Uneasy silence under flight path

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- An eerie silence has blanketed Santa Ana Heights in

the days following terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and

Pentagon.

In the usually bustling neighborhood that lies beneath the John Wayne

Airport flight path, the streets have been quiet and deserted as most

residents have stayed in their homes watching the ongoing coverage of the

aftermath of the bombings.

One woman, who declined to give her name, said she was content staying

at her Pegasus Street home.

“I just feel bad for the people” on the East Coast, she said,

quivering in her doorway.

A Delta Airlines flight heading to Atlanta broke the nearly three-day

silence Thursday shortly after noon as it began a trip to Atlanta.

The flight did not comfort those living in neighborhoods off the

southern tip of the airport. The roar of the jet engines was a sobering

reminder of the deadly power of a fully loaded commercial airliner with a

nearly full tank of fuel.

“We’re waiting for something to happen,” said James Sterner, who lives

on Redlands Drive. “People are scared to death.”

Throughout John Wayne’s flight path, emotions were tight. There could

be no enjoying the rare, unusual quiet when it came at the cost of

perhaps 5,000 people who lost their lives when the trade center’s two

towers collapsed and the Pentagon stood gouged after being struck by

hijacked airplanes Tuesday.

“It’s been surreal, not just with the airlines,” Newport Beach

Councilman Steve Bromberg said. “Not only were the skies clear, the

streets were clear.”

Bromberg and others said they regretted that an act causing so much

devastation and suffering would be the thing that gave their communities

temporary relief from jetliners.

Still others lashed out at hijackers who commandeered four planes

Tuesday. Clem Apeles, who hung a “God Bless America” banner on one of his

trees, said President Bush should show no quarter.

“We need to retaliate,” Apeles said. “There’s no room for mercy.”

Ann Watt, a Santa Ana Heights leader who has long campaigned against

airport noise, said she was sad to watch the devastation caused on the

East Coast.

“I’d rather hear planes any day of the week,” Watt said. “I don’t want

to politicize this horrible tragedy.”