College to Host 9/11 Commemoration, Homeland Security Conference

Students at the Ocean County College Library now walk past a piece of rusty, twisted steel salvaged from the ruins of the World Trade Center after the terrorists attacks nearly a decade ago.

It will not be the only reminder of those Sept. 11 attacks.

On Sept. 12 the college is planning a 9-11 commemoration and a homeland security conference.

President Dr. Jon H. Larson said Charles Amoroso, whose son was a Port Authority Police Officer killed at the World Trade Center, will be the guest speaker at the commemoration held from 9 to 10 a.m. in the Arts and Community Center Theater at the college.

The homeland security conference will take place in room 203 of Bartlett Hall starting at 11:15 a.m. “We have a very distinguished panel,’’ Larson said.

During the first hour panelists will discuss “The Pieces of the Puzzle; Who Are the Actors?’’ Taking part will be Joseph Arata of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; criminal justice professor Joseph Kirchhofer, a retired New Jersey state trooper; and Lt. Vincent Petrecca of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Special Investigations Unit.

The conference resumes at 1:15 p.m. with the focus on the nexus between emergency management and homeland security.  Mental health issues will be discussed by Steve Crimando of the state Department of Human Services. Coordinating the care of the injured and dead will be dicusssed by James Brucati of the state Department of Health and Senior Services. Joy Spellman, director of the Center for Public Health Preparedness at Burlington County College will review the challenges of an attack involving weapons of mass destruction.

A third panel gets underway at 2:30 p.m. with Dr. Joseph Patton of Monmouth University discussing the cost of homeland security, Arata reviewing tactics to do more with fewer budgetary resources, and Deputy Attorney General Charles Grinnell discussing gangs and organized crime in New Jersey.