A painful decision

May 9, 1995

From Correspondent Susan Candiotti

OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma (CNN) -- It's official. The decision has been made to use explosives to bring down the remains of the federal building in Oklahoma City. The debate has gone on for days, stirring emotions in a city still reeling from last month's terrorist bombing.

It's a subject topping talk radio. It's the decision to use explosives, instead of a wrecking ball, to bring down the haunting remains of the Murrah Building.

Caller: "I think basically it's time to get it down. I don't care how they do it."
Host: "The quicker the better?"
Caller: "The quicker the better."
Caller: "Imploding the building obviously would be safer though it's a touchy subject."

It's a touchy subject because of the skittishness of some residents and victim's families worried about the trauma of seeing another explosion, even one that's tightly controlled. Lee Clark doesn't have an opinion right now. "I really, I really I just can't answer right now. I just have too many emotions right now."

Lee Clark lost her daughter, Kimberly, in the bombing, a paralegal who worked on the eighth floor; and who died there. This was the first time her mother could bring herself to view the site in person. "She was a beautiful young lady. A great loss. She was going to be married May 5th, but we have to go on. And we know she's in a better world than we're in."

Healing is what occupies most Oklahomans, who, perhaps, sensing that the scene of so much tragedy won't be around much longer, come here daily. One onlooker says, "To live through another big bang would be really difficult for people here."

But experts say a controlled collapse is both safer and faster than other methods. Officials say imploding the building will give them a better chance of recovering the bodies of two women who remain missing. Judy Parnell, General Services Administration: "We have marked the rubble. It has been painted. It will be in plastic to protect it. And once the building comes down, it will be very safe to go in there and recover the bodies."

To move things along, federal officials are cutting through the usual red tape and expect the building will be demolished by the end of next week.

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A painful decision

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