Sister city shares 9-11 sorrow

Columbia County's sister city, Nowy Sacz, Poland, has sent its condolences.

The black, leather-bound book of condolences and newspaper articles about the events surrounding the terrorists attacks of Sept. 11 will be kept at the Columbia County Government Complex.

It was presented to the Chamber of Commerce's executive committee and the county commission Tuesday night.

"(The attacks) really brought home to me how important each one of these (sister city) relationships across the nation really is," county Commission Chairman Barry Fleming said.

Ginny Husen, who has been instrumental in fostering the sister-city relationship, received the book from Nowy Sacz Vice Mayor Piotr Pawnik on Jan. 29 at a reception in Washington. Pawnik is touring the country, visiting various government agencies as a guest of the State Department.

After the terrorist attacks, friends in the sister city flooded Husen and other local officials with e-mails expressing their concern, she said.

"The vice mayor and his wife and children sat in front of their television watching the news reports and were just appalled," she said. "They decided to set up a book of condolences at their town hall. Ninety percent of the messages are in Polish. There are some of them in English, including some from the sister school of Martinez Elementary School."

Columbia County and Nowy Sacz have maintained their sister-city relationship for 10 years. The areas share many similarities. Situated on a river, Nowy Sacz is a city of 85,000 in the southeast part of the country, said Husen, who first went there as a political consultant in 1990, when Nowy Sacz held its first local free elections.

The condolences the people of Nowy Sacz sent mean a lot, she said.

"It's an amazing feeling to have these friends and extended family across the ocean so far away," she said.