9/11 kin launch ads to protest memorial

Several families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks who oppose the way names are set to be arranged around the World Trade Center memorial are launching a national ad campaign in protest.

The relatives planned to unveil the 60-second television ad, which will first air in the New York area, on Wednesday. The families also planned to launch a Web site. The cost of the campaign was still being negotiated Tuesday.

They want to list on the memorial the names of companies, the victims' ages, the trade center floor they worked on and the rank of fire and police officials.

Many family members and law enforcement unions had long opposed a plan to list the names of the 2,973 Sept. 11 victims and six victims of the 1993 trade center bombing in random order around two reflecting pools marking the twin towers' footprints.

Last month, the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation changed the plan, agreeing to group the names according to where they worked or where they died. It also decided to list the flight numbers of the four hijacked planes that crashed on Sept. 11, 2001, and the names of police and fire companies that responded.

The foundation had no comment Tuesday.