November 4, 2009 Dispute arises over 9-11 memorial for Kent man Play video

(NECN - Brian Burnell: Kent, CT.) - Is there a whitewash underway? An attempt to sanitize the story of the 9-11 terrorist attacks?

At least one Connecticut man thinks so, and he says he won't allow it to extend to a memorial to honor his son who was killed at the World Trade Center.

Kent, Conn. is a small town nestled in the Litchfield hills. James Gadiel grew up here. He was killed in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Not long ago town officials approached Gadiel's father, Peter, about erecting a memorial to James. When they asked him what he might want inscribed on a stone he told them:

"James Gadiel, born February 3rd, 1978, lifelong resident of Kent. A gentleman and a gentle man. Murdered by Muslim terrorists on September 11th, 2001."

And they refused to consider that language.

They said the language did not reflect Kent's long history of tolerance. Gadiel says tolerance is one thing. Ignoring the truth is another.

"It's clear that there's a nationwide effort to suppress...to whitewash history," Peter Gadiel said. "There's a memorial in Manhattan Beach, California that says the towers collapsed. The national memorial and museum in New York does not refer to the religion of the terrorists and the curriculum. The suggested curriculum for schools which they've published makes no reference even to the fact that it was a terrorist act."

People in Kent are certainly talking about

this especially after Fox News' Bill O'Reilly of "The O'Reilly Factor" got ahold of it. He's talking about bringing a busload of people to town to defend Gadiel's free speech rights. The thing is most of the people we spoke with say they don't disagree with the truthfulness of the statement "muslem extremists". They just think the statement itself is a little extreme.

"Does he have a point or is it going a little too far to put on the 'muslim extremists' line?" said Tony Cahill. "I think that he's got a good point, really, but in this day and age it might be going a little bit too far. It's a little radical. I think there's probably a better way of framing it."

At Chris Dallariva's hot dog cart there was discussion about what's written on other monument's in town.

"We were talking about the civil war monument," said Dallariva. "It's a memorial to the civil war soldiers that lost lives but it doesn't say, 'Killed by southern rebels.' "

Gadiel says he's gotten emails and calls of support from across the country even from some moderate muslims and town officials have received about 150 calls and emails supporting Gadiel as well.

A town vote may be exactly what it takes to decide this.