IN LOVING MEMORY OF THE 168 OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING VICTIMS (APRIL 19, 1995) PART 2 (TIMOTHY MCVEIGH EXECUTED ON JUNE 11, 2001)

            On this date, June 11, 2001, Timothy McVeigh A.K.A as the Oklahoma City Bomber was executed by lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. He was the terrorist who detonated a truck bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. Commonly referred to as the Oklahoma City Bombing, the attack killed 168 people and injured over 600. It was the deadliest act of terrorism within the United States prior to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in United States history. Let us hear from the victims’ families who supported the death sentence for Timothy McVeigh. We will not forget them.

Jannie Coverdale

QUOTE 1: She said she opposed the death penalty--until the bombing. She fears McVeigh would attract a following of extremists in jail and end up orchestrating the killing of others, so she wants him executed. But she's trying not to hate him. "Hatred is a sickness," she says, the proof being what it drove McVeigh to do in the first place. "That's why our loved ones died. I won't put myself on Timothy McVeigh's level." She says she hasn't forgiven McVeigh yet, but, for her own sake, she's trying.

AUTHOR: Jannie Coverdale lost her two grandsons, Aaron, 5, and Elijah, 2, in the Oklahoma City bombing. 

QUOTE 2: Although never a supporter of the death penalty, Apple feels now that anything less than death would be a slap in the face to her brother and the 167 others who were killed in the bombing. To her, she says, it boils down to the concept of making choices—one of the most important, basic parts of life: [Timothy McVeigh] chose to park that truck, put in his earplugs, and walk off. When he did that, he took away the rights of 168 people to ever make decisions of their own again. My brother and the others can't elect to work, or play, or spend time with their families. So I don't want McVeigh to have the freedom to even get a drink of water in his cell. If those 168 victims can't make the most basic of choices, why should he? [He] has to pay for the choice he made on April 19, 1995—and he has to pay with his life.

AUTHOR: Donnetta Apple whose brother was killed in the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma.

QUOTE 3: Before Oklahoma City, Carolyn Templin was, by her own admission, "very much opposed" to capital punishment. "But losing my son-in-law made it clear how important the death penalty is," she says. Templin's son-in-law, Scott Williams, was killed in the Murrah building blast, three months before his daughter, Kylie, was born.

QUOTE 4: Templin now believes that if one is "found guilty beyond a doubt, the only appropriate way is to execute the person." And swiftly, too: Endless delays in carrying out death sentences, she says, serve only to undermine their deterrent effect. Templin traveled to Washington to lobby for a bill speeding up executions for convicted terrorists on death row. The bill's passage renewed her faith in the very federal government that Timothy McVeigh so hated. McVeigh could have channelled his anger constructively. "Instead, he chose to mass murder 168 families." For that, she says, he deserves to die.”

AUTHOR: Carolyn Templin whose son-in-law, Scott Williams was killed in the Oklahoma City Bombing.  

 Kathleen Treanor

QUOTE 5: "I'm glad I live in a country which has made an example of this man," said Kathleen Treanor, who watched his death on the television link.”

AUTHOR: Kathleen Treanor whose four-year-old daughter was among Timothy McVeigh's victims greeted his death with relief. 

QUOTE 6: He added: "(McVeigh) had a look of defiance and if he could do it all again, he would."

QUOTE 7: "He had a look of defiance and that if he could, he'd do it all over again," Whicher said. He added: "I don't think he gave himself to the Lord. I don't think he repented and personally I think he's in hell."

QUOTE 8: "I think today our justice system has preserved the freedom of this country."

AUTHOR: Larry Whicher whose brother died in the Oklahoma City Bombing.

Janice Smith

QUOTE 9: Janice Smith, whose brother Lanny Scroggins died in the bombing, prayed with her children at the Oklahoma City National Memorial, then left after getting word that McVeigh was dead. "It's over," she said. "We don't have to continue with him anymore."

AUTHOR: Janice Smith whose brother Lanny Scroggins died in the Oklahoma City Bombings. 

QUOTE 10: "He will get what he deserves in the afterlife, where he will meet Hitler and Jeffrey Dahmer," says Ernie Ross, who suffered serious injuries from the blast while working across the street. Another survivor suggested that McVeigh should have one leg amputated and then be suspended over sharpened, growing bamboo shoots that would pierce his body.

AUTHOR: Ernie Ross who suffered serious injuries from the Oklahoma City Bombing blast while working across the street 

QUOTE: Putting an end to it--that's what so many victims' families seek. Last week, a parade of witnesses at the Timothy McVeigh trial described the explosion's impact on their lives. Off the witness stand, survivors expressed their belief that killing McVeigh would be just, given their loss, and many vented their fury. "The sooner [McVeigh] meets his maker, the sooner justice will be served," said Darlene Welch, whose 4-year-old niece, Ashley, was killed in the blast.

AUTHOR: Darlene Welch whose 4-year-old niece, Ashley, was killed in the Oklahoma City Bombing.

            Please go to the ‘Soldier, Executioner & Pro Lifer’ Blog to learn more about Timothy McVeigh’s profile and see this debate and the article on the death penalty of the week.