(File photo)

More than 3,000 victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks will be remembered when a monument in their memory is dedicated Tuesday, Sept. 11, at the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, said Sheriff Robert Arnold.

The centerpiece of the monument is a 3,000-pound I beam donated from Tower 1 of the World Trade Center.

Surrounding the I beam will be urns to represent the victims aboard planes that crashed into the World Trade Centers, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pa. Memorial bricks purchased by citizens will be placed around the memorial.

Sheriff Arnold, Tennessee Homeland Security Commissioner David Purkey, as well as other federal and state dignitaries, will help dedicate the memorial at 6 p.m.

The Sheriff’s Office’s Honor Guard will fire a 21-gun salute toward New York City and the Murfreesboro Fire Department will conduct a salute with a bell.

Contributions of materials and cash along with the sale of memorial bricks and challenge coins allowed the memorial to be built without taxpayers’ funds. People may buy bricks and coins at the event to help fund the flagpoles and concrete.

The free community event runs from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Sheriff’s Office at 940 New Salem Highway. Zone Status will perform beginning at 4 p.m.

Some parking will be available at the sheriff’s office. Murfreesboro’s Rover bus service will shuttle visitors from a parking lot on Park Avenue to the sheriff’s office.

Deputy Greg Dotson of the Community Services Unit coordinated the memorial project.

“I don’t know of another landmark in the state of Tennessee that is so suited for the community in remembering the tragedy of 9/11,” Dotson said.

Adjacent to the memorial is the Fallen Officers Memorial Garden designed and implemented by Boy Scout Austin Janke as his Eagle Scout project. Some inmates helped with the labor.

“He went above and beyond what an 18-year-old high school student could have done,” Dotson said.

For more information, contact Dotson at 615-904-3033.