There appears to be quite a mess on everyone’s hands involved with the Sept. 11 Memorial in New York, and unfortunately the very people who were to be memorialized by this structure are being forgotten in all the hubbub over the origin of the granite to be used at the site.

Officials with North Carolina Granite Corp. of Mount Airy reported recently its bid to provide granite for the project was rejected by Port Morris Tile & Marble Corp.

Only problem is, according to the National Sept. 11 Memorial officials, Port Morris has not been chosen to oversee the placing of the granite on the site, and a decision on who among three stone setting contractors who submitted bids for the project won’t be made until January. In other words, Port Morris officials seem to be jumping the gun just a bit in telling folks they have the contract.

Either that, or the Sept. 11 Memorial people have already tipped their hand to Port Morris, which we believe to be improper at best, illegal at worst.

For their part, Port Morris has refused to respond to interview requests by The Mount Airy News.

This project is important to Mount Airy for a couple of reasons.

First, on a more self-centered note, the project represents a great deal of business for North Carolina Granite Corp., and the loss of this bid might mean the loss of local jobs, something Mount Airy can ill afford.

Second, and on a more philosophical but still relevant point, why is a United States-based firm, in this case North Carolina Granite, potentially being pushed aside in favor of a non-U.S. firm for, of all things, the Sept. 11 Memorial?

Apparently, if the convoluted and often contradictory statements of the players involved at the national level can be believed, the memorial will feature a type of granite which has green flecks in it, and the only places in the world this sort of granite is known to exist is in Canada and Africa. We won’t pretend to be able to weigh the pros and cons of the aesthetics of such granite, but it seems more than simply the appearance of the stone should have been considered when deciding upon the final form of this monument.

Let us keep in perspective just what we are talking about. This is to be an ever-lasting tribute to 2,973 victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, built on the site where the World Trade Towers stood, where most of those individuals died. These people, the overwhelming majority of whom were American citizens, died in the largest single attack on U.S. soil by a foreign enemy in the history of the nation.

This structure is built to memorialize and honor those victims.

Would it not be reasonable to take steps to ensure the material used in this memorial be taken from U.S. soil, built by American citizens or legal residents of America? Was this not something the people who are overseeing this development considered?

At this point we do not know if the process is too far along to make such a plea. Nevertheless, we hope folks reading these words will do just that and contact the National Sept. 11 Memorial to let their opinions be known, and hopefully change the course of this project.

The contact information for that agency is: National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center, One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor New York, NY 10006. The telephone number is 212-312-8800, and the e-mail address is info@national911memorial.org.

And while this memorial might be outside the purview of their authority, a quick e-mail or call to local congressional representatives might be in order as well, to see if those offices can bring about any change in this project.