Community Corner

9/11 Survivors Visit Murrieta to Oppose Temecula Mosque; Share Documentary

A former New York City firefighter and a New York construction worker are promoting the documentary "Sacrificed Survivors: The Untold Story of the Ground Zero Mega-Mosque."

Retired New York City Firefighter Tim Brown lost 93 friends on 9/11.

"Two of them were my best friends," Brown said. "And they are still dying. At least once a week, another fireman or police officer dies."

Brown, who was in Murrieta Friday to help promote the documentary, "Sacrificed Survivors: The Untold Story of the Ground Zero Mega-Mosque," was working at Seven World Trade Center in Mayor Giuliani's Office of Emergency Management on 9/11. His job thrust him into the middle of the disaster that claimed more than 3,000 lives. When the second plane hit, he describes being shocked he lived through it.

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He is now living with two spots on his lungs as a result of breathing in the Ground Zero fumes. Doctors are monitoring his spots in the event they become cancerous--as has been the case with many other 9/11 first responders.

"I intend to live what will probably be a shorter life but I intend to be productive and fight the evil that is forcing itself on America," Brown said.

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Murrieta firefighters were invited to a meet-and-greet Friday with Brown and Andy Sullivan, a construction worker who was working across the street from the World Trader Center on 9/11.

Murrieta firefighter Rob Godinho said he wouldn't have missed the chance to meet them.

"These people are true, red, white and blue-hearted Americans," Godinho said.

Even though Godinho was working here on the west coast during 9/11, he said he felt the loss of the firefighters that day. "Any firefighter that passes on, it is huge for us. We are tight-knit, all across the country."

According to Godinho, five members of Murrieta Fire Department's Urban Search and Rescue Team went to work at Ground Zero and a few others went on their own.

The group was invited by the Murrieta-Temecula Republican Club to share their personal testimonies and as part of that met with first responders. But Brown and Sullivan, who were joined by anti-Islam activist Jarrad Winter, didn't just come to visit. They had an agenda for stopping in the Temecula Valley.  Later, the documentary would be shown, with the public invited.

Sullivan, who founded the 9/11 Hard Hat Pledge, is encouraging union workers in New York and throughout the U.S. not to accept work on Islamic mosques. More than 100,000 people nationwide have taken the Hard Hat Pledge.

"What is happening here in Temecula is going to be happening in Chicago, in Tennessee and in Florida. This is an all out campaign. That is why I'm here," Sullivan said, referencing the plans to build a 25,000 square-foot mosque in Temecula.

"The Ground Zero Mosque is not just a local issue, but represents a growing trend in Islamic influence creeping its way into American tradition and in some cases--law...the amount of parallels that exist with the Temecula mosque are vast and implementing the same battle plan to counter it will, I believe, successfully stop it," Sullivan said.

The documentary was produced by Christian Action Network, with Brown featured in it. As to why he is opposed to the Ground Zero mosque, Brown said it was about the survivors' families. While the film is Christian-backed, and Brown said he has Christian values himself, he said he would have worked with anyone on the film.

"I would work with agnostics, Jewish, Muslims--as long as we are protecting the U.S. Constitution," Brown said.

"It really is the story of the families who were hurt by this. Forget this Sharia stuff; it is just hurtful to the families. The families are virtually 100 percent against this mosque, just for the reason of the insensitivity."

Courtney McNaught was traveling with the group from New York City. She recalled the events of 9/11, when her brother was working on computer servers at the World Trade Center. They couldn't reach him because cell service went out.

"We didn't know if my brother even made it; there is nothing that compares to that feeling," McNaught said.

She shared that life in New York has changed since 9/11. National Guard has a permanent presence, and when motorists want to leave the City, they are checked by guards.

"Every now and then you have a machine gun being tapped on your window. We are constantly dealing with it every day and it will never go away," McNaught said.

She is against the Ground Zero mosques, and Islam in general. According to her, Muslims were celebrating in the streets of Jersey City--just across the Bay--on the day of the attacks.

"I'm sure they celebrate what they have done, but they are looking to do something bigger. This mosque is their victory," McNaught said.

Melanie Oberg, a Hesperia resident, arranged for the film tour to stop in four California cities: Temecula, Corona, Victorville and Bakersfield.

"I always knew 9/11 affected America, but people out here have a whole different story. But this is these (New York) people's story. They still live it every day," Oberg said.

"We didn't just want to do it for our circle of people who agree with us; we wanted to open up the discussion," she said.


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