SOMERSET — Authorities are heightening security around the Somerset Courthouse today as protesters are expected to challenge what they still perceive as Muslim symbolism in the design of the Flight 93 National Memorial.

Spearheaded by a California writer and inventor, the protesters say they will hand out information and grill the federal Flight 93 Advisory Commission at its quarterly meeting this afternoon.

The commission will meet from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in a second-floor courtroom, preceded by a meeting of the Flight 93 Task Force from 1 to 2:30.

Alec Rawls of Palo Alto, Calif., maintains the centerpiece of the design still points toward Mecca, the holy city of Islam. A crescent of maple trees surrounding the crash site already has been modified into a nearly enclosed arc.

Critics contend the crescent is a key Islamic symbol that pays homage to the four hijackers who commandeered the jet on Sept. 11, 2001. All 40 innocent passengers and crew were killed when the plane plummeted into a reclaimed strip mine near Shanksville.

“There are still multiple orientations toward Mecca that are present in the redesign,” Rawls, who will not attend the meeting, said in a telephone interview. “Ultimately, this information will get out.

“When it does, I think the design will be overturned. The only question is how big a controversy does it have to become before that happens.”

Gordon Felt of Ramsen, N.Y., whose brother was killed on the plane, said officials will listen to what protesters have to say. He added that memorial planners have forwarded Rawls’ assertions to architectural and religious scholars around the country, who have dismissed the claims as not credible.

“For this gentleman to besmirch our loved ones by basically inferring we’re trying to create a memorial for the people who violently murdered them is outrageous,” Felt said.

“It’s very distracting for our goal – to honor the 40 great Americans who were regular people who gave up their lives in a moment’s notice.”

Sheriff Carl Brown said two additional deputies will be placed in the courthouse to assist the one deputy typically required to operate a metal detector at the front door.

Borough police Chief Randy Cox said extra officers will be available as well.

“We don’t expect any type of problems,” Cox said. “We’re fairly confident that, if people representing a certain cause do show up, they’ll conduct themselves in the best behavior.

“That being said, we have taken steps to prepare in the unlikely event additional manpower would be needed for whatever reason.”

Hamilton Peterson, president of the Families of Flight 93, also scoffed at the suggestion that the memorial will honor the terrorists.

“I cannot think of a population of people who could be any further away from wanting to honor the extreme, violent fundamentalists,” Peterson said.

“I would characterize this as a most unfortunate diversion, not only for (the protesters’) energies but for ours. What’s truly sad is they’re impairing our ultimate, highly patriotic goal by raising their hands in an uninformed, ill-advised misunderstanding of what we’re doing.”

The National Park Service has said Paul Murdoch, the Los Angeles architect chosen to design the memorial, will attend today.

Soon after Murdoch’s design was chosen in September from among five finalists and 1,011 entries overall, criticism surfaced about its prominent use of a crescent.

Murdoch since has extended the crescent into an arc in an attempt to alleviate some of the concerns, though he repeatedly has denied any symbolic intent.

“There were accommodations made to distance this from being a distraction,” Peterson said.

But Rawls believes the crescent is still present and points toward Mecca, a characteristic of Islamic mosques. He added the proposed tower of wind chimes at the entrance to the memorial off Route 30 is shaped like a protruding crescent surrounded by crescents of trees.

“Once people realize that what’s being built on the crash site is the world’s largest mosque, in effect, they’re not going to stand for it,” Rawls said.

“I don’t think we can convince the (advisory) commission of anything,” he added. “It’s going to change when enough people in this country become aware that it contains the central features of a mosque.”

The Rev. Ron McRae, self-proclaimed bishop of Bible Anabaptist Church near Jerome and an outspoken critic of the design, agreed.

“We’ve been hoodwinked,” McRae said. “Murdoch’s playing games with us. He’s just fixed a little to pacify everybody.

“There’s some serious questions the commission needs to answer. I plan on being there, and I plan on raising some issues with it.”



Kirk Swauger can be reached at 445-5103 or kswauger@tribdem.com.