Austin joins in national celebration

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Even before President Barack Obama made the official announcement Sunday night that U.S. forces had killed Osama Bin Laden, Austin and Texas leaders were already celebrating avenging the deaths of Sept.11, 2001.

Fireworks exploded over the University of Texas at Austin campus. Revelers at a downtown watering hole let out war hoops as they watched the news unfold on big-screen televisions.

"This is something we've been dealing with since we were little kids and now that it's happening its a really big deal for all of us for our generation," said University of Texas student Samantha Lopez said.

“I am definitely happy right now because this is something that America has struggled with for awhile and Osama has been a threat to the nation for awhile. So having him out of the picture out of the limelight is really important to the country right now.”

Korye Logan, an Austinite working in advertising in Lower Manhattan, said he would take an alternate route to work on Monday morning, to avoid any potential terrorist targets.

"Tomorrow morning, I will instead take the A/C train to Fulton Street," Logan wrote. "I will walk down Broadway, which is adjacent to Church Street where the Towers once stood. I will see the new Freedom Towers as they stand in construction today. And I will surely feel the pride of America and the bravery of New Yorkers."

U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, an Austin Republican, tempered his celebration by acknowledging that the decade-long war on terror goes on, even with the death of the terrorist who started it.

"While this is a historic day, Osama bin Laden will no doubt become immortalized in the eyes of al Qaeda and other radical Islamist groups that have continued to plot against us," McCaul said in a statement. "Because of this, I am concerned that the threat to the United States and to our presence overseas may escalate in the near term."

He called for continued vigilance on the part of all Americans.

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said the nation's mission "has always been to take down Osama bin Laden."

"That mission has now been accomplished through the patience and steadfast determination of our military, our intelligence officials, and the united leadership of Presidents Bush and Obama," Texas' senior senator said. "Now we must continue to dismantle this and other terrorist networks that attempt to destroy freedom and human rights throughout the world.”