Bettendorf Rotary sets October 1st deadline for grant requests from community

SPRINGFIELD, IL (09/07/2011)(readMedia)

Editors Note; What follows is Sgt. Charlie Helmholt's First Person Account of His Experience Responding to the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. Helmholt is an Illinois National Guard Soldier from Belleville Assigned to the 139th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

REFLECTION

Every generation in this country has one of those days. The day you'll always remember where you were, or what you were doing. Some of them are our nation's greatest achievements like man's first walk on the moon, and some are catastrophes like the attack on Pearl Harbor, or JFK's assassination. These days are destined for more than just pages or paragraphs in history books, they change the very fabric of what it means to be a citizen of this country.

September 11, 2001. When someone says the date we all feel it. Maybe for some that feeling is still anger, or perhaps pain or sorrow. But undoubtedly we all share the commonality of the sight of planes crashing into buildings, or seeing a charred spot in a Pennsylvanian field.

While I remember those things, for me, it really isn't any images I saw on television that I think of when someone mentions the date. When I think about that day I think mostly of the smoke, the flag and the shoe.

THE SMOKE

I was serving in the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Division The Old Guard, the Army's Honor Guard, a high standard ceremonial unit used as the presidents official military escort as well as various tasks in and around Arlington National Cemetery. The Honor Guard is split between Ft. McNair, in Washington D.C., and Ft. Myer, Va., both within eyesight of the Pentagon.

I belonged to A Company, which is housed at Ft. McNair, a beautiful little peninsular base of D.C. It is surrounded by the Potomac River and is preceded by the iconic tidal basin seen laden with cherry trees and blossoms in so many photos during the spring.

That morning we took a bus across the I-395 bridge over the Potomac, to Ft. Myer in Virginia, just a few miles away.

We were in a giant building nicknamed C-hall when the crash happened, and we were close enough to hear the impact. Everyone ran outside at once, around the building, and everyone froze. The Pentagon, our countries symbolic building of military strength was alive spewing gigantic plumes of black smoke into the air.

The Pentagon is such an imposing building; it employs more than 23,000 people. It was a surreal sight. I remember the confusion, fear and anger as we loaded the bus to get back across the water.

We were stopped on the bridge going back into D.C., so we got off and ran roughly a mile-and-a-half down the tidal basin along the water that led back to Ft. McNair. We all sprinted. Each one of us silent. All the while the Pentagon bled out dark smoke just over our shoulders at only a glance away, there across the river.

THE SHOE

After securing our fort in D.C. we were loaded onto trucks and taken to the Pentagon. We had been told that since most members of our unit had security clearances we would be needed to augment the search and rescue mission inside the building.

We were briefed by firefighters on what we could expect to see; instructions were given by military brass on what we could never discuss, and we were sworn to secrecy on any sensitive material the floors or broken cabinets inside might share with us.

We were put in suits, full white garbage bag-like suits and given a civilian 3m-type gas mask. We walked under the slab of roof that hung down in front of the hole for the first time, and when we did, I could have never been prepared for what I saw.

When I describe it, I always tell people to imagine a bomb going off in a junkyard, but that's not near enough disaster. It was sheer chaos. I think before we arrived everyone hoped to be the one to find someone alive and bring them out, but when you walked in that first time all those hopes were shattered, no one could have been alive inside.

Huge support columns had to be reinforced, and in some cases built anew to keep the weight of the damaged building from collapsing. Then the arduous task of sifting through debris, separating biological remains from a jungle of twisted metal began. Many more red biohazard bags for body parts were filled than body bags with intact bodies.

There were moments during this time some of us would come together to weep during the days and weeks that followed. One memory in particular sticks with me. Just the thought of a friend fighting back tears, holding up the shoe of a young boy ,almost certainly a passenger on the plane that tore through the building just a day or two before.

THE FLAG

If I remember correctly we worked six-hour shifts around the clock for the first two weeks or so. We even slept there, on site in tents. Most of the work was hard labor moving bomb proof filing cabinets that were twisted and torn to pieces or making sense of countless office décor strewn together, mixed in with all the rest.

Then a different kind of memory jumps in my mind; I remember getting to leave for something after a few weeks, and there were people on some of the overpasses holding huge American flags over the interstates during weird times of the day. Early, like Army early when people should be sleeping or getting ready for their day.

People were coming together in a way which I'd never seen in my lifetime or have since. People volunteered to help, counselors gave us free sessions, masseuses gave massages and phone companies set up lines to call whomever for free.

In fact, what I feel most about that day is pride. Of course I'm not proud of what happened, but when I saw the huge flags over the interstate and the even bigger one on the Pentagon itself, it filled me with pride to see us come together to help one another.

I was proud to be a Soldier, in a team of Soldiers, firefighters, police or volunteers who went into wounded buildings with the sole intent to help someone they had never met only because those people live under a common flag. Some would never make it back out.

