TodayRendell allows families to choose security for Flight 93 memorial
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Article RatingSHANKSVILLE, Pa. -- The families of Flight 93 victims will choose the security firm that will patrol a temporary memorial at the site of the plane crash on Sept. 11.
Gov. Ed Rendell announced Tuesday that a $120,000 grant would pay for security at the site for two years, apparently ending a dispute between the families and the company that owns the land where the memorial has been set up.
Mike Svonavec, whose company owns 273 acres of the 1,300 acres designated for a permanent memorial, had been paying a firm to provide security at the site since February when federal money ran out. Recently, he put up a donation box to collect money for security, infuriating the families.
After Rendell's announcement, it was unclear whether Bullseye Security, the company Svonavec has said he has been paying $10,000 a month, would continue doing the job.
"We will have no role in choosing the provider," Chuck Ardo, a spokesman for Rendell, told the Somerset Daily American on Thursday.
Patrick White, vice president of the Families of Flight 93, said Bullseye is not on the short list of security firms that both satisfy the families and meet the requirements of the National Park Service.
"We're very pleased to have had such prompt clarification and positive indications from the governor's office," White said. "I'm hopeful we can work to provide the type of security all the landowners can benefit from and that will complement the solemnity of the site."
Bullseye Security is not registered as a licensed private detective firm with the Somerset County's Clerk of Court, an apparent violation of state law. On Thursday, Svonavec said he was not aware of the company's licensing status.
"I've just known the family for a long time," Svonavec told the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat. "They've done an excellent job."
According to the state's private detective act, it is a third-degree misdemeanor to carry out watch, guard or patrol services without a license.
Flight 93 was en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco on Sept. 11, 2001, when four terrorists hijacked it, likely with the goal of crashing into the White House or the Capitol. The plane crashed as passengers apparently tried rushing the cockpit. All 33 passengers, seven crew members and the hijackers died.
A temporary memorial has been erected. Construction of a $58 million permanent memorial and national park is scheduled to begin by 2009, but fundraising has fallen well short of organizers' goals.
