W-b Faces Arresting Verbal War 
Police Chief Says There's No Truth To Comments Made By Downtown Couple, Who
Say Cops Told Them They're To Keep Arrests Down Due To Paperwork.

Anthony F. Poyer

By MARY THERESE BIEBEL marytb@leader.net
 Sunday, February 09, 2003 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 1F 





The police officer emerges from her vehicle and hugs the people who stand
along the roadway, the folks carrying flags and large ``Thank-you'' signs. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``You're the reason I go to work,'' she tells them with a husky voice and
moist eyes. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; About 200 people watched the scene on videotape last weekend at King's
College, during a screening to introduce the sixth year of ``Windsor Park
Stories,'' which is produced by Mussari Loftus Associates and destined to air
on WVIA-TV. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Among the audience, none seemed more moved by the police officer's
appearance than John Dennie of Staten Island, who for eight months maintained
a vigil on that stretch of the West Side Highway, a mile and a half from
Ground Zero, to show gratitude to the hundreds of rescue workers who passed by
every day. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``I was so glad Tony (Mussari) and Kitch (Loftus-Mussari) were there, to
get that on tape,'' said Dennie, who spent hours on a bus to attend the
screening. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The Mussaris had collected much more footage about ``Point Thank-You'' in
New York - including a poignant interview with Dennie himself. But to Dennie,
the officer was the important element, a representative of the rescuers who
sacrificed themselves on Sept. 11, 2001, and those who returned to the site
week after week. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``I got to salute them for eight months,'' said Dennie, a retired postal
worker. ``I'll never stop saluting them. They gave an example to the world of
how people can conduct themselves.'' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The Mussaris saw something uplifting in Dennie and his ``Point Thank-You''
colleagues as well - and they're constantly on the lookout for other examples
of creativity and courage. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``We want to inspire, to inform and to give people hope,'' said Tony
Mussari, describing earlier documentaries about people who follow artistic
dreams or pitch in to help each other or find graceful ways to cope with
illness. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The one requirement? &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``We draw the curtain on celebrity,'' he said. ``We focus on ordinary
people doing extraordinary things.'' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 This season's 10 ``Windsor Park Stories'' - look for them to air Sunday
evenings at 7 on WVIA-TV, Channel 44 - bring the total to 125 with a project
titled ``What Is America?'' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 They traveled to Shanksville, where Flight 93 went down, and interviewed
Janie Kiehl, a ``Flight 93 ambassador,'' who, in her own words ``would go up
there and just be there for people.'' Prepared with facts about the plane's
velocity and the names of passengers and crew, Kiehl spends six hours a week
at the site, ready to offer information and comfort. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``The mood is that of a funeral home,'' she said. ``You have tears,
laughter, people hugging each other.'' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Kitch Mussari said the many visitors to Shanksville offer ``a microcosm of
America. You see Harleys and campers, Amish people, black and white, rich and
poor. You see World War II veterans holding their grandchildren, and you see
babies in slings around their mothers' and fathers' necks.'' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 A makeshift memorial at Shanksville is covered with American flags and
baseball caps - plus some unusual offerings. ``Somebody left a clip of $20
bills, and somebody left their sandals because that was all they had to
leave,'' Kitch Mussari said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``What is America? It's about resiliency,'' her husband added. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Fairly resilient themselves, the Mussaris have dug into their own financial
resources, refinancing their home to support their production company. But
they don't mind. Telling stories through words and film is their passion, as
well as their reason for going to work. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``You've got to spend time getting to know the person, getting to like the
person, and then getting out of the way so it can be their story,'' said Tony
Mussari, who admits he enjoys interviewing more than any other part of a
project. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Still, some see editing as his true art. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``Tony's like a sculptor,'' said Dennie, marveling at the way his own
interview turned out in the finished product. ``He chips away and chips away
until he gets it right.'' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 When they're not filming on location, the Mussaris sometimes interview
subjects at Windsor Park, their home in the Back Mountain area. In mild
weather, guests relax in a lush garden the couple has reclaimed from a
landfill. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But in winter, visitors saunter instead into a greenhouse bright with
flowers and spread with a welcoming table. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``Twenty-five years ago, if you had asked me to choose between a greenhouse
and a condo in Miami, I would've taken the condo,'' Tony Mussari said with a
gentle laugh. ``I would've been chasing a false dream. I wouldn't have the
glory of geraniums in a greenhouse.'' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``I wish everyone could feel a passion for something, the way we feel a
passion for this.'' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

`windsor Park Stories' Reflects Couple's Passion