Gwinnett honors victims of Sept. 11 attack

Lynn West clutched a coffee cup Thursday morning as she watched the honor guards pass, a flash of color against the steel gray sky and its unbroken blanket of clouds.

She was observing the Sept. 11 commemoration ceremony at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center in Lawrenceville as a prelude to the Ride to Remember motorcade, which would take dozens of motorcycling patriots south along I-75 to the state Georgia Public Safety Memorial in Forsyth.

“I’m just patriotic,” said West, in explaining why she came.

The ominous rain clouds didn’t deter about 100 others from her joining at precisely 9:55 a.m., when the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed into rubble.

Before prayers were offered up and solemn remarks were delivered, John Athens, a member of the Red Knights motorcycle club, noted with regret that the crowd of attendees had dwindled over the years.

“The weather may be bad out today, but we still do our jobs, so we can still remember,” Athens said, surveying the crowd. “Too many have forgotten.”

Brent Hoovenstol, a retired Gwinnett County fire leiutenant who organized the subsequent motorcade, said he still gets misty-eyed when reading the names of his fallen brethren of the New York City Fire Department. He said it’s important to honor those who made the “ultimate sacrifice.”

“If our patriotism is stirred, that makes our country strong,” Hoovenstol said. “It nullifies the devastation.”