Town Reacts to Bin Laden's Death

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The news of Osama Bin Laden’s death came as a shock and a welcome surprise to many.

For at least one Hillsborough emergency worker, the death likely won’t change the military situation in Afghanistan, however.

“It’s not going to change anything,” Greg Kane, a firefighter, former fire chief and former fire commissioner with the Flagtown Fire Company, said.  “I think it will make people feel better because the person we pointed the finger at is dead.”

“But in terms of what is happening over there, I don’t think anything will change,” he said.

President Barack Obama confirmed leader of al Qaeda’s, the terrorist network behind the Sept. 11 attacks, death in a speech at the White House last night, ending a 10-year hunt for Bin Laden.  His body is reported to be in United States custody.

The Sept. 11 attacks killed about 3,000 people, including many from the New Jersey area.  None of those killed lived in Hillsborough at the time of the attacks, according to lists of the survivors.

For Kane, that day was one of disbelief.  He recalled going to work in Plainfield and being on the job when he and his coworkers heard reports of the first plane striking one of the towers.

“We just thought, ‘what crazy person could flying into the buildings,” he said.  “They’re so big.  Then we saw the second plane and said, ‘oh (expletive).”

Kane, a 40-year company veteran, said several company members helped with the rescue efforts in the days following the disaster.  Those firefighters returned from the disaster site,

Though Bin Laden’s death will likely comfort victims’ families, Kane still questions whether it will affect the fighting overseas.

“It might make the families of the victims feel better,” Kane said.  “But the fact that it happened 10 years later was probably just luck.  It’s nice because it gives closure to the families.”

“But, in my personal opinion, it didn’t make (the situation in Afghanistan) better or worse,” he added.