BAY MINETTE, Alabama — On Sept. 11, 2001 I was working in my office when a grim Linda Douglas, a secretary at our Fairhope Courier office, called me and told me to turn on a TV immediately.

“It looks like something big is going on,” she said.

I found a black and white TV with broken rabbit ears in a storage area and a local channel.

A plane had hit one of the World Trade Center’s towers. Commentators were speculating pilot or navigator error on that bright, cloudless early autumn day, and noted first responders arriving in minutes for rescue or assistance measures.

Wearing more than 50 pounds of gear, they headed upwards in the stairwells on what was to be  a one-way trip. Minutes later, the second tower was hit. It became apparent there was a planned attack. Our staff  mimicked the vocalized shock we heard on TV.

Horror, bewilderment, concern and anger, but no inkling that the towers would disintegrate.

Speculation emerged from commentators that the Pentagon and White House also might be at risk. Dan Rutledge, editor of the Baldwin Times, could not reach his daughter, who was serving as an apprentice at the Pentagon.

I called Larry Milstid, then chief deputy for the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, to see if he had special communication venues for calling. He said no.

Cell phones were rare and networks easily became overloaded. Tweets and Facebook didn’t exist.

Early reports erroneously stated the Pentagon had been bombed. I tore a sheet of notebook paper, wrote “Pentagon bombed,” walked into a Baldwin County Commission work session next door and handed the note to Commissioner Jonathan Armstrong, who then handed it to Commission Chairman Allen Purdue.

The meeting continued. I returned to work.

A Bay Minette Police officer arrived and said media also may be targeted by planted bombs and told us to evacuate. I went back to the Commission meeting to tell Mobile Register cub reporter Lee Willis to check in with her editor, Jackie Byrd.

The meeting continued. The conference room TV remained off.

When I returned to the office, the staff was gone. The officer asked me to look around carefully for anything misplaced, touch nothing, then leave. He said he was going to search the building.

I started for the door, then turned around.

I asked where his protective gear was. He said he didn’t have any.

I remember looking into his eyes. We both were scared.  I stayed.