Town, father can't agree on wording of 9/11 memorial

KENT — Among the 2,604 people who died in the Sept. 11 World Trade Center terror attacks was James Gadiel,  a native of Kent who was working as an assistant trader at Cantor Fitzgerald Securities in the North Tower. He was 23 when he died.

Eight years later, the Board of Selectmen is discussing plans to honor Gadiel’s memory with a plaque at Town Hall.

Unfortunatley, according to  Selectman Bruce Adams,  town officials can’t come to an agreement with Gadiel’s father, Peter, about what the plaque should say.

“He just wants something very simple that wouldn’t be terribly expensive,� Adams said. “The stumbling point is the wording. It is a serious stumble. We just can’t agree with what he wants and what we, as a town, can say OK to. We’re not even close.

“Peter Gadiel is very firm about what he wants on the plaque and he’s understandably very bitter. I agree with the way he feels, but not with what he wants on a plaque in front of Town Hall.�

The selectmen will not reveal what it is that Gadiel wants his son’s plaque to say. But Gadiel, who is the president and a co-founder of the national group 9/11 Families for a Secure America, told The Journal he wants his son’s plaque to read: “James Gadiel, lifelong resident of Kent, killed in the World Trade Center by Muslim terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001.�

“I guess this is all because of political correctness,� Gadiel said in an interview. “[Adams] must find it inappropriate to talk about facts. We talked about putting ‘foreign terrorists’ instead of ‘Muslim terrorists’ because it obscures the truth sufficiently.�

Gadiel said he doesn’t understand why the town is objecting to his proposed wording.

“To obscure the facts does not accomplish anything,� Gadiel said. “So much about 9/11 has been hidden away through government incompetence. This kind of refusal to face the facts is what got us into this situation in the first place and it creates the conditions for another 9/11.�

In the meantime, at a meeting of the selectmen on Sept. 1, Adams said negotiations between the town and Gadiel will continue.

“He was a good kid,� Adams said. “A nice, peace-loving kid. He tragically passed away and deserves recognition.�

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