Friday, May 2, 2008

Flight 93 Families Upset by Continuing Controversy

Flight 93 families who are working on a memorial say they want to move beyond a controversy over its design. Tom Burnett, the father of one man who died on Flight 93, says the memorial includes an Islamic symbol: a red crescent. Renderings show red maple trees partly outlining a bowl-shaped piece of land at the crash site. The design has since been modified; rather than a "crescent of embrace," it's now called a "circle of embrace." But most Flight 93 family members who participated in the design competition say the criticisms from Burnett are baseless. They say they've consulted religious and design experts who have supported their decision to move ahead with the memorial as planned.

The Flight 93 Memorial Task Force is closing today on close to 1000 acres of land for the project. That's about 75% of the land needed for the memorial.

Tomorrow, the task force will hold a joint meeting with a federal advisory commission. There, they'll provide an update on fundraising for the memorial.

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