ONR News & People's Business; Oklahoma City Bombing ONR News & People's Business

Tonight at 8. Stay informed of business and financial trends on Wall Street Week with Lewis Rukeiser, Friday night at 7.30. Presentation of the Oklahoma News report is made possible in part through a grant from Cellular One, providing advanced cellular services and communication solutions to businesses and individuals in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and hundreds of other communities across Oklahoma. Bringing statewide news to all of Oklahoma, this is the Oklahoma News report. Good evening. I'm Lynn Jones. And I'm Dick Prior. At least 20 people, including 17 young children, are dead. Following what President Clinton has called a cowardly act in downtown Oklahoma City this morning.

An apparent car bomb ripped the front off of federal office building and spread injuries and damage for blocks. Our coverage begins with this report from OETA's Charles Nukem. The scene was more appropriate to a third world war zone than a city in the middle of the United States. Hundreds of people were injured, both in the federal office building and other structures surrounding it. There was a boom and the ceiling fell in and the building shook and the walls crashed in and I covered my head up. And then it was a matter of yelling for people to see if they were okay. There just wasn't that much you could do. We got ran out of her office as best we could and someone else who was kind of locked in. But after that we just we found a chair and brought her downstairs. It was the loudest explosion I've ever heard and it was just crazy. I mean smoke and you got out, people walk around bleeding and dazed and it was just unbelievable.

I was talking with about five people in the front and checking the clothes in and all the windows just exploded. And just the big girls got caught a little bit, not much. I got them in the hospital now. And all my windows gone and all around the building, the whole black's mind, all the buildings just smile as the whole of the windows and the ceiling. Oklahoma City Minister Larry Jones, who has been involved in numerous overseas relief efforts, never expected to see this kind of damage at home. My first reaction in coming on this was it looks like Bosnia where, as you well know, there's been a war going on for four years. The other place it looks like is I'm with the Armenian earthquake, the Mexico City earthquake. It looks just like an earthquake. It's almost unbelievable to see the magnitude of this bomb. I just can't conceive of anybody doing what they've done today. But this is mid-America and I think this probably sends an alert not only to the United States but throughout the world, the kind of things that can happen in the future and in the days ahead. Just an hour after the initial explosion, downtown Oklahoma City was shaken up again with word of another bomb or maybe two.

Let's go, come on, man, let's go. They say there's possibly another bomb in this area that don't know where the bomb is. We had to shut down our operation for about 20, 30 minutes because of that. And that was very frustrating because we were right at the point where we had people and we had to leave them. But we got back to them and like I said, it's just going to be maybe a two or three day event. I'm worried about the people in there. I'm especially worried that the people who have already lost their life have lost but the people who are still trapped in there that have been wondering about where are the rescue while they try to figure out if there's another bomb or not. That building had somewhere around 900 people in it and so we've got to get in there and that's the main thing first. It's to try to find people that are in that particular building. For officials on the scene at this point, it's only a secondary concern to find out who did this and exactly how and why. Make way, please.

And Charles Newcombe joins us now with more. Charles, you were on the scene within about half an hour. Describe what you saw when you first got there. It really is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. It looked like a war zone. There is a multi-story apartment building in downtown Oklahoma City and not a window was left in it. In addition to the federal building, which we saw as just incredible damage to it, there is structural damage for several blocks around the federal building. I mean, buildings with walls completely removed and ceilings caved in. There are windows broken for many, many blocks, probably as many as 15 blocks north of the federal building. And of course, there was lots of confusion. There was lots of confusion, but there really was almost not the chaos that one would expect from this kind of thing. The emergency officials were on the scene fairly quickly. Obviously, many of them are downtown, the sheriffs in the police department. But they seem to be relatively well organized considering the magnitude of the disaster. So far, 20 confirmed dead, possibly hundreds more injured.

What are they doing right now in terms of recovering the bodies and looking for those who may still be alive? Well, we heard about an hour ago that they are beginning to remove the bodies from the federal office building. And there is going to be probably two or three days of work in looking for people who may still be alive. It's a very similar situation to an earthquake where one floor collapses on top of another. And there may be some space left in there where it's possible that people could be trapped but still alive. And there will probably be two or three days of effort in going through with heavy equipment and looking for more possible survivors. And obviously, the death count I'm afraid is going to go considerably higher once they begin the removal of the bodies from the office building. Investigation will go for some time, but today the mayor asks for help. He certainly did. Officials are concerned particularly about people who may have been in the federal office building this morning when the explosion happened. They want suspect information obviously.

