City ready to send aid, but volunteers on hold for now
New Haven has offered to send firefighters to New York, but officials there are no longer accepting volunteers for the rescue effort at the World
Trade Center. Mayor John DeStefano Jr., Yale President Richard Levin, New Haven Police Chief Melvin H. Wearing and other city leaders spoke to
reporters Wednesday on the City Hall steps to detail their response to Tuesday’s terrorist attacks. DeStefano said the city had secured federal
buildings in the wake of the disaster and prepared to send assistance. The Public Works Department sent rescuers a list of available equipment and
supplies. A representative of the American Red Cross discussed efforts to coordinate blood donation. The Salvation Army has sent five mobile
feeding units to New York, including one from New Haven. The Salvation Army, at 450 George St., is accepting food and cash donations, but no
clothing. Food needed includes ready-to-eat meals, individual snacks and any non-perishable items.
–Charles Enloe
Expect mail delays as a result of flight restrictions
Because of the Federal Aviation Administration’s ban on domestic commercial air flights following the apparent terrorist attacks Tuesday, Yale
Station mailboxes may remain empty for the next few days. The United States Postal Service has diverted mail regularly flown to trucks and trains,
causing slight delays to delivery. “Contingency plans are going on around the clock,” USPS spokesperson Christine Dugas said. Under normal
conditions, 20 to 25 percent of all mail delivery nationally relies on airplanes. Express Mail and Priority Mail, about half of which flies, will
experience the greatest delays, Dugas said. Limited air traffic is expected to resume today. Mail either originating in or destined for New York City
also may experience a slowdown because of the evacuation of distribution facilities near the World Trade Center, which collapsed in Tuesday’s
attacks. The USPS will not deliver mail to Alaska, Hawaii, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa until the FAA allows air flights to resume,
Dugas said. Dugas added that no mail was lost in the attack and that all mail collection and delivery will continue nationwide. “Neither snow nor rain
nor heat nor gloom of night nor terrorist attacks will stop the mail delivery,” Dugas said.
–Marc Wiznia
Students hit in car accident suffer minor injuries
Two Yale sophomores suffered minor injuries after being hit by a car on Trumbull Street Wednesday during a morning run. Kerrie Lenhart ’04 and
Kate Gulliver ’04 were attempting to cross Trumbull on a crosswalk between Whitney and Orange at about 9:30 a.m. when they were “sideswiped”
by a woman in a car, Lenhart said. Lenhart said one car stopped on their left to let them cross, but that a second car came around the first and struck
them while they were in the street looking at vehicles stopping on their right. The car struck Gulliver directly and also ran over Lenhart’s foot. The
driver, the unidentified woman, stopped and assisted them. “I’m totally fine, the car just ran over my foot,” Lenhart said she told the driver. “It
actually didn’t even break anything.” She received three stitches in her foot. Gulliver received a concussion and some contusions to the left side of
her body. She remained in University Health Services overnight for observation but was scheduled to be released this morning.
–Andrew Paciorek
Beinecke Library undamaged after steam line ruptures
The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library was evacuated briefly at about 5 p.m. Wednesday after a ruptured steam line in the basement set
off smoke detectors and the fire alarm in the building. The library’s halon-gas system that protects the rare books in the main stacks did not activate,
and the building sustained no damage, Yale Fire Marshal Michael Johns said. Three New Haven Fire Department trucks responded to the alarm,
along with Yale police and officials from the fire marshal’s office. A crew worked to repair the steam line Wednesday night. The halon system, which
was installed instead of a normal sprinkler system because of the books, only activates when smoke detectors go off in multiple zones within the
library. In this case only a single zone activated due to the steam, and officials responded immediately to the situation. The evacuation briefly
interrupted a lecture by Princeton history professor Anthony Grafton titled “Commonplace Books and the Practices of Learning in Early Modern
Europe,” part of a two-month exhibition on “commonplace books.” Audience members were allowed to reenter the building at 5:27 p.m., and the
lecture resumed.
–Andrew Paciorek