Law enforcement/first responder perspective:
Montgomery County Sheriff David Charles, then a Det./Sgt. with the Mt. Sterling Police Dept., was at home getting ready for an upcoming court appearance when he saw on television the events of Sept. 11, 2001, that would transform our nation.
When he saw the first plane strike the World Trade Center he thought it was an accident. When the second plane hit the other tower and another struck the Pentagon he knew it was instead an act of terrorism.
The Advocate is being published this week on Sept. 11, the 24th anniversary of those tragic events that would spawn the Global War on Terror and reshape how law enforcement and emergency services do their jobs.
Both entities now regularly train for mass casualty events.
Law enforcement would take on the additional role as intelligence gatherers and fire and EMS would get a boost in manpower and alter how they respond to bombings.
What it has also done, all agree, is bring them closer together.
Charles said local, state and federal authorities now collaborate as never before to share information and support one another.
“We’ve been tasked to be intel gatherers and it has changed our footing from just being law enforcement or being responders in ways you never would have imagined in the past,” Charles said.
“It brought agencies together. ... When this happened it increased cooperation between agencies to a level that it has never been before,” he added.
Charles said he was moved by images of first responders and others risking their lives to save people at the towers and Pentagon, as well as the bravery of the passengers who rushed the cockpit to take on terrorists on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania.
He said law enforcement became more vigilant, contingency plan better and are more apt to help other agencies in need.
“From that tragedy we’ve learned a lot of lessons and from those lessons there has been benefits for law enforcement and our communities,” he said. “9/11 erased a lot of imaginary boundaries. It has increased cooperation between all agencies.”
Charles, who went on to serve as police chief and now sheriff, said 9/11 also reinforced in him what a caring and compassionate country and community we have.
“It was reassuring about our country,” Charles said. “In a time of crisis we come together and our community is an example of that. ... We’re just a microcosm of this great country.”
Greg Beam was on his regular shift at Station 1 in Winchester when firefighters saw reports of the first plane hitting the towers.
Like Charles and many others, Beam initially thought it was an accident. Subsequent events convinced him it was terrorism.
“America stayed glued to the TV,” Beam recalled. “We didn’t move.”
Beam, a lieutenant with the Winchester Fire Dept. at the time, said he immediately ordered flags flown at half mast.
Part of it was patriotism for our country and part it was out of respect for the firefighters and others who lost their lives to save those trapped in the towers.
Inspired by the events of 9/11, Beam said governments gave fire dept.’s more resources with which to do their jobs.
He said the public also approached firefighters more to show their appreciation.
Beam would advance to major over training and investigations with Winchester Fire before he retired.
In the years since 9/11, he said firefighters have been trained to keep their trucks moving rather than stationary during bombing events because of the strong risk of a secondary device.
After a brief stint as a court bailiff, Beam returned to working with first responders through his current role as Emergency Management Director in Montgomery County.
Police Chief Aaron Noel was just 21 at the time. He was working retail loss prevention at JC Penney in the Florence Mall.
He said it occurred before his law enforcement career began, which has now spanned 22 years. He served as detective, sergeant and lieutenant before recently stepping into the role as the city’s police chief.
“That day, like many other Americans remember, is one that is etched in our minds forever,” Noel told the Advocate. “I do remember watching all those heroes from the police, fire and EMS running toward the danger, while thousands were running away.
“Watching that just solidified my desire to get into law enforcement and help others,” he added. “I can’t speak for how law enforcement practices have changed since that day, I only know how it’s been after. I know we are more vigilant and encouraging of our communities to call in suspicious behavior and actions.”
Noel said he has seen the impact of the events on how law enforcement trains.
“When I attended the police academy, they had started mandatory Homeland Security training, which was never offered prior to 9/11,” he said. “This gave officers the resources to identify potential terrorist attacks and prepare a managed response. Like everyone else who witnessed that day of tragedy and heroism, we will never forget those who gave their lives for others.”
Fire Chief Mike Mosbey was out of the office on vacation at the time this article was written.
Mayor, a retired marine, and judge-executive, a retired police officer, share thoughts on trajic events that unfolded that day
By Tom Marshall
Senior Advocate writer
Mt. Sterling Mayor Al Botts, a retired U.S. Marine who served during the Global War on Terror, and Judge-Executive Chris Haddix, a retired police officer, took time to reflect with the Advocate on their 9/11 experiences this week.
The Advocate is being published Sept. 11, 2025, the 24th anniversary of the tragic events that brought the nation closer.
Botts said he was the chief instructor of the United States Marine Corps Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense School at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., on Sept. 11, 2001.