And they also want an accurate count of people who might have been uninsured and have gone home. The mayor's office has published two telephone numbers, 297-2424 and 297-2345. Those are both in the 405 area code. And they're asking anyone who might have been in the federal office building this morning to call them and at least check in and perhaps offer some help in solving this case. This has had a ripple effect as well. Not only here in Oklahoma and Oklahoma City, but also around the nation. Certainly. The state and federal offices were closed today and all non-essential state employees were told to go home. We understand that the capital, the state capital building itself has been examined by drug dogs and telephone bomb threats have come into authorities that government buildings in New York, Detroit, Omaha, all over the country. We do understand that Fort Sill, which is normally an open army post, is still an open army post, but they have posted some military police officers. They have also sent some people up here to help in the investigation, some of their ordinance people and explosives dogs.

Charles, thanks. It's been a long day. It has. Good job. Lin. Well, President Clinton calls today's bombing an act of cowardice and evil. At a news conference, the president said he has declared an emergency and promised justice will be swift and severe. The bombing in Oklahoma City was an attack on innocent children and defenseless citizens. It was an act of cowardice and it was evil. The United States will not tolerate it and I will not allow the people of this country to be intimidated by evil cowards. I have met with our team, which we assembled to deal with this bombing. And I have determined to take the following steps to assure the strongest response to this situation.

First, I have deployed a crisis management team under the leadership of the FBI, working with the Department of Justice, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, military and local authorities. We are sending the world's finest investigators to solve these murders. For a second, I have declared an emergency in Oklahoma City. And at my direction, James Lee Whit, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is now on his way there to make sure we do everything we can to help the people of Oklahoma deal with the tragedy. Third, we are taking every precaution to reassure and to protect people who work in our live near other federal facilities. Let there be no room for doubt. We will find the people who did this. When we do, justice will be swift, certain and severe.

These people are killers and they must be treated like killers. Finally, let me say that I ask all Americans tonight to pray, to pray for the people who have lost their lives, to pray for the families and the friends of the dead and the wounded, to pray for the people of Oklahoma City. May God's grace be with them. Meanwhile, we will be about our work. Thank you. We will also at today's news conference, Attorney General Janet Reno says the government has called in dozens of federal bomb experts and investigators from all the major cities across the country. The FBI has established a command post in Oklahoma City. It is in 24-hour contact with FBI headquarters command post and with the Department of Justice.

Four FBI special agents in charge have been dispatched to the scene to provide 24-hour operation of the command post. The FBI has sent four evidence response teams and explosive ordinance teams to Oklahoma City. Five of the very best FBI agents experienced in this type of investigation are arriving in Oklahoma City as have bomb technicians from Boston, Chicago, Miami, San Francisco and Los Angeles. 13 members of the rapid start team will be entering data as the evidence is collected. 50 more agents are available for arrival tomorrow and more will be used as needed. The FBI and federal law enforcement have received superb cooperation from local authorities in Oklahoma City and the federal law enforcement agencies are working together. The ATF has sent two national response teams and a mobile command center.

It has three explosive technicians and three laboratory technicians in Oklahoma City. And it is prepared to send 20 to 25 more personnel tomorrow. The Secret Service is also sending explosives experts. In addition, the Oakland Home and National Guard has been deployed to assist in control of the area and the evacuation of the injured. The United States Army has deployed the 61st ordinance detachment with a robot from Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The Tulsa Police Department has deployed two bomb technicians, two dogs and a robot. And the FEMA is playing a major role in aid and assistance. We cannot tell how long it will be before we can say with certainty what occurred and who is responsible. But we will find the perpetrators and we will bring them to justice. Reno says there is no way to tell how long it will be before officials know exactly what happened and who did it.

She won't discuss possible suspects and she won't call it a terrorist attack until she seen all the evidence. However, she said if it was, quote, the death penalty is available and we will seek it. The Attorney General says up to 300 people are still missing from the building. Local authorities won't confirm the kinds of numbers of victims we had heard we've heard from national sources. They are basing their numbers strictly on those confirmed and identified. The FBI is fully mobilized with four special agents in charge assigned to Oklahoma City so the FBI operation can be on a 24-hour basis. President Clinton has declared this a federal emergency. FEMA will be responding and they had intended to be here by now but they should be here shortly to assist in the cleanup efforts. The FBI has been designated by President Clinton as the lead federal agency in this investigation. All the agencies however in that building have pledged their full cooperation and of course they were the ones most injured. The FBI did not have an office at that federal building and we did not suffer any casualties but however many of our fellow law enforcement brothers were injured and we still did not have account with regard to the extent of that injury.

