Some Connecticut families of victims question, some condemn notion

The proposed building near ground zero in New York City that would house a mosque has ignited a national debate on a host of issues, among them religious freedom, constitutional rights and what is morally right.

But for many families of the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks almost nine years ago, the matter is much more simple.

"It's a graveyard," said Marilyn Bullis of Madison. "That's my daughter's grave."

Dianne Bullis Snyder was a flight attendant on the American Airlines plane that crashed into the World Trade Center. Her mother attends a service at a memorial to Snyder on the town green on each anniversary of her death.

"Look at ground zero. We haven't even done anything there, hardly," Bullis said. "It's disgraceful."

She considers building a mosque so close to be a sign of disrespect, pointing out there are already other Muslim places of worship in the area.

"Do they really need this?" she asked. "It's kind of like a slap in the face."

The building proposed two blocks north of the site of the former World Trade Center, called Park51, calls for a multistory tower housing a mosque, a 500-seat auditorium, and a pool, modeled after a community center. The current building on the site used to house a Burlington Coat Factory, but the store closed after Sept. 11, 2001, when it was damaged by the landing gear of one of the planes used in the attacks.

William A. Todd of Norwich lost his daughter Madeline Amy Todd Sweeney, who was a flight attendant on American Airlines Flight 11. An award for heroism is named for Sweeney, who relayed critical information during the hijacking.

"My daughter, I think of her every day. I still do," he said.

"We're Roman Catholic. We appreciate freedom of religion. It's not a question of that," he explained. "It's just I think it's very insensitive that a mosque be erected that close to the scene of ground zero."

James Greenleaf Sr. and his wife Pat, of Waterford, lost their son James A. Greenleaf Jr., a St. Bernard High School and Connecticut College graduate. He worked as a foreign currency trader in the north tower of the World Trade Center.

Although Greenleaf agrees that the construction of the mosque would defile his son's memory, he believes the controversy has become "a no-win situation."

"In my opinion, one of the reasons they proposed to build it was that they knew it would create the controversy that it has," Greenleaf said. "Now that achieved the first goal, if we turn around and deny it, that's the biggest propaganda tool that they have. They can say, 'See? The infidels do hate us. They don't want our church in their country.'"

Greenleaf knows planners of the project have the constitutional right to build it, but, as he heard one commentator put it, "just because the constitution gives you the right to do something, doesn't mean it's necessarily the right thing to do."

How about a synagogue?

The issue has no doubt stirred emotions of these families and the general public, and the president of the local mosque, the Islamic Center of New London, fears Muslims will be the victims.

Many opponents of the project "have somehow associated Islam as a religion and as a religious group with the events of Sept. 11," said Imran Ahmed, "which is very sad. We are being associated with the crimes of a few who happen to be Muslims."

He wonders: "If a church or a synagogue were proposed on the same place, would it have evoked such a reaction of (desecrating) hallowed ground?"

If the opposition applied to all religious places of worship, he said he would understand.

Meanwhile, during the current holy month of Ramadan, Ahmed, who also is the chairman of the state chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, said Muslims are opening their mosques to the public.

"The whole thing is explaining: Who are we? We are 1.5 billion people. You can't put them all in one bucket," he said, adding there are white Muslims, black Muslims and Asian Muslims. "We're very diverse, as diverse as America."

Remembering, but moving on

In Mystic, Marilyn Thorpe said many of the local families of Sept. 11 victims have become friends.

"Not a day goes by when we don't think of our son, but we try not to dwell on the past," Thorpe said.

She and her husband, Raymond, lost their son Eric "Rick" Thorpe, who worked for an investment firm in the World Trade Center. They have been sending information about Rick to the permanent memorial at ground zero and focusing on his 10-year-old daughter.

"She was just a baby," Thorpe said. "We're trying to let her know what her good and loving daddy was like."

Paula Clifford Scott believes the proposed mosque is insensitive, adding "I don't think it's any coincidence at all."

But at the same time, Scott, the mother of Ruth McCourt and grandmother of 4-year-old Juliana McCourt, who died when their jetliner hit the World Trade Center, said, "I don't feel my daughter is there. She is in a good place."