CORRESPONDENT OF THE DAY

By Staff Reports

Published: January 13, 2009

America Needs Men Such as David Novak

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

Long before his nomination last year to the U.S. District Court for Virginia's Eastern District, and long before you wisely counseled our new senator to renominate Novak and champion his confirmation, I was lucky enough to share with your readers a personal account of Novak's commitment to justice and personal sacrifice.

As a family member of a New York City firefighter who died on 9/11, and as a member of the original military commission team that worked shoulder-to-shoulder with Novak in early 2002, I sat with him during heart-rending victim interviews when we relived the horrors that befell neighbors and loved ones at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Long after I left active duty and returned to my family and work, Novak continued to lead the government's efforts to bring Zacarias Moussaoui to justice for his role in bringing terror to our shores. My brief tour in Afghanistan paled in comparison to Novak's nearly five-year deployment, first to Manhattan, Boston, Shanksville, and Northern Virginia, and then to the federal courthouse in Arlington where he lived apart from his family five out of every seven days to prepare for a trial his country and 9/11's victims desperately needed. While I attended my daughters' school functions in Richmond, their classmate's father -- David Novak -- was absent.

It is critically important to live in a community free from the fear of crime. We should honor the sacrifices of those who serve this nation. David Novak would be a superb U.S. District judge.

Mike Klein. Richmond.