We have at this time no assumptions with regard to who caused this particular bombing. We have had hundreds if not thousands of leads from individuals calling in to reputed eyewitnesses. Each one of those is treated very seriously but at this point we cannot speculate with regard to who is responsible. Governor Frank Keating referred to the bombing as evil and despicable. He says the state will do everything in its power to see that such a thing never happens again. At a news conference late this afternoon Bob Rick of the FBI said the agency is not making any assumptions about suspects. However, earlier in the day broadcast reports indicated that the FBI had issued an all points bulletin for two and possibly three suspects in today's bombing. They have been described as a middle eastern man with age 20 to 25 with dark hair and a beard wearing a blue jogging suit.

The second suspect was also a middle eastern male. Age 35 to 38 described as having dark hair and a beard also wearing a blue jogging suit. The third suspect was the driver. There is no description of him. The suspect vehicle is a brown Chevy pickup with tinted windows and a bug shield. Now it was last seen driving north on Walker. A Dallas TV station reports that the vehicle may have been rented from the Dallas Fort Worth airports. At least 514 workers were assigned to the Alfred P. Mura building. Some estimates have put that number as high as 900. Here's a list of the offices in the Mura building and their number of employees as of September 1994. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, 177 employees. Social Security Administration, 65. General Accounting Office, 18. General Services Administration, 43 employees. Drug Enforcement Administration, 24.

Small Business Administration, 50 employees. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, 20 employees. U.S. Air Force, 50. U.S. Department of Agriculture, 21. Customs, 10. The Secret Service, 15 employees. And the Veterans Administration, 21. Today's massive bombing is now being called the most lethal terrorist action within U.S. borders. Already, more people have died in today's bombing than were killed in New York's World Trade Center bombing in 1993. In that bombing, five people were killed and 1,000 were hurt. And most of those injured suffered smoke inhalation. And again, today's explosion at the Alfred P. Mura Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City killed at least 20 people and injured over 200. Well, at the disaster emergency crews rushed to the scene of the explosion. As soon as the magnitude of the damage was known, crews from across the state responded. Oetay's Emory Bryan reports on some of the emergency response. Within minutes of the explosion, fire crews sent ladder trucks to look for survivors.

On the street outside the building, the injured sat waiting for help. Those that could help each other did. Desk chairs were often used in place of wheelchairs. Inside the building, survivors helped each other get out. We're out by the elevators and all of a sudden heard a big boom and everything went black and things were falling in on us and dust and getting hardly breathed. And so I yelled for him and finally heard him. And although he was standing right next to him when the blast took place, couldn't find him. And finally, we connected. And so he and I started going out together. And then there was a couple of ladies that they were caught from debris. We helped them out. And so all of us went out together. They went into the arms of rescue workers from all over the state, including the National Guard. And a crisis like this, even friends of rescue workers were used to help the victims. This man rode with an emergency technician and saw more than he wanted. Have you seen children? This man.

How many? Many. Bodies? Dead or alive? Hmm. You really can't tell when you get up there. You deal with what they ask you to deal with at hand. And destruction at its worst. The first wave of the injured went to a dozen major hospitals near Oklahoma City. At the Baptist Hospital Burn Center, scores of doctors and nurses waited. But victims only trickled in since so many were killed or trapped in the wreckage. Apparently the initial patients that came in were kind of on the first floor of the building. They haven't got up any of the upper levels yet to check on people up there and get some of those people out. So we really expect the majority of the patients yet to come. Another hospital was sending doctors home by early afternoon. They were told many of the victims would never make it to the hospital. Emergency doctors practiced for just this type of emergency. There's a system that we use in emergency medicine. Patients are either classified as black, which are patients who are dead or essentially dead that cannot be saved or read. Those are the most acutely injured patients.

