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Keith Schwer

Economist Keith Schwer, 59, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, was at the final day of a conference at the Marriott at the World Trade Center when the facility shuddered.

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“The speaker had just begun when the lights flickered and a chandelier shook. Then I heard an explosion--a rumbling, deep sound. Someone yelled, ‘Get out of here!’ but we didn’t need much encouragement.

When we got across the street, somebody said, ‘An airplane hit the World Trade Center, a 757. I saw it go in.’

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It was pretty gruesome. A lot of people were jumping. A friend said, ‘Don’t look.’ I said, ‘If they’re brave enough to jump, I’m brave enough to look.’ ”

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As told to Tom Gorman

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