Steel taken from the terrorist-shattered World Trade Center in New York City is a featured part of a first responders memorial, due for a dedication ceremony Sept. 11 at Jim Word Memorial Park adjacent the BIG project in Uptown Beckley.

Beckley Fire Capt. Kevin Price told the Raleigh County Commission in Wednesday’s power outage-delayed meeting the granite is being trucked in from Vermont for the 8-foot-long memorial.

Atop the stone will be steel salvaged in the wreckage of the Twin Towers, collapsed when hijacked jetliners were flown into the massive structures.

“As far as what it will look like, I don’t know,” Price told the commission.

“Is it going to be twisted and mangled? Yeah, I hope so. It only goes to show the enormous tragedy that they went through as well as the tragedy suffered as the first responders. I think it’s going to be nice. What a fitting monument that is to incorporate that into ours.”

A mid-afternoon ceremony is to feature a number of speakers for the dedication, he said.

“It’s to recognize all the first responders and families in Raleigh County, and the service they put forth, whether it be 20 years or those who have given their lives,” the fire captain said.

On other issues, Chief Zoning Officer Bob Cannon was given a green light to hire Michael Korcsmaros as a building inspector.

The commission approved a $5,000 grant to help finance a drunken driving prevention program.

Homeland security drawdowns approved by the commissioners included $15,000 for the Nicholas County OES, ones of $2,523.94, $2,271.10 and $1,763.47 for the Beckley Fire Department, and a $187,110 grant as a continuity grant for Region V.

Detlef Ulfers was appointed to the Abandoned Building Enforcement Agency, while Dynth Corcoran was named to the Coal Heritage Highway Authority, and Robert Sayre to the New River Parkway Authority.

Commissioners were forced to postpone the meeting set for Tuesday after a transformer malfunctioned, denying much of Uptown Beckley power for several hours. The outage began just before sunup but power was restored by late morning.