The Times from Shreveport, Louisiana • Page 4

THE TIMES TRAGEDY IN ATLANTA wr if mm mu 4 A SUNDAY, JULY 28, 1996 aunxril sraes I fl (fefeslaff audi oonjooiry Ik About the blast The bomb: The FBI says it was a pipe bomb. A federal law enforcement official said it consisted of three pipes and was in a knapsack spotted next to a lighting and sound tower at Centennial Olympic Park, where a free concert was going on. The device, laden with nails and screws, tore some 15 feet of fence apart and sent shrapnel, including shards of corrugated fence, hurtling as far as 100 yards. The victims: The explosion killed Alice S. Hawthorne, 44, of Al- bany, Ga.

A Turkish broadcasting cameraman, Melih Uzunyol, 40. died of a heart attack suffered while running to the scene. The bomb injured 1 1 1 people, most suffering minor injuries, shock or fractures. Only 11 remained hospitalized Saturday, all in stable condition. The area: The 21 -acre Centennial Olympic Park holds up to 50,000 people and has corporate exhibits, concession stands and a five-ringed wading fountain.

The bomb went off between the Swatch pavilion and a concert area sponsored by On Saturday afternoon, scattered chairs and streams of litter were evidence of the throngs of people evacuated after the bomb went off. 1 wv Eyewitness: This is just By PETER ABRAHAM Gannett News Service ATLANTA Friday was a typical night at Centennial Olympic Park. Jack Mack and the Heart Attack was playing music from the '50s and '60s to a crowd of late-night revelers, fans making their way back from sporting events, and people getting off the late shift from jobs at the Olympics. Jason Sanders, a 19-year-old Atlanta resident, had just finished work and was making his way through the park with some friends. "It was crowded, just like it's been since the Olympics started," he said.

There were a lot of people listening to the music or just walking around. I was walking though the park looking at the different things." Rich Buhre of Marietta, was tending to a friend's souvenir stand across the street "It had been kind of fun," he said. "We were meeting a lot of people and selling T-shirts. It wasn't a rowdy crowd or anything like that. People were just having a good time." Christian Horvath, a soldier stationed at Fort Benning, was walking along the sidewalk adjacent to the park.

"People were walking around drinking beer, just having fun," he said. "There was no sign of anything bad about to happen. I was on leave myself and seeing some sights downtown." Then at 1:25 a.m., just as the rock group was about to launch into another song, an explosion shook the area. AP "I thought it was part of the show," said Dennis Pete, who was 50 yards away from the area where the bomb went off. "People didn't realize what it was at first I think most of us thought it was part of the entertainment like fireworks or something." Buhre said there was no panic.

"We were right across the street and nobody was running out of the park. (Most) people didn't start to move until the police formed a line and cleared the park." Willie Peters, standing with his family in front of the small stage where the band was performing, said he felt the explosion and, when he turned around, his mother-in-law, Virginia Mitchell, was lying on the ground, bleeding from a wound in her back. "I was in shock," he said. There were injured people all over the place. I couldn't believe it" The explosion came from the base of a five-story tower 35 yards from the stage.

According to the FBI, a pipe bomb scattered nails and screws up to 100 yards away. Security officials were suspicious of the bag containing the bomb before it went off and had started to clear people from the area. But Peters said, "Nobody said a thing to us. It was a total shock." Horvath said the blast reminded him of that from a hand grenade. "I've felt the concussion from a grenade, being in the military," he said.

"It was just like that. It sort of knocked you back. I saw somebody I think was knocked over a fence." Buhre said police moved quickly to clear the area after the explosion. "The cops were great" he said. They got people right out of there.

I think they were worried there would be more bombs." Ambulances raced to the area, Stunned people gather at a street corner two Olympic Park, Saturday. The explosion killed blocks from the site of a blast at the Centennial two people. police and fire vehicles encircled the park, and helicopters hovered overhead. Every street leading to the park was blocked off, nearby buildings were closed, and security was boosted at hotels, banks, venues and the Olympic Village, about a mile away. Police, some on horses, pushed crowds away from the area in cluding many who were leaving downtown nightclubs and restaurants and didn't know what had happened.

