BY STEPHEN J. PYTAK (STAFF WRITER spytak@republicanherald.com )
Cherie Schaeffer-Bogotuik, Orwigsburg, is planning to rev up her merlot-colored 2011 Harley-Davidson Street Glide for a special salute to fallen heroes this September.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Schaeffer-Bogotuik said of the Let's Roll Flight 93 Memorial Ride, a motorcycle event to raise funds for the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville. Scheduled for Sept. 10-11, it will mark the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The event is being hosted by the Manufacturer & Business Association, Erie, which is aiming to raise $360,000 by encouraging motorcyclists from across the state to participate.
Organizers met with Schaeffer-Bogotuik, business manager of Schaeffer's Harley-Davidson, Orwigsburg, other representatives of the business and members of The Deer Lake Harley Owners Group at the Pottsville Club on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the project.
The cost to participate is $1,000 per rider, and the association is hoping to have at least 40 to represent the Pottsville area on the ride. The time and location for the launch has not been determined, according to Tracie Black, Erie, the Manufacturer & Business Association's Flight 93 Memorial Ride coordinator.
John Farkas, North Whitehall Township, Berks County, assistant director of the Deer Lake HOG, said he's planning to ride in the event.
"The money's all for a good cause," Farkas said. But he's not sure how many riders will participate, considering the price.
Schaeffer-Bogotuik encouraged community organizations to hold fund drives to host local motorcycle riders who can't afford the $1,000 on their own. Schaeffer's Harley-Davidson is also going to look into possibly starting a fund drive to offer them support, she said.
On 9/11, Flight 93 was scheduled to depart shortly after 8 a.m. from Newark, N.J., en route to San Francisco, Calif. The Boeing 757, with 44 people on board, was delayed on the runway for several minutes before taking off. Less than an hour into the flight, as the plane was nearing Cleveland, Ohio, the plane suddenly and abruptly changed course, heading southeast.
The 40 passengers on board, including Louis "Joey" Nacke II, 42, of New Hope, Bucks County, learned the plane had been hijacked. Terrorists on a suicide mission were planning to target the Capitol. The passengers banded together to stop the plot and the plane crashed in a remote field near Shanksville, Somerset County, according to honorflight93.org.
Within a year after 9/11, Congress passed the Flight 93 National Memorial Act, designating the crash site as a national memorial and appointing the National Park Service as its steward, Black said.
"The Flight 93 National Memorial will be paid for through a combination of public funding and private donations. Local and federal government and the State of Pennsylvania have contributed funds. Neither, actually, can afford the total cost to complete the memorial as planned, not without the help of private contributions," Black said.
It's a $58 million project, according to The Associated Press.
The memorial will be the centerpiece of a large and expansive 2,220-acre park. It will include the "Sacred Ground," which is the site of the crash; a mile-wide "Field of Honor" to include panoramic overlooks; a "Visitor Center;" memorial tree groves; and a sentinel-like "Tower of Voices," an elaborate collection of wind chimes, according to Black.
Four years ago, the Manufacturer & Business Association started The Roar On The Shore, a motorcycle rally fundraiser in Erie.
"When we realized we were coming up on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, and we found out about the memorial and the necessity to raise private funds in order to complete it, we felt compelled to do something," said Tammy Polanski, Erie, director of marketing for the Manufacturer & Business Association.
The participating motorcycle riders will be put in groups of 40 to represent the 40 heroes on Flight 93.
"Currently, there are nine groups of 40 bikes located in eight flight paths - Erie, Meadville/Conneaut Lake, Pittsburgh, Williamsport, Harrisburg, Cranberry Township, Pottsville and Philadelphia. On Sept. 10, 2011, each group will converge at the memorial site in Shanksville," Black said.
Each bike will be issued a memorial flag bearing the name of one of the 40 heroes of Flight 93 that will be attached to their motorcycle during the ride to Shanksville. They also will receive an exclusive patch and T-shirt bearing the official Let's Roll: Flight 93 Memorial Ride design, Black said.
All proceeds raised from the ride will directly benefit the Flight 93 National Memorial Campaign.
To sign up, interested persons can contact Darlene J. Robbins, president of the Northeast PA Manufacturers & Employers Association, Pottsville, at 622-0992.
For further information, visit letsrollride.com or honorflight93.org.
