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Editor's Notes
I watched the news report of the April 19, 1995 tragedy on television that day, just as I watched the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. In both cases, I was sadden for the victims and angry at those who would do such a thing to innocent human beings. I was in Oklahoma City the other week for the National Newspaper Association's annual convention. The NNA is the association that represents community weekly newspapers like The Democrat and small dailies. The site of the Murrah Building is now a memorial and a museum is nearby in a portion of the Journal Record newspaper building that was heavily damaged by the blast. I can't explain how it felt to walk through that museum and look at the personal belongings of the slain men, women and children that were salvaged from the destroyed building-ordinary things like car keys, coffee cups and more made tears well up in my eyes. The children's toys-teddy bears and more-really got to me. I repeatedly wiped my eyes as I walked through the displays. We all know the story of how Timothy McVeigh, 27, rented a rental truck and made a bomb of 4,800 pounds of ammonium nitrate ad fuel oil He drove the truck to the front of the building. parked it and ran away. The bomb exploded at 9:02 a.m. Our tour bus driver said he lives 20 miles outside of the city and he felt the tremors of the blast there. The result looked like a nine-story giant's bite was taken out of the building. Only three people would be found alive in the rubble after 2:45 p.m. that awful day. The outdoor memorial is framed by east and west entrances. One is engraved 9:01, the other 9:03. They signify the normalcy and innocence before the blast and the heartbreaking aftermath. An inscription reads, "We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity." A reflecting pool is where the street in front of the building used to be. A grassy slope is where the building stood and is filled with 168 bronze chairs with glass bases etched with each of the victims' names. They are arranged in rows representing the nine stories of the building and the approximate location where the victims would have been in the building. Fifteen of the 19 children died in the second story daycare center of the building. That second row of tiny chairs sent a chill up my spine. No one will ever fully understand why Timothy McVeigh did what he did. You can never fully comprehend the mindset of a madman. McVeigh was tried and found guilty of the bombing and executed. I thought at one point as I stood in a room surrounded by photos of the deceased that a better punishment for him would have been a life sentence in a cell surrounded by those photographs. The 9/11 attacks are foremost in our thoughts when we think of terrorist attacks. We automatically think of dark skinned foreigners with funny accents wearing turbans and flowing robes when we think of terrorists but McVeigh was the picture of Middle Class America, a cleancut and nice-looking young man. The Oklahoma City Memorial is a reminder that we can be attacked anywhere by anyone at anytime. It is an unsettling thought.
Jim Cox is editor and publisher of The Clarke County Democrat.
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