Students from the Concrete Industry Management (CIM) program will be working during the annual World of Concrete Artistry event to create a memorial to the fallen firefighters of the firehouse located at 48th & 8th Streets in New York City. On September 11, 2001, this firehouse lost two Companies including the men and women on duty for Ladder 4, Engine 54 and Battalion 9.

Ed Gruetzner, a firefighter who had retired from the New York City Fire Department four months before 9/11, lost many friends on that day. Several months ago, Gruetzner, now an accomplished decorative concrete installer living in White Plains, N.Y., approached Mike Eastergard, owner of PreiTech Corp., a manufacturer of forms for the building and concrete industry and a supporter of the CIM program, to discuss the idea of creating a concrete memorial for the firehouse.

Eastergard immediately volunteered his custom concrete form expertise and suggested that they work with CIM students to create the memorial during the 2010 World of Concrete Artistry event.

The idea was quickly embraced by the CIM programs at California State University - Chico and Middle Tennessee State University. A simple, evocative design was agreed upon: two simple vertical forms representing the silhouette of the Twin Towers that will reflect light on a faceted surface ghosted with the names of the fallen firefighters.

Students at each university will work with the concrete mix and create sample panels before arriving in Las Vegas for World of Concrete. At the show, the students will perform all of the concrete work including forming, mixing and placing the concrete, erecting the completed panels, dismantling the memorial at the end of the event, and carefully crating it in specially designed foam forms for shipment to New York.

Gruetzner, Eastergard, faculty from both schools, as well as many others from the decorative concrete industry and Hanley Wood, sponsors of World of Concrete, will be on hand to advise the students and provide their expertise during the course of the project.

"Decorative concrete is a new offering in the CIM programs at California State University, Chico, and Middle Tennessee State University," commented Tanya Wattenburg Komas, Director/Program Coordinator at California State University.

"The course has been very popular with the students because it offers a rich blend of technical knowledge and creative development and in a semester-long, hands-on environment. With so much interest in this area, both schools have been considering ways to get involved in the Artistry event at World of Concrete. This project offers a wonderful opportunity for both schools to work together on a uniquely special project."

The team invites all World of Concrete attendees to participate in honoring the captain of the firehouse in North Hall, room N263C on Thursday, Feb. 4, at 11:25 a.m. Following the CIM auction benefiting the CIM students from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. in the same location, the group will walk to the Artistry location and convene for a presentation of the completed memorial at 3 p.m.

AUCTION

The CIM program will host the Fifth CIM Annual Auction at the World of Concrete on Thursday, Feb. 4 in the North Hall Room N262 of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The silent auction will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and the live auction from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.

Money raised from both the live and silent auctions will benefit the CIM National Steering Committee and support the CIM programs at Middle Tennessee State University, Arizona State University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, California State University - Chico, and Texas State University.

"We have been blessed with the tremendous support from the concrete industry. Even in challenging economic times, the World of Concrete (WOC) show management, Hanley Wood Publications, Concrete Producer magazine, Concrete Construction magazine, McNeilus, Freightliner and Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers, have stepped-up to help raise valuable dollars that benefit the CIM programs," said Brian Gallagher, chairman of the CIM Marketing Committee.

According to Wally Johnson, CIM Auction Committee Chairman, this year's auction could be the best ever. The silent and live auctions include items ranging from a concrete guitar stand made by the MTSU CIM students to materials and equipment used in the industry. "There's something for everyone in the industry at this year's auction," said Johnson.

The signature item for this year's Auction will be a concrete mixer truck donated by McNeilus and CIM Auction 2010 LogoFreightliner.

The mixer truck is a McNeilus 10.5 cubic yard transit mixer with 46" drum opening, and the drum has a 1/4" AR steel shell and fins, a 150 gallon steel side mount water tank, a ZF 7300 drum drive and Eaton 54 series hydraulics with slump meter. In addition, the mixer truck features a remote drum - start/stop, night pour lights, and rear tow loop. The chassis is a 2009 Freightliner M2 112 6x4 with 222" Wheelbase and 156" CA.

To date, the following companies have donated these big ticket items for the Auction:

Baker Concrete Kentucky Derby Package
BASF Admixtures
Blastrac Rental
Capitol Aggregates Cement
Cemex Cement
Command Alkon Software
Concrete Careers Recruiting Package
CON-E-CO Dust Control System
Essroc Cement
Freightliner Truck Chassis
GCC Cement
Grace Construction Products Sports Travel Package
Holcim Cement
Jonel Engineering Batch Panel
Komatsu
Lafarge Cement
Lehigh Cement
Mack Trucks Wynn Las Vegas Package
MAPEI Product Gift Certificate
McNeilus and Freightliner Truck Ready Mix Mixer
Mountain Cement
Peterbilt Motors Pac Car Indy 500 Package
Propex TPC Sawgrass Golf Package
SIKA Master's Golf Package
Tekla BIM Software
Titan Cement
TXI Cement
Votorantim Cement
Vulcan/Florida Rock Cement

Other items available through the silent and live auctions include concrete saws, drills, vibrators, scaffolding, safety equipment, screeds, fiber transport systems, dust collectors, NDT equipment, decorative concrete tools, water meters, pumps, generators, training sessions, reference books, advertisements, sports tickets (College, NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, etc.) computers, sports memorabilia, sports travel packages, golf school packages and vacation travel packages.

Once again this year, Internet bidding will be available on the Ritchie Brothers website, www.rbauction.com for those not traveling to the World of Concrete. To participate in the Auction, bidders must register a week in advance.

To learn more about the auction, visit www.concretedegree.com/ auction

Not Going To The WOC? Bid On Auction Items On-line!

If you are not attending the World of Concrete, you can still purchase items on-line. To do so, you must pre-register with Ritchie Brothers in advance.

Over the internet using the Ritchie Bros. online bidding service, rbauctionBid,egister on the Ritchie Bros. website, www.rbauction.com - select "rbauctionBid" for more information and to register. First-time users should register a few days before the auction.

Registration and Deposits
You must register for this auction in order to place bids. There is no charge for registration, but you must present satisfactory photo identification (identity card, driver's license or passport).

You can register to bid at this auction by visiting the Ritchie Bros. booth (#C4139) at The World of Concrete show.

For international buyers: Unless you have made prior arrangements with CIM National Steering Commitee, you are required to place a deposit equaling 25% of total expected purchases, or $10,000, whichever is higher. Accepted method of payment is a wire transfer directly from your bank.

Please note that Ritchie Bros. does not handle deposits or any other financial transactions for the CIM Fundraising Auction. All deposits must be made through the CIM's banking agent, Morgan Stanley. For more information, please contact Sarah Homec at Morgan Stanley at 760.776.6237 or .

Wire Transfer Information
Domestic Wires Within the United States
ABA: 021000089
Bank: Citibank, NY
111 Wall Street
New York, NY 10043-0001
For Benefit of Morgan Stanley & Company
Beneficiary Account: 40611172
For Further Credit To: National Steering Committee for CIM
Account Number: 222-38027

Wires Coming From Outside the United States
SWIFT code: CITI US 33
Bank: Citibank, NY
111 Wall Street
New York, NY 10043-0001
For Benefit of Morgan Stanley & Company
Beneficiary Account: 40611172
For Further Credit To: National Steering Committee for CIM
Account Number: 222-38027
CIM NSC Meetings To Be Held At The WOC