The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 04, 2004, Page 4, Image 4
Statue of Liberty reopens to visitors
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sean Yun, a U.S. Swat Team Park Police officer stands guard
outside the Statue of Liberty on New York’s Liberty Island
Tuesday, the first day since September 11, 2001 that tourists
are allowed Inside the statue.
BY VERENA DOBNIK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NEW YORK - The Statue of
Liberty, hailed once again as “a
beacon of hope,” welcomed
tourists inside on Tuesday for the
first time since the Sept. 11 at
tacks, with hundreds of visitors
returning despite warnings of ter
rorist threats.
In an hour-long reopening cere
mony, Mayor Michael Bloomberg
urged Americans to visit the statue
and demonstrate that the country
would never be “coerced into aban
doning any symbol of America.”
Free tickets were quickly
snapped up for the first trips back
inside, with some disappointed
visitors left out in the summer
heat.
“It’s pretty awesome. It’s a priv
ilege to be here,” said Dennis
Wallace of Sheldon, Iowa, who
drove 21 hours with his girlfriend
and five children to visit the stat
ue. “The announcement of the or
ange alert will not stop us.”
Visitors found tightened secu
rity measures at the 117-year-old
national monument, including a
new anti-bomb detection device
that blasts air into clothing and
then checks for particles of explo
sive residue.
Tourists now can go only as
high as the statue’s feet, where
they can gaze up through a glass
partition at the steel girders brae
mg the landmark’s hollow interi
or. That was good enough for two
of the first guests allowed in,
Eddie Nataska, 12, of Waldorf,
Md„ and his grandfather, Ralph.
“It made me feel more
American because I understood
why the Statue of Liberty is here,”
Eddie said after touring the stat
ue. “She lights the way for
America.”
The reopening of the pedestal
to the public went ahead despite
new warnings over the weekend
of possible terrorist attacks on fi
nancial centers in Manhattan,
Newark, N.J., and Washington.
“I’m not afraid,” said Lt. Dario
Coleanni, 26, an Italian army offi
cer. He and a friend said they paid
a scalper $20 a pop for the normal
ly free tickets to get inside.
“It’s my first time in the U.S.,”
he explained. “I’m interested in
seeing what’s important in
America: the Statue of Liberty.”
The 152-foot robed female fig
ure with spiky crown and up
raised torch has stooias the most
familiar symbol of America since
its arrival in New York Harbor,
welcoming millions of immigrants
at nearby Ellis Island.
The statue and Liberty Island
were closed after Sept. 11; al
though the island reopened to the
public two months later, the stat
ue remained off-limits.
At the reopening ceremony,
Bloomberg was joined by Gov.
George Pataki, Interior Secretary
Gale Norton and CNN anchor
Aaron Brown.
“This beacon of hope and liber
ty is once again open to the pub
lic, sending a reassuring message
to the world that freedom is alive
in New York and shining brighter
than ever before,” Pataki said.
The ceremony began with a
military choir performing before a
color guard carried the American
flag to the podium. Musical per
formances included a rendition of
George M. Cohan’s “It’s a Grand
Old Flag” before the crowd rose
for the national anthem.
“Whether this is your first visit
or one of many, I know this will be
a memorable one,” site superin
tendent Cynthia Garrett told the
visitors.
A museum inside the statue’s
pedestal relates the site’s history,
from its 1886 dedication as a gift
from France to its rededication af
ter a major overhaul a century lat
er. An alternative tour allows vis
itors to stroll the promenade atop
the star-shaped former fort on
which the statue and its pedestal
rise some 30 stories above the har
bor.
The tours cost $10 a head for
adults and $4 for children.
Officials were hoping the re
laxed restriction might bring back
tourists to Liberty Island. Visits
fell off 45 percent after the 2001 ter
rorist attack, from 4.5 million a
year in 2002 to 2.6 million in 2002.
The statue, made of hammered
copper the thickness of two pen
nies, was closed in 1937 for a year
of renovations and underwent an
other major refurbishing for its
centennial in 1986.
On Sept. 11,2001, the second of
two terrorist-hijacked jetliners
skimmed low over the statue just
seconds before it crashed into the
World Trade Center’s south tower.
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