The ones we can save. The ones that need to be taken to the emergency room right away. Then yellow is patients with serious injuries, but in that life threatening. They can wait a little bit at the scene and then green are patients who are well who are walking around. It's seen with only minor, you know, macerations, abrasions. So the most important thing is to classify patients correctly and to get the most critically injured ones down to the hospital. And Emory Bryan joins us now with more. Well, you were at the scene today. What did you hear the emergency workers saying? Well, we talked to some doctors and nurses that were at the scene. And there were scores of this emergency personnel there. A lot of them, frankly, had nothing to do. They were somewhat distraught because there were very few people there for them to treat after about that first hour. The victims, as we saw in our story there, the doctors were saying a lot of the victims that they saw were off the first floor. They're assuming that the blast from the supposed car bomb went up. The people on the first floor really didn't get the full brunt of that.

The people on the upper floors didn't get to the hospitals from what the doctors that we talked to saw. Well, it sounds like that second wave that they have expecting never really occurred. Right. We checked with several hospitals and we just waited around for ambulances to come, the expected wave. We were at Baptist Hospital and there had to have been a hundred doctors and nurses standing there waiting. And one ambulance did pull up. The doctors ran out to it hoping that there would be someone inside. They said, no, there was no one there for us to treat. The people that could have been treated were very early after the explosion. And after that, you know, those people either left on their own accord and weren't injured are there still on the rubble. Obviously, with 20 dead, what we're hearing now, a couple of hundred injured. And as many as 900 people in that building, obviously there's a big discrepancy in the number. Those people are somewhere, they may be at home watching TV, they may still be in that building.

I know you drove down from Tulsa today. We hear of a lot of emergency crews coming in from other towns to Oklahoma City. Who all did you pass? Well, even at the scene, we saw small town ambulances rescue crews from all over this part of Oklahoma coming in from Tulsa. And that's where we're based. We passed ambulances from Tulsa. Tulsa police, the Tulsa bomb squad came down. A red cross truck obviously loaded in haste filled with blood. You know, boxes clearly stamped human blood and they were rushing to the scene. Well, from what you learned today at the scene, is there a need right now that needs to be filled, emergency speaking or medically speaking? About two o'clock talking to some of the doctors. They said, you know, the need has been filled as far as volunteers and a lot of people. There's just been an outpouring of support, a food and all sorts of supplies. There still is a need for medical personnel. There is still a need for blood. And that may not just be here in Oklahoma City.

They need to get blood in Tulsa, in Lawton, in these areas around. There is still a need for that. All right, Emory, thank you for your report today. Dick. Thanks, Emory. News of the explosion didn't take long to spread. The blast was heard for miles. Many people felt it. And as the news spread, so did concern. OETA's Mike Jernigan reports on reaction at the state Capitol. The immediate concern at the state Capitol was that state facilities might be targeted for terror. Capital patrol officers began sweeping the building, looking for anything that might be a bomb. Governor Frank Keating said security was the paramount concern. Well, the most immediate concern, of course, is to make sure this doesn't recur. And I understand from news reports that there have been reports of two explosive devices, unexploded explosive devices found. So it's important for us to get the national guard in the scene. It's important for us to get the law enforcement community on the scene. They'll come hired to patrol all of the authorities of the state to assess the Oklahoma City Police Department

and the authorities in A securing the area, obviously, be caring for the injured and see making sure that this does not recur. The governor sent state employees home for their safety. The Capitol building began to empty as tour groups headed for the buses and state employees moved toward their cars. Legislators headed for home too. The legislature is adjourned until Monday, and we are sending staff people home today until further notice. There's not been any threats on the building. We're just acting out of an abundance of caution so that there are no chances taken, and also quite honestly so that all of our security personnel at the Capitol building can tighten up this building first and make sure they can be of maximum assistance to the federal government. Traffic was heavy on North Lincoln Boulevard as state capital area workers joined the stream of cars coming from nearer the downtown area, but some people had a different destination. Just down the street from the state capital is the Oklahoma Blood Institute, where hundreds of Oklahoma's have been motivated by the news they heard to do whatever they can to help. We were coming to go to a store and heard about it on the way up here and decided that if we could we try to get in to give blood.

