The provincial police school and reserve depot in Lahr celebrated a double anniversary with a benefit concert on 21 September. It is 50 years since the founding of a permanent police reserve in Germany and 25 years since the completion of their new premises in Mietersheim (not far from Lahr train station). The planned festivities and an Open House were cancelled because most members of its police force were involved in emergency contingency deployment in reaction to the New York air raid.

Lahr city hall's new wing foundation stone was officially laid on 22 September although construction work has actually been in progress for nine months. The time capsule included editions of the two local newspapers "Badische Zeitung" and "Lahrer Zeitung". The new wing is actually a replacement for the north wing which was demolished in 1968 and will cost at least DM 9 million. It will contain a "Citizens' Office", a new concept that will group all administrative services concerning direct contact with the public, so that local residents don't have to waste time going to so many different departments. There will be parking spaces underneath but the city council still has to make a decision as to routing of the access streets.

"Casa Magica" is the name of an artistic light show in Lahr from 22 to 30 September. The facades of different buildings were illuminated with coloured laser beams specially conceived to transform their image and architecture. Many spectators came out each evening to view "the new one-night-look" of the various edifices including Lahr's old city hall, the villa in the Stadtpark, Dinglinger Rathaus and a high-rise block in Römerstrasse (the only modern building included). The fascinating photos of previous projects in other places as well as the new ones from Lahr were on display at the municipal art gallery in Lahr's old city hall during that week.

Munich's Oktoberfest cancelled its opening parade and had one third fewer visitors than usual on its first weekend because both local and North American visitors stayed away due to the wet-cold weather and because they were afraid of terrorist attacks. Mainly tourists from Austria, Italy and the Czech Republic prevented the huge tents being completely empty. The consumption of beer and food at dropped by 20-30% compared with previous years.

Mammoth trial for Baden AirPark owners: German economy's biggest detective story! The trial of Manfred Schmider (52) and Klaus Kleiser (51) began on 24 September at the Mannheim provincial court. The two owners of the FlowTex Group based in Ettlingen are accused of massive financial fraud with an estimated total of about DM 4 billion. On paper they sold over 3000 non-existent underground drilling machines to leasing firms but exactly how the scam functioned has yet to be explained through revelations in the courtroom in the next two or three months. They used the profits to finance an international life of Hollywood-style luxury as well as to purchase Baden Airpark (former CFB Baden-Soellingen), which of course went bankrupt when the scandal emerged last year. At least a couple of local tax inspectors will also have to stand trial soon because they failed to report accounting irregularities.

Lahr woman designs Canadian collector's coin. The new "Spirit of Canada" 25-cent coin issued in July 2001 was created by the artistically talented Silke Ware (née Kieninger) who was born and raised in Lahr. She married a Canadian, emigrated to Canada in the early 90s and now lives in Kitchener, Ontario, with him and their two daughters. Her design won a nation-wide open competition; the unusual thing is that the silver coin shows a red-coloured maple leaf, with a row of children around it. The case for the 6.8 gramme collector's item contains a dedication from the designer.