Peters ended up at Grady Memorial Hospital where Mitchell was treated and released. Officials said at least 110 people were injured. Buhre said he was told by po lice to close the souvenir shop, then had to wait until 6 a.m. before he was allowed to retrieve his car from a parking garage. This is the worst thing that could have happened to the Olympics," Sanders said.

That park is where everybody goes to have fun and celebrate. This is just awful." 4 mood Compet in Atlanta is now grim ition continues, bu Tm surprised it hasn't happened sooner admits one trainer. By MITCHELL LANDSBERG The Associated Press ATLANTA The games went on Saturday, but the joy was drained out of them. The pipe bombing at Centennial Olympic Park shook this city to its core, leaving it jittery, subdued and saddened. You could feel it on the streets, see it in people's faces.

Police who had smiled a day before were stern and suspicious. Fans still went to the games, but without much enthusiasm. Even the athletes were downcast "I can't tell you how sad I am," said Matt Ghaffari, the American silver medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling, "I'm ashamed as a person, as a human being." Few people seemed terribly surprised by news of the bombing. "I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner," said one fan, Julee Foley, an athletic trainer from Cincinnati. The Centennial Olympic games had begun under a cloud, two nights after the mid-air explosion and crash of a TWA jet into the Atlantic off New York.

But the shock of that tragedy seemed to have been erased by the first week of athletic competition, a week of soaring highs and growing jubilation in the. stands. On Saturday morning, as track and field athletes confpeted in a depressing rain and grim-faced fans trickled into heavily guarded stadiums and arenas, the thrill was gone. "We almost didn't come," said James Saxon of Tampa, who was on his way to Olympic Stadium with his wife to watch track and field, "but you can't let terrorists run your life." Still, the Saxons decided at the last minute to leave their two daughters with friends rather than bring them. Most people seemed to agree with the decision of the International Olympic Committee to continue the games.

And very few said they would alter their plans to guard against terrorism. "If it's going to happen, it's going to happen," shrugged Foley, who was heading to weightlifting and baseball. "You can't control it" But as police tried to control it, they produced scenes that scarcely could have been imagined in the United States a decade ago. At Lake Lanier, site of the rowing finals, two soldiers with machine guns slung around their necks patrolled the grandstands, while others staffed security checkpoints. Downtown, police detained a man in camouflage fatigues and questioned him, in full sight of a gathering crowd, for about 20 minutes before taking his picture and releasing him.

Officers refused to say why they questioned him, but the man said they told him he looked suspicious because he was wearing earplugs. "I looked the part, I guess," he said. He would not identify himself to a reporter. Even athletes, who normally move quickly through security checkpoints, were subjected to thorough searchesA security guard passed a handheld metal detector over heptathlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee as she entered Olympic Stadium. She later withdrew from the competition because of an injury.

Terrorism strikes the Olympics Memories of Munich: 11 athletes died during terrorist attack in 72 1 Baker St. if. Georgia Dome Glbal i r-J Olympic Village 8,399 sTrx Light and ound tower i 'illllP explodes, killing 1 I sJl at least two and i wounding over I 1 100 people llilSIflli I Global Olympic Village The South on Record Budweiser Budworld Superstore Swatch Exhibit Hosts of future Games say they won't allow fear to. govern their plans. From Wire Reports NEW YORK The last time terrorism struck the Olympics, it did not happen in a bomblike flash, but in a televised ordeal that ended in a massacre.

Ten Israeli athletes and one coach were murdered by eight Arab terrorists during a daylong siege at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. Two were killed in the Olympic Village during the takeover; the other nine were taken hostage and killed during a failed rescue attempt, It was a violent act that had no precedence in the history of the Olympics, an event where political differences are supposed to be set aside in the spirit of competition. The tragedy began at 4 a.m., Sept 5, 1972, when members of the Palestinian Black September group snuck into Olympic Village and seized control of the dormitory housing the Israeli team. Two Israelis, weightlifter Joseph Romano and wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg, were killed in the dormitory. German military personnel surrounded the building and began negotiating with the terrorists, who sought the release of 200 Palestinians jailed in Israel.