I'm a parent, and innocent children died, and it was senseless. The donors today were mostly all positive and all negative, the most immediately useful blood, but the need will continue for several days. Over the next couple of days we're going to need to beef up our production or our collection of aphoresis platelets and plasma because we're anticipating a lot of burn injuries, and they'll need a lot of support from that kind of blood product. So anyone who wants to come in, actually over the next few days, will be fine, because today we've got a wonderful outpouring on a part of all the donors coming out to donate. We just need to keep it going for several days, so we're making sure that we have adequate supplies here in the city. The Oklahoma Blood Institute has centers in several parts of the state. In Oklahoma City, the main branch is at 10101 North Lincoln. There are branches at 5105 North Portland, and at 1131 Southwest 59. In Midwest City, the branch is at 1060 South Douglas Boulevard,

in Edmund, at 3434 South Boulevard. The Center for Lawton is at 1715 Southwest 11th. The enid location is at 301 East Cherokee. There's an Ardmore location at 1420 Veterans Boulevard, and an Ada location at 900 North Mississippi. Mike Jernigan, Oklahoma News Report. Well, state representative Kevin Cox of Oklahoma City was driving a block away when the explosion came. His windshield was shattered, and his car crashed into a building. OETH Jan Lovell says Cox told a brief house session that the real whore sunk in when he ran to the YMCA building across the street from the Mura building. The parking lot directly to the north of the federal building. Every car is on fire. The YMCA that is catacorned to the federal building is, I would say, completely destroyed. The windows are blown out, and what really affects me,

have a daycare center in there. And I just dropped my son off to his school, and those kids were being carried out, bloodied, hurt, cried, and injured. White people were carrying black babies out, and black people were carrying white babies out. We all came together as American citizens. There were some aftershocks, don't know if they were bombs or not, but I, along with some other people, two other guys went through the daycare center, because they said four babies were missing, and we couldn't find any. I didn't know if it was going to be another bomb or not,

but I could see my child in there, and we didn't find any. And the parents came down very upset, and I hope all the children were accounted for. The structure, the people that lived in the YMCA, they were blown out of bed. They came out of their underwear, totally bloodied, plaster, and everything were over them. The buildings, two, three blocks, all of them were, or the windows were blown out. There are still people at this time. Many of people in the federal building right now trapped from the top floor to the bottom. Members is not appropriate to conduct any business however we believe it's very appropriate that at this time, members and guests in the gallery stand for invocation. And as everyone in a still chamber stood solemnly, the chaplain asked that they join in prayer for those still in the mirror building. As we face this crisis in our lives, that many times we look to you.

And we speak on the news report. The legislature adjourned until Monday. Dogs from Fort Sill were expected to make a bomb sweep through the almost deserted Capitol complex later in the day. The horror of the day's events will no doubt weigh heavily on everyone touched by the disaster, from victims to rescue workers to bystanders. To help us understand the psychological issues that surround such tragedies were joined by Dr. George Paul, the psychiatrist with the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Welcome. Thank you, Dick. What have you seen today? Well, what we've seen today are many of the physical effects as seen on TV. What you'll be seeing in the current coming days will be the psychological effects. There are two disorders that I think will be very prominent. The first is called post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. The second is the grief, which may be followed by major depression in the victims and the family members of victims. What is particularly horrible is the effects on children that can develop so-called malignant memories of what they have experienced in the bomb blasts.

What one hopes will happen is that both the children and their family members will come for early psychological counseling. Many children were killed today. Many more are injured. Some have not been found yet. What do you tell your children about this tragedy and what do you allow them to know about it? Well, I think you have to be honest with your children. What I'm more concerned about is the immediate victims where a father or a mother has died or a child has died. What we tend to do is we tend not to speak about these problems. What we should do is speak about them. Talk about our feelings and actively confront our fears. When you talk about the victims, if somebody has lost a loved one or a friend, what kind of stages are they going to go through and what's the time frame for their recovery?

Well, the immediate stage is really one of shock, like shell-shock. This then is followed by eventual acceptance of what has happened. But that can take some time. And the typical symptoms that these patients will have is insomnia with nightmares. It's the kind of symptoms that the Vietnam veterans were experiencing after their tours of duty in Vietnam. And as far as the kind of counseling that they might have to undergo, what can they expect? Well, the counseling is really firstly an assessment of what have they experienced, what are the symptoms that they're having, anxiety symptoms, sleep disorders, etc. Then what one does is when talks through the issues, what they've experienced, and you may even have to use antidepressants for their disorders. Are you getting help from outside sources in terms of dealing with the psychological problems that you make in front here with people in Oklahoma? Well, I think that one of the major places in Oklahoma City for psychiatric services is San Anthony's.

