Santa Barbara County is hosting a ceremony at the Santa Barbara Courthouse Sunken Garden on Friday to remember the people who died in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.
The ceremony will commemorate the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001 when hijacked planes hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The event will be hosted by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, the Santa Barbara Police Department and the Santa Barbara Fire Department.
It starts at 9 a.m. on Friday, and the public is invited to attend the remembrance ceremony to honor the nearly 3,000 people who died. Fire stations around the county will also lower their flags to half staff throughout the day.
The News-Press interviewed some Santa Barbara residents to get their views on the terrorist attacks 25 years later.
Blair Looker, 80, from Santa Barbara remembers her stepson Seth Peacock leaving Ojai to join first responders in New York.
Peacock was part of a rescue team during 9/11 for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA.
He was accompanied by a rescue dog named Pup through the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation to help find people trapped in the wreckage.
Juan Mendez, a barber at Santa Barbara Barbers, watched the planes crash into the towers on live television.
Mendez has been cutting hair for 25 years. He remembered airport security tightening up after 9/11 and the addition of TSA at airports.
“I just felt sad for all the people,” Mendez said. “Everyone ended up paying for it one way or another.”
Over on East Haley Street, Dori Cajas remembered keeping her 5-year-old daughter at home that day from school.
“I wanted to spend the time with my daughter,” Cajas said. “In case any more attacks were planned.”
Cajas works at the chocolate shop twenty-four blackbirds. She was born and raised in Santa Barbara, but lived in San Luis Obispo working as a kindergarten teacher during the time of the attack.
She was in disbelief of all the stories she read about first responders at the site, but gained a new found respect for their work after the 9/11 attack.
Cajas hopes that Santa Barbara County will continue to honor first responders and the people who died on 9/11 every year.
“I hope we always do that,” Cajas said. “We should never forget it.”
