Candles, Trees Lit In Patriotic Colors

Lori Odishoo of Berlin wasn't prepared for what she saw when she and her husband, Matt, drove to New York City a few days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center to pay their respects.

Matt, the fire marshal and a firefighter in Berlin, and Lori had to drive through a defacto war zone to reach rubble-strewn lower Manhattan that day.

The couple was deeply affected by the post-apocalyptic scene, and Lori vowed to never forget the people who died or suffered as a result of the attacks. Every year since the attacks, she places three candles (red, white and blue) at the bottom of her driveway at dusk on Sept. 11. Some of her friends and neighbors have done it in years past, but this year, Lori wanted to start a national movement to remember those affected by 9/11.

"With this being the 10th anniversary, my goal was to get everybody to (do it)," Lori Odishoo said. "The first anniversary, some people did it. And I do it every year to make sure we remember," she said. "But (this year) I wanted everybody to do it. I want the whole town to do it. I want the state to do it, and I wanted everyone in the country to do it."

It appears to have caught on as a drive around town saw many candles at the end of driveways.