Missing 9/11 artifacts returned to Palatine firehouse; no charges filed

The 9/11 artifacts discovered missing last month from an Inverness firehouse have been returned.

Palatine Rural Fire Protection District Chief Hank Clemmensen said the items - including pieces of rubble and steel beams from ground zero - are back safe and sound.

They were returned by the firefighter who'd received the memorabilia when it was donated in 2002 and who now works for the Itasca Fire Protection District, Clemmensen said.

"We have the items now and consider the case closed," said Clemmensen, calling the whole episode "a major misunderstanding" but declining to say why they were taken out of the Inverness station to begin with.

The fire department had reported the artifacts missing to the police last month after John Klaas, the Barrington Hills man who'd donated them, inquired about their whereabouts.

Barrington-Inverness Deputy Police Chief Jerry Libit said no charges will be filed.

Klaas had received the items, which also included gear signed by New York firefighters, on a visit to ground zero shortly after 9/11.

"If they've been found, that's great. . . . The fire department obviously cares enough to have looked into it," Klaas said Thursday. "That's what I wanted, for them to be with someone who cares about them."

Clemmensen said the department will soon put the artifacts on display, as was Klaas' hope.

"They have a lot of sentimental value for firemen," Clemmensen said. "They are very important to us."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=238834">9/11 artifacts donated to Inverness firehouse missing <span class="date">[09/29/08]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>