And they have seen the majority of these patients. But then, of course, there's baptists, the university hospitals, and elsewhere. And they are doing, I think, a very good job, indeed, for these problems, as they have in the past. Okay, Dr. Paul, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Thank you, Dick. Lynn. Well, now we'd like to pass along some information from various agencies around town, and numbers for you to call for information and where you can make donations. The first place we need generators, they're desperately needed, gas and diesel powered. You can call the American Red Cross headquarters that is at 6th and Lincoln. You can just take your generator there. Feed the children is accepting donations of clothing, food, and medical supplies. They are at 333 North Meridian. Also, the American Red Cross is asking for any kind of assistance. If you need assistance from them or information, you can call 405-232-7121. Also, the contact telephone hotline, they are a crisis counseling service.

You can call them and talk to them. They will give you help or pass you along to someone who can help you. Their numbers are 405-848-2273, that is 848-Care. Dick? Perhaps the only positive thing to come from this explosion is the response for help. When news of the bomb hit, volunteers from all across the state rush to the Red Cross to donate blood. In Tulsa, donors stood in lines two hours long to give blood. People with O-negative and O-positive blood are in highest demand because it's used to treat trauma victims. Some companies gave employees time off to donate. Others came because of the children. The part about the day cares what really got me. Well, I work for McKinsey Moff at law firm and we have an office in Oklahoma City which is just a two blocks from where the bomb went off. And when they called and said what had happened, we watched TV for a little bit, and I thought, well, I have no medical experience. There's nothing I can do so I decided to come give blood.

So often when it's farther away, you feel a little more distant from it. But when it's in your own state, you feel like perhaps you should try to do something, whatever you can to help out. The response has been immediate, but there's going to be ongoing. People are going to be in surgery. They're going to be in hospitals. Really for about the next week to 10 days, there's going to be a need for blood. And so if you can't get in today, you can still do something and you can still help. And just try to come out within the next few days. The Red Cross says it doesn't need any more donors today. Blood banks will be open though, first thing in the morning. Well, Dick, the weather's not cooperating with the tragedy in Oklahoma City. The National Weather Service has issued a number of watches for the sooner state. First of all, tornado watch for South Central Oklahoma on the Red River until 9 p.m. tonight. And in Southeast from Oklahoma until midnight tonight, it just issued a severe thunderstorm watch for most of Western and Central Oklahoma. And this will include metropolitan areas of Hobart, Alta's, Oklahoma City's included, as well as Woodward and Ponca City, where strong thunderstorms are developing now

in Western Oklahoma and moving towards the east. I have all the weather information, later than I said. I think, therefore I am. But what exactly does that mean? And what do we mean when we talk about self? Roger Bingham explores the science that is taking the self seriously, and which may lead to... The greatest revolution of all. A revolution that will bring its face to face with our selves. Discover the nature of consciousness to as the human quest continues. Tonight at 8. Hello, I'm Lewis Rookeiser inviting you to join me for the next edition of Wall Street Week. When we'll have a special program on what the dollar's troubles really mean to you and me. Whereas the dollar heading now and why? Would you be smart to have more of your money working outside the United States? Is it finally time to buy gold again? We'll seek the answers from three experts who are anything but green on the green back.

Friday evening at 7.30. Today's bombing in Oklahoma City was predicted by an Oklahoma author. Martin Keating, brother of the governor, is finishing up a book about terrorism in the heartland. This afternoon, he spoke with OETA's Karen Wicker in our Tulsa studio. Mr. Keating, thanks for joining us. You have just recently written a novel about a terrorist attack here in Oklahoma. Yes, the terrorists are based in Oklahoma, and it's sad that it came true today. Well, from the information we know now, would you say this does have the fingerprints of a terrorist attack? It is a terrorist attack. It's a strike at America's soul, and it's appropriate that they strike at Oklahoma City because that's the heart of America psychologically and geographically. The book you wrote is called the final jihad for folks out there at home that aren't familiar with that word. That means holy war. Yes, and that's what we have. It's a group of people, whether they're associated with any Middle Eastern crowd or not.

It's a group of people who want to do damage to America, and they've done a lot because there'll be a lot of people going to work tomorrow who will not be comfortable. You did a lot of research for your book. Yes. From what you found out during your research, is any of this ringing true with what we're saying today? Yes, my research started about six years ago. The FBI was very concerned when I met with them in Washington about something like this. When you have a terrorism taking place within our shores, not necessarily along the coastlines, say in New York or other cities like that. They were concerned that there could be terrorists among us, terrorists causing problems based from someplace in the United States. I picked Oklahoma because people would not believe Oklahoma would be the source of it, and yet it's the ideal place because we're not expecting this to happen here. I think that's a big question today. Why Oklahoma and why this building in downtown? Well, they struck at the U.S. government in effect by bombing the federal building. And maybe it was related to the David Kuresh situation of two years ago. Bob Rickson had the FBI who, fortunately, was not in the building.

