Our Town

In Chesterfield Ridge, 9/11 Anniversary Brings Memories of Tragedy

Larry St. James, Our Town Staff


It was the morning of September the 11th, 2001 and the sun had just risen over Town Hall. Children were on their way to school and Chestnut Ridge was just beginning to wipe sleep from its eyes. It was a day like any other. Or so we thought.

Around 8:30 AM, Mayor Thomas Allenbach was climbing into his brand new Lincoln Navigator -- "A gift from my wife," he says with nostalgia -- when life as he, and we, and she, knew it would come to an end.



Monty at the Allenbach's annual Labor Day BBQ just days before "the attack of 9/11"


"I was just getting used to the seating adjustments in the car...so many buttons and things...it was like the cockpit of an airplane...and as I was backing up I heard this sound like I had never heard before. The second I heard it though, I knew exactly what it was."

Chestnut Ridge first lady Janice Allenbach recalls she was dressing after "getting [her] grind on" with a maintanence worker when she heard a sound "that instantly brought chills to my spine. I knew it was Monty."

It was at exactly 8:30 that Chestnut Ridge's unofficial mascot, the Allenbach's Alsatian Monty, perished from this Earth, crushed under the rear-left wheel of Mayor Allenbach's massive vehicle.

"There were so many warning signals," said Mayor Allenbach during a recent interview in his manse on Chestnut Crest. "The Navigator I mean--it has all these safety features that are designed and put in place in order to prevent exactly this kind 0f thing. I mean, how was I supposed to know? How did Monty get into the front yard to begin with?"

In the days following the tragedy, which some callous citizens call an attack, hundreds of Chestnut Ridge residents held constant vigil at the site of the incident. Some have called for Mayor Allenbach's immediate resignation.

Says neighbor Connie Nelson, "I feel like there is a giant hole in the ground...somewhere." Ms. Nelson had known Monty for the twelve years the Allenbach's owned him and considered him a close friend. She continued through teary eyes, "Maybe that hole is in my heart."

At last year's four year anniversary ceremony, Chestnut Ridge Police Dave Rubino was eloquent despite the many long pauses he took to collect himself. There was nary a dry eye in the house. Said Rubino: "A tragedy like this just makes you really aware. It's like, wow, if something like this is possible...it makes you look beyond your own doorstep and look at what's happening in the rest of the country, from Chicago with the Great Fire they had back when, to, uh, you know, other places. Like New York. Okay bad example, but you know, places where bad things have happened. What about New Orleans?" He added, "Why doesn't anything bad ever happen in New York?"

At a memorial service this morning, Father Thomas McKinsey of St. Mary's Rose delivered a touching tribute for one of Chestnut Ridge's finest. During his opening prayer dedicated to the ex-dog Father McKinsey spoke of the importance of faith and patience during the healing process.

"When we lose a loved one in such a sudden manner, it can make us angry because we hurt, as if, excuse the fantastical imagery, someone flew a plane into our hearts, but anger solves nothing. We come to think, 'Why us? Why not someone else?' But these emotions, although satisfying, are never productive. Instead, let us begin the healing process through our love for one another, and the steadfast knowledge that one day, everyone gets theirs."

Lost, Monty, but not forgotten. We miss you.

Posted by Greg White on Monday, September 11, 2006 at 7:39 PM | Permalink