Mondav. April 24. 1995
THE OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING
UN I V E R S I T Y D A I L Y K A N S A N
Murrah architect urges its refurbishing
The Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY — When James Loftis began designing a downtown office tower in the 1970s, the Vietnam War was still on and the government feared protesters. His orders were clear: Make the building bomb-resistant.
Five days ago, the 53-year-old architect's creation had become the scene of a catastrophe. The cause: a home-brewed bomb.
The Alfred P. Murrah Federa.
Building, nine schools of glass and
concrete, entered the annals of U.S.
disasters at 9:04 a.m. on April 19
when thousands of pounds of explosives packed in a truck ripped away its north side.
Loftis said that the government asked him to make the building bomb-resistant, not bombproof.
Bombproof buildings, while possible, are impractical and their costs prohibitive, said Loftis, who has worked in Japan, Australia and Malaysia.
Knight-Ridder Tribune/RON CODDINGTON
"The way you do it is have three or four feet of reinforced concrete. Many times you put them underground. ... You go through a maze of doorways, there would be no windows," he said. "Who would want to live in it?"
Loftis also said that building bombproof structures sent the wrong message.
have to continue life in normal fashion and not let these people intimidate us into burying ourselves in the ground and living with a bunker mentality," he said.
"We just have to resolve we're going to use whatever courage we
After the blast, Loftis rushed to the scene and helped, along with the building's structural engineer and blueprints, to guide rescuers searching for survivors.
He said rescuers were concerned about the safety of stairwalls. He assured them they were solid. In fact, he said the elevator shafts and fire stairs were sturdy enough to be resurrected and used again.
Loftis speculated that the truck bomb exploded from a parking space on the street at the east end of the building's north side. He said damage might have been less devastating if the blast had occurred near the middle.
"The building would have absorbed the shock better if it were 40 to 50 feet closer to the center," he said. "It would have allowed the strength of the building to resist equally."
The Murrah building, which opened in 1977 and is named after a judge, housed the local offices of several federal agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Secret Service and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Okla., estimated it would cost at least $28 million to replace the building. President Clinton's chief of staff, Leon Panetta, said Clinton would approve the rebuilding.
Loftis said he knew many people wanted to level the site and start fresh so the community wouldn't be reminded of the tragedy.
He said he preferred another approach.
"I've always been proud of that building and continue to be," he said. "I hope the community is proud enough to have it refurbished back to its original condition. I think we can do it as an act of defiance to evil."
Tiny victims receive letters,gifts from across the country
OKLAHOMA CITY — America is opening its heart to the tiniest victims of the Oklahoma bomb blast.
The Associated Press
Children's Hospital of Oklahoma has received hundreds of telephone calls, poems, letters, cards, stuffed animals and other toys for the six children who remain hospitalized and the 13 who died in the explosion Wednesday at the federal building.
"Roses are red, violets blue, I hope
you get better because we love you," wrote one youngster named Bobbie from California.
"My name is Crystal and I'm in the sixth grade," wrote another youth from California. "I'm so sorry for what happened. I wouldn't like my kid to be in that and maybe die. I would try to take down the person that did it."
Jake Lowrey, a spokesman for Children's Hospital, said a Baptist minister's wife in Texas telephoned him Sunday to say she was taking
donations from parishioners to help with the children's medical bills.
"Anytime children are injured, especially when it is an act of terrorism, the hearts of people just go out to them," Lowrey said. "It really helps the families to know other people are out there sharing their grief and praying for recovery."
The six children still hospitalized range in age from 20 months to 15. Their injuries range from burns of more than 55 percent of their body to fractures. The most critical is a 4-
EDITORS NOTE: For any monetary donations to help offset medical costs, checks should be made out to TUH Foundation and sent to TUH Foundation, c/o Public Relations Office, Children's Hospital of Oklahoma, P.O. Box 26307, Oklahoma City, Okla., 73126. Other larger items such as toys should be sent to Children's Hospital, c/o Public Relations Office, 940 Northeast 13th, Oklahoma City, Okla., 73104.
The Associated Press
"I was only thinking that they came out clear, they're in focus," said Porter, a 25-year-old bank employee who had never photographed anything more dramatic than the Bullnanza Rodeo at the Lazy E Arena.
Now-famous photo changes man's life
Within hours of the explosion that killed the baby girl and scores of others in the federal building, Porter's photograph had been transmitted on The Associated Press wire. The next morning, it was on front pages everywhere.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Charles Porter IV didn't realize his snapshot of a bloody baby cradled in the arms of a firefighter was anything special until three clerks at Wal-Mart, where he developed the film, started weeping.
The photo shows firefighter Chris Fields cradling the diaper-clad baby in his arms. A companion shot shows police Sgt. John Avera clutching the limp body to his chest, running to hand her to Fields, his arms outstretched.
The image brought home the tragedy powerfully. President Clinton mentioned it in a televised address.
Ever since, Porter's life has been in chaos. At times, he wishes he never took it. He can't even bring himself to pick up his camera.
But when he met with 1-year-old Baylee Almon's mother Saturday, he felt better.
"We never would have known she was treated so good if you didn't take those pictures," Aren Almon, 22, said during the tearful meeting.
"I'm relieved. I thought, 'What must they think of me?' I hope it didn't hurt you," Porter replied quietly, sitting with Ms. Almon at the family's dining room table.
"Of course it broke our hearts,
but it let us see how much they
did care," said the baby's grandmother, Debbie Almon.
Porter had been sitting at his computer in his office three blocks from the federal building when he heard the explosion Wednesday morning. He thought it might have been a planned demolition and he might get some interesting pictures.
Grabbing the camera he away keeps in the trunk of his car, he headed to the scene and was swept up in a tide of smoke, screams and sirens.
He looked through the zoom lens on his fully automatic Canon OES-A2 and started shooting. He had no idea what he had captured on film until he went to Wal-Mart about an hour later and waited 20 minutes for the prints.
"The only time I knew the pictures were dramatic, a little different, was when employees started looking at them and were weeping," he said.
Porter called a photography professor at his alma mater, the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, who suggested Porter take them to the AP. The professor is a personal friend; Porter said he has never taken a photography class in his life.
"I did not know that AP meant everywhere." Porter said.
Overwhelmed by the attention, he called a family friend, a lawyer, to help him screen calls.
In the hours after the bombing, he was so affected by the image of the child that he put the snapshot in his pocket and went to hospitals to try to find out her fate.
"Have you seen this baby? Have you seen this baby?" he asked nurses.
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