9/11

[garbon]

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/10/20423763-wisconsin-golf-clubs-911-special-deemed-out-of-bounds?lite

Wisconsin golf club's 9/11 special deemed out of bounds

A Wisconsin golf course owner who advertised nine holes of golf for $9.11 to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks apologized Tuesday but said he would keep the club open despite a backlash that included death threats.

Tumbledown Trails Golf Course near Madison advertised the special in the Wisconsin State Journal newspaper on Monday, saying it was intended to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. The discount, which also included 18 holes of golf for $19.11, was good for the anniversary on Wednesday only.

News of the offer spread on social media and the golf course's Facebook page was overrun with negative comments. Owner and general manager Marc Watts said he received death threats and threats to burn down the family-operated public golf course. The sheriff's department sent a deputy there Tuesday and Watts said another officer will be back on Wednesday.

"We're a little hurt by the fact that people are putting such a negative context on this," Watts said. "I thought people would appreciate it."

The promotion actually began two years ago, on the 10th anniversary of the attacks, and until now was warmly received as a way to ensure people never forget the tragedy, Watts said.

This year, after the newspaper ad circulated on social media, Watts said the club's phone has been ringing off the hook.

Watts apologized Monday night on Facebook and was personally fielding calls on Tuesday, saying there was no intention to cause offense. He considered closing the 20-year-old golf course Wednesday because of safety concerns, but decided to keep it open despite the threats.

"We could close, but then all these people with their negative attitudes, they win," he said.

Watts also won support from golfers such as Colleen Savage, who said the whole thing was a misunderstanding.

"I'm quite shocked," Savage said after playing nine holes on the course Tuesday. "I definitely think it's blown out of proportion."

This is not the first time that promotions tied to 9-11 have drawn criticism.

Last year the Coeur d'Alene Casino Resort Hotel in Worley, Idaho, offered hotel rooms for $91.11 and a food voucher for $9.11 as a "Thank you to our heroes."

Two years ago New York Sports Club offered 9-11 first-responders cheap memberships, drawing outrage from some who were targeted for the discount who said it a shameless use of a national tragedy to make money.

While offering a reduced price on Sept. 11 is more apt to offend someone than doing the same thing on Veterans Day, the Wisconsin golf club promotion could have been much worse, said Kathleen Culver, associate director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

"You have a small business that's woven into the community, they were doing a promotion, thought they were commemorating 9-11, they ran it and it blew back on them," Culver said. "They apologized. Really, does the story need to go any further?"

[merithyn]

"You have a small business that's woven into the community, they were doing a promotion, thought they were commemorating 9-11, they ran it and it blew back on them," Culver said. "They apologized. Really, does the story need to go any further?"

No, it doesn't.

It's tacky, but certainly not worth all of this hullabaloo.

[garbon]

On a different note, I liked this story.

http://news.yahoo.com/first-person-9-11s-ashes-love-building-rises-165900823.html

I stepped out of my apartment in downtown Jersey City on Sept. 11, 2001, and looked across the river down to the twin towers and thought to myself, What a beautiful day. I walked over to work, about 10 minutes away, and the next thing I saw, the top of one of the buildings was on fire, by the time I got to my desk, I heard an "Oh my god" -- that was when the second plane hit. This glorious day just turned tragic.

I went home that night and all I could hear were the fighter jets flying overhead and the smell of smoke over my apartment that would go on for more than a month. I volunteered at the sight for a couple of days, and it was a strange experience: The area was quiet and covered in ash. On the bucket brigade, the smell of burning metal, chemicals and flesh hung in the air. Everyone who volunteered the first few days had hope, hope that we would find someone alive and then the hope faded away.

My son was born in April 2007, and although there was lots of talk of rebuilding, there were also a lot of delays. The World Financial Center, across the street from the World Trade Center was back, Wall Street was humming and a smaller office building was close to completed.

A couple of years later, the memorial had opened and my son was turning 3; he was also learning sign language in school and although we lived further away, we had a great view of the Freedom Tower going up. As it got taller and taller, construction workers added cranes to the top of the building and one to the side. My son seeing this structure emerge from the horizon one day says to me, "Dad look, there is the I Love You Building." I looked at him and he gestured with the universal "I love you" sign for the deaf: your thumb out and your forefinger and pinky pointing straight up -- much like the cranes on the building. I looked at him and smiled and said, "Yes, Evan, that is the I Love You Building."

The cranes are down now and the tower is almost complete. Someday I'll be telling my son the story of the World Trade Center, but for now, all he knows is that building represents love, and I like it that way.

[jimmy olsen]

On a different note, I liked this story.

http://news.yahoo.com/first-person-9-11s-ashes-love-building-rises-165900823.html

Aww  ... that's sweet

[merithyn]

That is a sweet story. Thanks for sharing it, g.

[fhdz]

It's tacky, but certainly not worth all of this hullabaloo.

The West wins against terrorism by being able to be tacky about it.

[garbon]

Last week the Onion provided us with this:

New Subway Promotion To Honor Subtember 11

Citing a wide range of deals customers will "never forget," fast food chain Subway announced an exciting new promotion this week to honor and commemorate Subtember 11. "With a number of terrific discounts on special sandwiches as well as our classic footlongs, you'll always remember where you were on Subtember 11," Subway president Fred DeLuca told reporters, referring to Subway's special promotion in which, for a limited time only, visitors of the restaurant's tens of thousands of franchise locations will be able to "fly on in" and pick up two footlong subs of their choice for only $9.11. "From the Structural Steel Melt on Tower 7–Grain bread to the Twin Chowers cold cut combo with Ground Zero–Carb vinaigrette on a Let's Whole Wheat Roll, we've got something for everybody this Subtember 11." DeLuca added that the special promotion will be "first responders, first served."

[Ed Anger]

Speaking of Subway, they had a mini-resturant that was able to go up each floor of the new building as it was being constructed.

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20120127/REAL_ESTATE/120129899#

[Caliga]

I think it's kind of creepy to do commercial promotions around 9/11.  I mean, I realize that marketing people typically have no conscience or brains or both, but still...

[Admiral Yi]

The kind of promotion that works is "for every pizza you buy, we will donate to $1 to the United American First Responders with Leukemia League."

[Barrister]

Another way not to do it:

[crazy canuck]

It sad that our usual anniversary thread is now about stupid adertising.

[sbr]

I can't wait until 9/11 Memorial Day is moved to the second Monday in September so we can have a 3 day weekend and a tire sale.

[lustindarkness]

Any promotion using 9/11 or any other remembrance holiday piss me off, but businesses have the right to be insensitive and we have the right not to buy their product and/or services.

9/11 changed our life; mine and my family's in pretty drastic ways, lives were lost and have been lost since then because of it.

[garbon]

It sad that our usual anniversary thread is now about stupid adertising.

Hey I threw in a cute story too.