Community Corner
Eagan City Administrator Tom Hedges Reflects on 9/11
Ten years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Hedges remarked our country is not exempt from attack.
“I can't remember whether I called him or he called me,” Debbie Hedges said. “I had been out on a walk with neighbor ladies and didn't have the TV on. A neighbor called and told me to turn on the TV; the second tower had just gone.”
Her husband, longtime Eagan City Administrator Tom Hedges, doesn't remember much about that phone call. But he did recall thinking, We don't have any family or close friends in New York...
Like many people, Debbie Hedges called her family and friends. “We wanted to talk right away... to cry about it.”
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When the attack occurred, Tom Hedges was speaking to Eagan's Exchange Club. “It was down at the Blue Cross river front building. I remember we wrapped up and I was in my car at 8:45. There was all this information on WCCO radio, it was very confusing. I realized something had happened.
“And then I walked into City Hall,” Hedges said. It looked deserted at first, he said. “It was like a ghost town... everyone was together watching TV.”
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Awhile later, Debbie Hedges was on her way to drop their dog off at the groomer. “There was a semi tripped over on the freeway, and I thought, 'Oh my goodness, this is the end of the world.'”
Both of the Hedges worried if Eagan would be safe. They remember thinking about the Mall of America as a potential target. Tom thought about the local flight training schools – were terrorists being trained?
Tom Hedges spoke about what has changed as a result of the attack. He can't, of course, share much detail about the post-9/11 security systems and procedures now in place. But he did say that “all over the city, emergency training has been stepped up.” Hedges, along with other Dakota County representatives, has been to Emmetsberg, MD -- where FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security are located -- for advanced training.
As 10th tenth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, Hedges said our country is “not exempt from attack... we are aware of (the vulnerability of) power plants, water supply... there's been a significant impact in how we live our lives. You walk into a football game, go through a metal detector. Armed guards greet you in the U.S. Senate. I don't mind, it makes you feel a little more safe.”
Eagan will sponsor a silent remembrance on Sept. 11. “We’re asking Eagan residents to take a moment to remember these Americans and individuals from more than seventy other countries who perished,” Hedges said.
