AUBURN (NEWS CENTER Maine)--
First responders and members of the public attended a remembrance ceremony for the thousands of victims of September 11th, 2001 at the Auburn Fire Department Tuesday morning.
The American flag was lowered to half-staff and a bell was wrong at 8:46 am marking the moment the first plane hit the world trade center 17 years ago. U.S. Senator for Maine Angus King and Congressman Bruce Poliquin, who represents Maine’s second district, both spoke at the ceremony. Each politician spoke about how 9/11 changed us as a nation, and what we should learn from that day to keep America safe from future attacks.
Poliquin focused on supporting the men and women in uniform. He addressed the contentious current relationship between many communities and the police force that have resulted in protests against those departments.
“We need to always stand up, always, for our police officers, our firefighters, our first responders,” Poliquin said. “There's a time and place for protest, but we should never protest the people who are trying to keep us safe and free.”
The congressman also gave an American flag that flew over Washington, D.C. to Chief Robert Chase of the Auburn Fire Department following his remarks to the crowd.
King chose to explain why America needs to focus on the possibility of more terrorist attacks, but also on their advancement as the country has recently learned of hundreds of alleged cyber-attacks and hacks. He expects the next major attacks to happen online.
“The next Pearl Harbor will be cyber,” said the Senator. “We're the most wired country in the world, and that's a good thing, except that it makes us the most vulnerable country in the world to cyber-attacks.” Kind went on to say that the answer to stopping this kind of threat has to be fully focused effort in every community. “The government needs to be involved, but the private sector needs to be involved.”