Television brought the tragedy home, as images of blindfolded Israelis on the balcony and armed terrorists were beamed around the world. The drama then moved to the airport, where it reached its tragic conclusion. German military personnel opened fire on the terrorists; when the fusillade stopped, nine athletes, five terrorists and a police officer were killed. Then, as now, International Olympic Committee officials declared that the Games would continue. Since Munich, many relatives of the Israeli victims have been angered by the IOC's refusal to acknowledge or honor the dead Olympians; IOC officials said any such action would "politicize" the Olympics.

"It's not the IOC's policy to stage, I would say, special ceremonies such as this," Francois Carrard, IOC director general, said shortly before the Atlanta Games began. At the Opening Ceremonies in Atlanta, a delegation of relatives of the Munich massacre attended the spectacle, hoping that their loved ones would be honored in some way. They left that night, disappointed and angry. There was a 34-hour suspension of play in Munich. There was no delay in Atlanta.

By midmorning Saturday, barely 10 hours after a bomb exploded at Centennial Olympic Park, athletes were running, shooting, rowing and volleying on the beach in skimpy bathing suits. While there were moments of 911 call made from nearby phone booth moments before the blast Police begin cleanng area Bomb explodes at after finding suspicious approximately package 12:25 a.m. COT Police seal off the blocks around the park as bomb squads patrol the area AP Welch, chairman of the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing "You have to balance creating an opportunity for people who can't afford the Games to enjoy your city with trying to avoid creating similar opportunities for silence at the start of competition in the 19 sports played Saturday and all Olympic flags were lowered to half-staff, an unnerving normalcy returned quickly to both the city and the Games. Organizers of the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney and the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City said the attack in an unsecured park created specially an Olympic gathering place will cause review of their plans for similar areas. "There is no question this has raised a new issue," said Tom tpsrls: AHhbiigh bomb could'v 'fa eacSly.

9 Explosive may have been made with everyday material. From Wire Reports i DALLAS The pipe bomb that detonated in Atlanta could have been devilishly Simple, a classic example of the most common explosive device used illegally in the United States, federal experts said. Officials also said the bomb could have been touched off by a remote control device, or the satchel-type container that held it could have concealed a battery- powered electronic timer allowing whoever placed it to get away. These can be very unsophisticated, and they are very, very lethal devices. They're primarily designed as an antipersonnel device," said one federal bomb expert, asking not to be named.

"They're probably one of the more common explosive devices that are encountered. That's because the pipe not only provides a container, but fragments into shrapnel." Some experts said pipe bombs can be constructed easily out of materials as simple as plumbing pipes and match-heads or fireworks or ammunition reloading gunpowder. Another law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the potency of the device in Atlanta appeared to be enhanced by its placement: a tower surrounded by corrugated aluminum that shredded in the blast. A number of the injured were hit by metal fragments. Detailed instructions for making pipe bombs and other explosive devices are available from sources as varied as anti- government publications, pamphlets sold at gun shows, as well as sites on the Internet Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms statistics indicate that pipe bombs were involved in 81 percent of all U.S.

bombings during the five-year period ending in December 1993. 3,081 incidents resulted in 46 deaths, 391 injuries and more than $9.1 million in property damage, ATF statistics show. The statistics reflect that 87 percent of pipe bombs used in bombings or attempt ed bombings between 1989 and 1993 had simple fuses for detonators. An undetonated pipe bomb was recovered last week from an air charter service tarmac at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, and two Macon, militia members were arrested in April for ille-. gal possession of explosives after authorities recovered materials for making pipe bombs on their property.

Officials, however, said there appeared to be no similarity between the Atlanta device and the materials recovered in nearby Macon..