For all of our country's faults, it is still the greatest country in the world, not just because we say it is, but because we can face such hardship and prevail all the stronger. And that's what I mean when I say I remember the flag, not the colors or fabric, but the symbolism behind it. It is the representation of everyone who died that fate-filled day in September and all the days before. It's pride in men who, guessing their fate, charged the plane's cockpit, choosing to sacrifice themselves rather than be used. Its pride in the ones left behind who are strong enough to hold up our flag so that this land and the entire world will know that we will never forget and we will always prevail.

For more information, please contact the Illinois National Guard Public Affairs Office at 217-761-3569 or at ngilstaffpao@ng.army.mil.

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HAYS, KAN. (09/07/2011)(readMedia)-- Nancy Marie O'Rourke, Bettendorf, Iowa, has graduated from Fort Hays State University with a Master of Science in Education, reading specialist.

O'Rourke is one of 102 students who completed master's or education specialist degrees in the summer 2011 semester. Degrees were announced by Dr. Tim Crowley, dean of FHSU's Graduate School.

The student's home ZIP is 52722. The ZIP code is included for the convenience of those papers that use it as a guide to placement.

Fort Hays State University's announcement of degrees includes only graduates whose transcripts and records have been verified as meeting all requirements for the degrees listed. FHSU does not release the list until all the graduates have been verified, a process that takes two to three weeks after the end of the semester.

FHSU, a state supported institution with an enrollment of about 12,000, is one of six universities in the Kansas Board of Regents system.

Hi, I wanted to let you know about a movie we're working on.  The film is called "The Guitar Player".  The story is about a homeless street performer who gets a second chance in life but struggles with his painful past.  It seems only fitting that a film about someone who is homeless in a bad economy, will be funded by the public.  That is the intention of the filmmaker Michael Stein.  He has created an elaborate fund raising campaign to finance the film and intends on giving half his profits to homeless causes.  In this day and age where film companies are taking what they can get, it seems like a grand gesture.

The film scheduled to be shot January 9th in Los Angeles.  Due to the content and the film's cause many contributions have been made but the production still lacks liquid funds, so the filmmakers decided to raise funds publicly.

The Guitar Player is based on a fictional character named Robert Shiller (a.k.a "Robert Shiller The Killer") a seventeen year old champion high school wrestler in a small town in Northern California. One week before the state championship, Robert accidentally killed his best friend and team mate, during practice. The loss of his friend and the social stigma in a small town was more than he could bear, so he ran away from home, grabbing only what he could fit in his wresting bag and his best friend's guitar even though he did not know how to play.  Our story begins twenty years later with Robert living on the streets.  The screenplay was written by the director Michael Stein.

Stein has a knack for making lower budget films with a larger budget look and feel.  His last film, "Love Hollywood Style" starred Faye Dunaway, Andy Dick, Coolio and Stephen Tobolowsky and has become a cult comedy classic.  Stein's, first role came when he was cast by his friend Paul Thomas Anderson to play the lead role of Dirk Diggler in the original short film "The Dirk Diggler Story", that later became the feature film "Boogie Nights" which Michael Appears in as well.

"Getting funding has always been a struggle", Stein says.  "The past several years in Hollywood have seen a major change."  "They are not handing out movie deals like hotcakes the way they use to in the 90s."  It's been four years since Stein made his last film.  The problem was self funding a film in a bad economy along with the obligations of supporting his family.  He knew about crowd funding websites like kickstarter.com but did not feel that any of his scripts would go well with a crowd funding concept.  He then came up with an idea that he felt would be with the right vehicle.  A film that would be funded 100% by the public about someone who is homeless and the earnings of the film benefiting homeless causes.

The film's production is contingent upon the funds being raised.  The film's kickstarter campaign also has a high concept.  One of the packages, a thirty five hundred dollar pledge allows businesses to promote their products at each of the premieres, which will be in several major cities, including L.A. and New York.  Another package, a ten thousand dollar pledge includes "An Event for a Day" where one thousand tarps will be donated to a local homeless shelter and a screening in a movie theater in the city of your choice, all being promoted in honor of the pledge contributor.  There are many other elaborate incentives built around the premieres and promotion of the film.  Tricks of the trade Stein learned working with Peter Guber and John Peters on movie promotions when he was a twenty years old nightclub promoter.

The minimal funding goal for the film was set at one hundred and fifty thousand.  A typical low amount is always set for projects on kickstarter due to their "all of nothing" policy.  Stein and the Line Producer Aimee Flaherty hope to break the kickstarter's funding record for a film, which is approximately half a million.  Once funding is in place, Stein hopes to sell the film to one of the larger film companies and donate fifty percent of his profits to the homeless.

The fund raising campaign is being held for fifty days and expires on October 21st.  Tarp drives will be held in 14 cities around the country in order to bring more awareness to the project.  The tarp drives consist of one thousand tarps will be handed out at homeless shelters for people that are living on the streets.

If you are interested in learning more about the film or how you can help, you can visit the website at: www.theguitarplayermovie.com or contact me directly at 310-281-6946.  We need all the exposure we can get! Thanks.