Relative of Sept. 11 victim promotes license plate bill

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- American Airlines Capt. Charles "Chic" Burlingame kissed his wife goodbye on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, and headed to work. As he left their home in Herndon, Va., they joked about his Sept. 12 birthday.

They never celebrated that birthday. Burlingame was the pilot of American Airlines Flight 77, bound from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles, when terrorists hijacked the jetliner and crashed it into the Pentagon.

Burlingame's final moments with his wife, Sheri, were vividly recounted for a Missouri Senate committee Tuesday by his sister-in-law, Connie Stephens of Lee's Summit, who is Sheri Burlingame's sister.

Stephens was testifying for bill to create a Missouri license plate bearing the motto, "Fight Terrorism."

Honoring terror victims

The plates would honor those killed aboard Burlingame's flight and three other planes hijacked that morning -- two that struck New York's World Trade Center and one that went down in a field in Pennsylvania.

A similar bill was approved last year by the Virginia Legislature, and 7,000 plates have been sold there. Stephens said at least 15 other states are considering similar legislation.

"I look at these plates as a reminder to our citizens and to the terrorists that we have not forgotten and we're not going to," Stephens said.

Under the bill by Sen. Harold Caskey, D-Butler, Missourians could buy the plate for a $25 fee that would help fund Missouri's anti-terrorism efforts.

"It's a protest against terrorism and an endorsement of the American way," Caskey said.

"It's something that people are trying to take nationwide."

The plate would feature a Pentagon shape with a flag at the bottom and an "11" symbolizing both the Sept. 11 date and the shape of the World Trade Center's twin towers.

The design was discovered on a makeshift memorial outside the Pentagon and traced to Texas graphic artist David Paranteau.

Depending on sales, the special plate could raise between $3,000 and $4,000 annually for Missouri's homeland security fund, according to legislative researchers.

Sen. Jon Dolan, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee and a public affairs officer in the Missouri National Guard, took the unusual action of holding a vote for the bill on the same day witnesses testified. Committee members voted 9-0 to send it to the Senate floor.

At the urging of Dolan, R-Lake St. Louis, the measure was sent as a "consent bill," meaning it is considered non-controversial and is unlikely to face much opposition.

The consent designation also prevents other bills from being tacked onto the original bill during Senate debate, giving it a better chance of passage.

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Terrorism bill is SB4 (Caskey).

On the Net

Missouri Legislature: www.moga.state.mo.us