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Representative gathered 13000 signatures for investigation { April 19 1995 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/050418/18oklahoma.htmhttp://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/050418/18oklahoma.htm
4/18/05
Moving On, Looking Back
By Bret Schulte
OKLAHOMA CITY--At 9:02 a.m. on April 19, 1995, Priscilla Salyers sat at her desk in the U.S. customs office on the fifth floor of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Coworker Paul Ice stood nearby, making small talk, when a deafening explosion rocked them both. "We locked eyes when we heard it," Salyers recalls. "And that was the last time I ever saw him."
In seconds, Salyers plummeted to the pit of the destroyed building, a concrete beam pinning her head to her desk. With broken ribs and a punctured lung, she lay trapped amid tons of debris for more than four hours. But it was once Salyers was rescued by firefighters that the real struggle began. "The horrible part to go through," she says, "was the grieving and depression afterward."
The same could be said for the city itself. As Oklahoma City prepares to commemorate the bombing's 10th anniversary, the community is still coming to terms with what was then the largest terrorist attack to have hit American soil, killing 168 people--19 of them children. "The bombing changed us physically and psychologically," says Mayor Mick Cornett, who quit his job as a television sportscaster and entered politics after the bombing.
Cornett now oversees the most recognizable signs of Oklahoma City's recovery: revitalizing a long-dormant downtown. The 1998 opening of the Bricktown Ballpark, a centerpiece of an urban renewal effort begun in 1993, has spurred new restaurants and hotels in the once desolate warehouse district. Just as significant is the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum, which has been drawing passersby off the interstate since opening in 2000. Annually, the memorial of 168 empty glass and bronze chairs draws about 300,000 visitors. The tourism helps support about 10,500 area jobs, according to a University of Oklahoma study.
But for many people directly affected by the bombing, recovery has been neither so swift nor tangible. Haunted rescuers, survivors, and family members have committed suicide, quit jobs, and been plagued by grief and survivor's guilt. The divorce rate for city firefighters tripled. "You don't pull babies out of a bombed building and not be impacted by it," says Kathy Thomas, a psychologist in nearby Stillwater, who has refocused her practice on trauma victims. With the 10th anniversary approaching, she says calls for help have increased.
Wounds. The series of trials and investigations also taxed survivors and family members. The 1997 federal case in Denver against Timothy McVeigh and coconspirator Terry Nichols charged them with murdering only eight federal agents, enraging some family members of the remaining 160 victims. Federal jurors sentenced McVeigh to death, which was carried out by lethal injection in June 2001. His accomplice, Nichols, was given life in prison, enabling state prosecutors to seek the death penalty in Oklahoma for the remaining victims. After a debate that divided Oklahoma, including victims of the bombing, the costly trial proceeded. In May 2004, Nichols was convicted of 161 murders (including the death of an unborn child), but a deadlocked jury resulted once again in life in prison without possibility of parole.
Meanwhile, persistent allegations of a government coverup remain an open wound here. Charles Key, a representative in the statehouse, incited outrage among many in law enforcement and victims' groups by alleging that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives knew the bombing might occur. In 1997, he gathered more than 13,000 signatures, enough to prompt a grand jury investigation of his allegations. After the grand jury rejected his charges, a victims' group recruited a challenger who ran a successful election campaign to oust Key. But conspiracy theorists aren't giving up. While the city commemorates the victims, Key will be hosting seminars of his own. One survivor calls that prospect "disgusting."
City officials say next week's events will promote remembrance and healing. Visitors at the memorial on Tuesday, April 19, will observe 168 seconds of silence, to be followed by a reading of victims' names. Many family members, survivors, and rescue workers will take their stories to area schools on Wednesday to teach the impact of violence. On Friday, the Memorial Thank You Concert features homegrown talent like country singer Toby Keith. Oklahoma City National Museum Director Kari Watkins says the week carries a message: "To me, what Oklahoma City has to say to the world is that there is hope."
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