Pupils, residents angry, frightened, confused

Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 | 7:01 a.m.

"There is no reason not to have school," said Washoe County schools spokesman Steve Mulvenon. "That would leave thousands of children at home alone whose parents have already left for work."

In Elko County, Superintendent Allen Brown said the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and at the Pentagon came too late to cancel classes, although after-school activities and Tuesday night's school board meeting were canceled.

"We don't need to be conducting government business when people need to be home with their families," he said.

At Billinghurst Middle School in Reno, teachers put aside the day's lesson plans, turned on televisions and let the discussions flow.

The class was disappointed that a visit by three helicopters for an aerospace field day on the Billinghurst playground was canceled because of the airborne attacks.

The annual event was to have featured a Navy medical helicopter from Fallon Naval Air Station, a Navy search and rescue helicopter and the Washoe County Sheriff's helicopter - all grounded by the FAA's national directive.

But pupils were more concerned about the terrorism.

"It makes me sick to my stomach that people can kill people they don't even know who never did anything to them," said Courtney Hollaway, 13, an eighth-grader.

"Whoever did this really must have no feelings," said Ann Clemmitt, also a 13-year-old eighth-grader.

The news hit Woody McDowell, 18, harder than some when he arrived at Wooster High School

McDowell, who has just joined the National Guard, said he is fearful that he will be involved in future hostilities. "I don't want to go," he told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

University of Nevada, Reno sophomore Devin Stuart, 19, said that while there were classes as usual, there was a different air on campus.

"This is Pearl Harbor No. 2. The U.S. is under attack. It doesn't sound right. It's hard to believe."

UNR gambling instructor Sue Johnson said, "We all remember where we were the day JFK was shot. This will have the same importance. You will know where you were and what you did this day."

Like countless other people in Nevada, Sands Regency Casino and Hotel President and chief executive officer Ferenc Szony had a loved one in New York whom he was relieved to hear was safe this morning: His 76-year-old mother, Joan Szony.

She lives on New York's Upper East Side near Central Park, where she was watching the "amazing" scene of people walking the streets.

"Because traffic is now restricted to just emergency vehicles, she said everybody's just walking, Ferenc Szony said.

Steven Hayes, chairman of UNR's psychology department, said he worries about the affect on the national psyche.

This is the terrorist version of Pearl Harbor," he said. "I hope we hold our fire until we learn what really happened. I hope were not pulling Arab taxi drivers out of cabs and beating them up."

Reno police said there had been isolated reports of threats, but no violence.

The Northern Nevada Muslim Community condemned the attacks and invited people of all faiths to join in prayer services Tuesday evening at the mosque.

The International Church of Las Vegas also planned a prayer vigil, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas scheduled a candlelight vigil on campus.