“I was out with a platoon of young Marines conducting a physical training test when we received word of the attacks,” Botts said. “I knew immediately that the attack would trigger a military response from America, and our staff used this as a point of emphasis in all of our training from that day forward.
“When America is attacked, we will respond, and we must all be ready to carry out those military responses at a moment’s notice when called upon,” he added. “We continued to train as scheduled through that day, but I did arrange for all of those Marines to phone home that day to check on their families and to re-assure their families that they were OK.”
Botts noted a few Marines from the New York/New Jersey areas had difficulties reaching family due to the communication breakdowns in some spots.
“As I look back on that day, I remember one thing vividly, and that was the quiet professionalism of staff and students,” Botts said. “Although the day was a terrible day for our country, everyone remained focused and committed to the tasks at hand.”
Botts said the attacks galvanized the nation.
“America did indeed come together after 9/11. I know that throughout the ranks of the Marine Corps, there was a feeling then that we all wanted to be a part of the coming actions to pay those back who were responsible for attacking our country and for killing innocent citizens,” Botts said. “After 9/11, I was deployed overseas on four separate deployments (2004, 2006, 2007 and 2009) supporting the War on Terror. I wouldn’t trade one day of those experiences for anything.
“I am honored to have been able to serve our great nation in uniform, and I am fortunate that I had the opportunity to serve where I was needed,” he said. “I’m also fortunate that I got to serve with some of the best men and women that America produces. I’ll forever love every one of them. Unfortunately, the American public seems to have forgotten that time when we came together to rally around each other, our country and our flag,” Botts added.
He said Americans need to remember how the nation came together in response to the attacks.
“I am disheartened to see many people today put their political parties and agendas before their country, their community and their neighbors,” the mayor told the Advocate. “We are more divided today than at any point in my lifetime, and our political divisions seem to become worse by the day. We are in a bad place right now, and as long as people keep attacking their neighbors over politics, we are going to continue to struggle as a society. I pray that America never has to relive a hellish day like 9/11 ever again.
“I do appreciate that those of us who were around then can remember a time when we as a society rallied around each other and were kinder to our neighbors,” he added. “We are blessed to be Americans, and some people have lost sight of that. If we can pay tribute to all of those who lost their lives that day, and in the military conflicts to follow, it would be to honor them through love. We must lift each other up and start treating each other with some dignity and respect before it is too late,” the mayor stressed.
Haddix said what unfolded on 9/11 will forever be ingrained in memory. He was a patrolman at the time, and went on to become a sergeant and detective for the Mt. Sterling Police Dept. Upon retirement from there, he served as a local School Resource Officer.
“My dad used to tell me as a kid that there will be days and dates in your life that you will always remember where you were at and what you were doing when you heard the news,” Haddix said. “Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, was one of those days.
“I was a patrolman with the Mt. Sterling Police Dept.,” Haddix remembered. “I was working day shift with my partner, Paul Headley. We had stopped at Burger King to grab breakfast. I remember watching the television while we were eating and seeing the smoke coming out of the first tower. I was in disbelief that a pilot could be that careless, I could not figure out how this could happen.”
Then the situation went from bad to worse, he recalls.
“A few seconds later on live TV, I saw the second plane drop down in the screen and strike the second tower,” Haddix said. “It was so unbelievable to me that someone would get on a plane and intentionally crash it into a building, that I asked Paul if that was a rerun. Then I thought it is not a rerun because the first building already had smoke rising from it. That was the most outward display of evil that I had seen to that point in my life.”
Like the rest of the nation, Haddix and the entire dept. were transfixed by the images.
“Everyone at the police dept. spent the next few hours watching reports of two more planes that had been hijacked crash, both towers falling and injured people being pulled from the burning Pentagon,” Haddix said. “It did not take long to realize that our lives had changed that morning and nothing would ever be the same.
“As individuals and as a country we lost our innocence that day because we became very aware that there are people out there that hate America and Americans enough that they would die just to kill us in an attempt to destroy this great nation,” he added.
Haddix said the experience changed his perspective.
“After this happened I started to appreciate the little things in life that I had always taken for granted,” Haddix said. “Talking with friends and family meant more, everyone was leaning on each other for understanding.
“One of the hardest things for me to get used to was, the lack of air traffic,” he said. “No planes in the air for months. I would look up at the sky everyday trying to see one plane so that some sort of normalcy would come back.”
Back at the PD, life changed as well, he said.
“We received hundreds of suspicious package complaints for months because everyone was scared. Everyone had a right to be afraid because we witnessed four airplanes crash and 3,000 people die in one morning.
“But through all the emotions that we were all experiencing, we found hope and strength in each other,” he added. “We became united, we all had a common bond at that point in our history for the simple fact that we were Americans,” the now judge-executive concluded.
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