By Don Harrison
August 8, 2013 (El Cajon) – In the shock that followed the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., partners Mary Carouba and Susan Hagen sat stunned across the country in California. After a while it dawned on them that whenever they turned on the television, there were news stories and other acknowledgments about the men who were the first responders at the World Trade Center. Always the men. Weren’t there any women there?
Carouba recalled that New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, standing on the rubble of the World Trade Center, asked for a round of applause for “the men we lost” as well as for those other men who helped people to survive the collapse of the Twin Towers. Later, President George W. Bush came to the site of the tragedy to praise “all the men,” Carouba related to a convocation of classified employees Thursday, Aug. 1, at Grossmont College.