His office is or elsewhere in Oklahoma City led the FBI against the operation in Waco, the Kuresh operation. And so it could have been related to that. We're not sure yet, but it was definitely an attack on the U.S. government, which to a lot of people around the world who don't like us is the heart of this society. You have some interesting parallels here in your book with what happened today. Your book starts out at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, which is now we know the place where the rental car was taken from. Yes, and I also predicted the World Trade Center bombing because that would be a gorgeous thing to bring down. From their perspective, I use that term, gorgeous, advisedly, and a crash to the plane in the White House. Now, in my book, of course, it's serious to do it. This, the event that actually happened was apparently an ill person. But these people are not finished. And if we don't catch them, which there'll be an all-out effort to catch them, they'll do something again. You mentioned earlier that a lot of federal workers will be scared to go to work tomorrow. And I would go as far to say, a lot of people are going to be scared to go to work.

Any abandoned vehicle in front of an office building is going to be suspect tomorrow. And the problem is, you can hide explosives that will do that kind of damage in a suitcase. This particular one, because it dug such a massive hole, probably had more than that. But they are talking about ammonium nitrate, which is a very... It's a fertilizer, so it's easily obtainable. And so you don't know if there's a tarp over a pickup truck if there's a bomb there. But that's their point. They want to have everybody afraid. And strike at the heart, the soul of America, and cause Americans to lose their will to their self-esteem. In your book, you center the activities here in Oklahoma. And you said earlier that your publisher just laughed at you that Oklahoma would even be a threat for something like this. They're not laughing today. No, they're not. I spoke to my agent this afternoon, and the laughter has stopped. Martin Keating says today's tragedy is just a small indicator of things to come. He predicts a huge commercial airline bombing in the near future. Well, Dick, the blast in downtown Oklahoma City was strong enough to rattle seismic recorders.

It is being compared to a small earthquake. The explosion shook the recorder at the Kirkpatrick monitoring station. Though it will take some analysis, those who monitor the seismographs say they felt the blast several miles from the scene. Most earthquakes have a different pattern, though. After you've looked at them for a while, they'll have a fairly sudden onset and then die down gradually over a long period of time. Just the reverberations from it. And this here had a quick onset and a quick die-down. The seismograph reading of the blast recorded an initial shake, which was apparently the bomb. A second rattle was the impact of the building hitting the ground. Ross is here with the weather, and as if people in Oklahoma City had not been through enough already, admit afternoon, a thunderstorm rolled through town. Roll through, Dick, and we've got more coming our way. In fact, it's going to be quite an active weather night across portions of Oklahoma. We'll start off with the tornado watches, because they've been quite active just to the south of the Red River throughout the afternoon.

So 9 p.m. tonight, we have a watch issued by the National Weather Service for the southern tier counties, extending across just about Brian County, then from Choctaw County on to the counties to the North of the Curtin County, a tornado watched until midnight tonight. And they just issued a severe thunderstorm watch that covers a good portion of Western and Central Oklahoma, generally bounded from around Alters, North through to about Woodward, across to about Ponca City, then extending on down pretty close to Ardmore. This area of the central part of the state is under a severe thunderstorm watch until 1 o'clock tomorrow morning. And right now, thunderstorms are beginning to develop along the western portions of Oklahoma, and they should be moving towards Central Oklahoma during the evening hours. And by the position of the watch, it looks like they should be moving to the Oklahoma City metro area sometime after 9 or 10 o'clock this evening. So we do have to continue with that also. Across the state right now, the good news is that we are north of the warm front,

which is right along the Red River, so most of the tornado activity has been to the south in the state of Texas. Temperatures are on the cool side for this time of the year, 62 degrees, couple of warmer readings from Lott and also Tulsa compared to 53 degrees. At McAllister and Windsor, generally from the east to northeast, across Oklahoma, speeds up to about 15 miles per hour with some higher guests. Across the nation, well, most of the rain activity has been along this warm front, across into portions of Georgia, and the Carolinas, Northrop and the Tennessee and Kentucky, with severe weather reported there, just some scattered showers in the northern Rockies, some light snow activity around the Great Lakes, 80s are holding over most of south Texas across into Florida and along the Atlantic coast, while cool weather covers most of the far west. Tomorrow what's going to happen is that system is going to lift away from Oklahoma and we're going to see some scattered shower and thunderstorms ending in the northeast from part of the state tomorrow evening and continuing on up. And then we're looking for a couple of days of quiet weather across Oklahoma, so it looks like weather conditions will be improving.

