Wednesday, December 24, 1997
Local residents pleased, though not elated,
over verdict
By TANYA EISERER and JERRY DANIEL REED / Abilene Reporter-News
Big Country residents with special ties to victims of the Oklahoma
City bombing seemed pleased though not elated with Tuesday's verdict
in the Terry Nichols trial in Denver.
Nichols was found guilty of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter
in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal
Building that killed 168 people.
Nichols still faces the death penalty for conspiracy to use
a weapon of mass destruction.
Much of the prosecution's case was based on circumstantial
evidence because Nichols was not present at the time of the blast.
Dr. Darryl Tippens, professor of English at Abilene Christian
University and former Oklahoma City resident, said the verdict
for Nichols was understandable, given the evidence.
"I'm not particularly disappointed," he said.
Tippens interviewed an Oklahoma City policeman he knew from
church after the veteran cop dug through the rubble to locate
the body of a dying infant. That child's image as she was cradled
in a firefighter's arms was seared into the minds of millions
by a Pulitzer Prize-winning photo snapped by an amateur photographer.
Sgt. John Avera, described by friends as "a hard-shell,
don't-get-close-to me veteran cop," was transformed by his
experience into "a tender, empathetic hugging machine,"
Tippens wrote in May 1995.
"I saw him just very recently, and he seems to be doing
quite well," Tippens said.
Salvation Army Captain Edward Alonzo believes the trials of
Nichols and Timothy McVeigh shows that the justice system works.
"I believe Nichols was involved in the bombing of the
federal building in Oklahoma City," Alonzo said. "I
believe Nichols was guilty. I'm hoping that (the victims' families)
will now understand that justice has been done, and that it won't
bring their loved ones back whether they give him life or death."
Alonzo joined 50 Salvation Army commanders and volunteers at
the disaster site, working 12-hour shifts, sometimes serving refreshments
and sometimes counseling.
Others agreed with the jury that since Nichols did not drive
the Ryder truck to the federal building and park it, he did not
deserve as severe a penalty as McVeigh.
"McVeigh is the one who actually carried it out,"
said Dr. Michael Sadler, an Abilene Christian University physics
professor. "He is the one who parked it in front of the building
and left it. In my opinion, I think he is deserving of worse punishment."
"Conspiring to do something and actually carrying it out
are two different levels of involvement," Sadler added. "...
He might have backed out at the last moment."
Sadler said he doesn't believe Nichols deserves the death penalty.
"I'm not sure Nichols is any better (than McVeigh), and
I'm not sure he's not," Sadler said. "... I would probably
give him life imprisonment."
Sadler taught Ronota Woodbridge, a 1985 ACU graduate and civil
engineer, who died in the blast.
Woodbridge was one of 16 employees of the Federal Highway Administration
working in a fourth-floor office when the bomb exploded.
"I'm satisfied with the verdict," Sadler said. "I
think they did the best with what they had."
Most expressed the hope that families of the victims would
now be able to find some closure.
"This whole thing's been real emotional," said Terry
Edwards, an Eastland funeral director.
Edwards said he was "borderline" between wanting
vengeance and wanting justice in the case.
"The people who have been hurt the most are the families
(of the bombing victims)," he said.
"They just need to have satisfaction that justice is done,
that whoever is responsible is held accountable to whatever level."
As a volunteer with the Disaster Mortuary Team of the National
Disaster Medical System, Edwards was called to duty in the bombing's
aftermath. One of his duties was taking the victims' bodies through
the different stations in the medical examiner's office.
"Whenever you're escorting 2-month-old and 6-month-old
children through the process, it really makes you wonder why in
the world anybody would do something like that," he remarked
in May 1995, the month after the Oklahoma City bombing. He said
Tuesday that what he saw in Oklahoma City made it the most "emotionally
challenging" experience of his life.
"I hope for the families' and my sake, that an end for
this is in sight," he said.
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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