Supporters fear retaliation
By Patricia L. Pastore
Tribune-Star
Death penalty advocates blame unforgiving friends of Timothy McVeigh's for the light turnout in their camp at Voorhees Park.
"Fear of retaliation kept some people home," said Jon Prough, 29, of Oklahoma City who came to support McVeigh's execution by lethal injection today.
Prough and his wife, Carrie along with one other Oklahoma resident and seven area residents held vigil awaiting news of McVeigh's death after 7 a.m. today. Throughout the night they stood together at Voorhees Park holding signs that said Die, McVeigh, Die, Justice For All and "Thou Shalt Not Kill 168 and Live."
Motorists driving by Voorhees Street honked, waved and even shouted their support. One man in a green car yelled, "I'm with you, we'll celebrate when it's over."
Peggy Harris, 26 of Terre Haute a nursing student at IVY Tech, told those who stopped to talk with her, "People told us they are afraid to be out here," she said. "They are afraid of retaliation. McVeigh has supporters."
People in Oklahoma City couldn't all make the 10-hour trip and some believe it's better to watch him die in a group they were there. They remembered what happened when that bomb went off April 19, 1995 when 168 men, women and children died."
Prough recalls how McVeigh waited to take revenge for the killings at Waco and Ruby Ridge.
"We are a little nervous about being here," he said. "We hope there will be no retaliation here because of the execution but nobody knows what might happen. I came because I had to come for those who died at his hand."
Just blocks away more than 100 pro-life people and others who advocate abolishing the death penalty rallied and spoke of how MeVeigh's execution gave them the opportunity to let their voices be heard.
McVeigh might suffer more if he were to be kept alive in a cell for the rest of his life, said Ken Bickner of Iowa City Iowa.
"Killing McVeigh isn't the answer to healing the victims relatives," he said. "Killing him gives him what he wants. He wants to be a hero martyr to his cause punishing the U.S. government for WACO. He thinks he is a true patriot."
Bickner doesn't think any action will be taken now by people avenging MeVeigh's death, he said.
Back to Archived Stories Index