So here's our forecast for tonight, scattered heavy thunderstorm activity across the sooner state, look for loads ranging from 38 degrees in the panhandle to 55 degrees in the southeast. Now tomorrow we'll see the thunderstorms ending in north eastern Oklahoma, as that storm system pulls off towards the northeast and we'll have journey west winds with clearing skies, highs 60 to 75 degrees tomorrow afternoon. On Friday, expect a party cloudy sky day. It's going to be a mild day highs again in the 60s in the northeast to about 78 degrees in the southwestern sections of Oklahoma. The next chance for showers and thunderstorms will be on Saturday, probably early Saturday morning, as the system rolls through, but they should be wildly scattered. It's going to be a cool day on Sunday with sunny skies, and Monday we'll start to see a warm up again as the next storm approaches from the west. Not good news. Not good news for the relief people. That's right. Thanks for the offer. Thank you, Ross. In rural news tonight, across America, telephone bomb threats are emptying federal buildings. The threats and orders for increased security following an explosion.

Today's explosion in downtown Oklahoma City, there have been threats against buildings from Portland, Oregon to Wellington, Delaware. Iranian TV says three U.S. nationals have been convicted of spying. The government-run network quotes Iran's Supreme Court president, as saying a revolutionary court found the three guilty of spying during the Iran-a-Rock War, which lasted from 1980 through 1988. The official says the Iranian Supreme Court now has the cases under review. Well, Judge Lance Edo and attorneys in the OJ Simpson murder case are hearing from jurors today. The judge has halted trial testimony to investigate allegations of racial tension and other problems among the jurors. Republican Dick Lugar has formally launched his presidential campaign with promises to scrap the federal income tax and replace it with a national sales tax. The four-term Indiana senator says as president, he plans to restore limited central government. Well, actor Carol O'Connor has a front row seat for this court case.

Today, he watched an alleged drug merchant plead innocent to a felon account of possessing cocaine for sale. O'Connor blames the man for his son, Suicide. On the Supreme Court today ruled in favor of Cours Brewing Company and a dispute over its practice of listing the alcohol content of its products. Just as Clarence Thomas wrote the opinion on behalf of the court, he said the federal law in question had too many defects and went too far. Dick. On Wall Street today, a late surge led to a record high for stocks that Dow Jones industrial average closed up 28 points at 4207.49. Volume was very heavy. 378 million shares were traded. Oklahoma stocks be okay if an intro closed down a quarter, Fleming Foods up an eighth, Gaylord Entertainment lost a quarter of a point. Halliburton gained a quarter, Helmer campaigned up three-eighths. Kermiggy gained one-half, Liberty Bank down an eighth. Noble Affiliates also lost an eighth of a point. OG&E unchanged, and 1-0 fell three-eighths. Parker Drilling was unchanged.

Philip Petroleum lost an eighth, Sonic gained an eighth, Unicorporation up a quarter, and Williams Company's closed unchanged. The price of light-sweet crude gained 36 cents, closing at 2041 a barrel, and the dollar staged a partial recovery today in Europe, although it finished below yesterday's levels, and trading against major foreign currencies. And that is our Oklahoma News report for this evening. Stay tuned for more on today's tragedy in Oklahoma City in a special edition of the People's Business, immediately following this newscast, and join us tomorrow at 630 for our continuing coverage on today's following. For all of us at OETA, thanks for joining us. Good night. Presentation of the Oklahoma News report is made possible in part through a grant from Cellular One, providing advanced cellular services and communication solutions for businesses and individuals in Oklahoma City, Tulsa,

and hundreds of other communities across Oklahoma. I think, therefore, I am. But what exactly does that mean? And what do we mean when we talk about self? Roger Bingham explores the science that is taking the self seriously, and which may lead to... The greatest revolution of all. The revolution that will bring us face to face with ourselves. Discover the nature of consciousness as the human quest continues. Tonight at 8. Next time on Mystery, an innocent man faces death when a prime suspect is set free. But it was a very, very sharp case.