight 93 who, while attempting to

thwart the plan of their terrorist attackers, were killed when

their hijacked plane crashed into a field in rural Somerset

County; and

WHEREAS, The second leg of the September 11th National

Memorial Trail is planned to extend from the Pentagon in

Virginia to the World Trade Center Ground Zero site in New York

City as part of the East Coast Greenway and include the Garden

of Reflection, the Commonwealth's official memorial dedicated to

remember the tragic events that occurred on September 11, 2001,

which is situated in Memorial Park amid the natural beauty and

historic farmland in Lower Makefield Township in Bucks County;

and

WHEREAS, The Garden of Reflection Memorial is a moving

tribute to the 2,973 victims who lost their lives on that

fateful day, including 18 residents of Bucks County, 58 other

residents of this Commonwealth and the 42 Pennsylvania children

who lost a parent in these horrific terrorist attacks; and

WHEREAS, The Garden of Reflection is designed to guide

visitors on a walking journey that leads from sorrowful

reminders of tragedy and grief toward luminous symbols of hope,

peace and celebration of life; and

WHEREAS, The third and final leg of the September 11th

National Memorial Trail is planned to stretch between the Flight

93 National Memorial site in Shanksville to the World Trade

Center Ground Zero site in New York City, thereby culminating in

a connecting trail among all of the noted September 11th sites

never to be broken; therefore be it

RESOLVED (the Senate concurring), That the House of

Representatives commend the September 11th National Memorial

Trail Alliance for the design and completion of the September

11th National Memorial Trail and urge all Pennsylvanians to

visit the Flight 93 Memorial and the Garden of Reflection

Memorial and to remember those victims who lost their lives as

the 10th anniversary of this horrific day approaches.