Media returns, prepares for execution
Gathering bigger than political conventions, one worker says
By Michele Holtkamp
Tribune-Star
In May, Jan Frisinger and Todd Meinen of WTHR television station in Indianapolis never made it to Terre Haute for Timothy McVeigh's first execution date.
And even though they weren't sure Thursday afternoon that his lethal injection sentence would be carried out Monday morning, they were already on prison grounds, preparing just in case.
"With the execution Monday, we had to be here by Thursday to get everything checked out," said Meinen, an engineering technician for the station.
Meinen and Frisinger were among many "techies" at the U.S. Penitentiary grounds Thursday afternoon running cables and testing feeds for broadcasts. Television stations are permitted to begin broadcasts from the penitentiary at 7 a.m. today.
McVeigh's appeal to the federal court of appeals for a stay of execution was denied early Thursday evening, and he will not seek appeal to the Supreme Court, his attorneys said. McVeigh is convicted in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which killed 168 people and injured hundreds more.
Along Bureau Road, the main entrance to the prison, generators hummed as back doors of equipment trucks were flung open and boxes of everything from laptops to wet-wipes were tossed out. The trucks, some from Oklahoma, Michigan, New York and German stations, were nearly bumper to bumper.
Cables stretched across grass that was already trampled down by skid loaders and golf carts. And more is yet to come.
"Even national conventions, like the Republican and Democratic conventions, aren't this big," Meinen said.
At least two anchors for NBC will arrive today, and broadcasts will begin at 4 p.m. Meinen and Frisinger's unit provides the uplink for all the NBC affiliates. Custom-live shots will provide dial-in hookups for anchors to talk directly to specific stations. Others will provide generic shots for all affiliates to have access.
"We're basically for the stations that don't send anyone here," Meinen said, wiping his brow while taking a break from setting up.
That scenario played out all the way down the street, with workers shouting directions at each other and into cell phones.
In the area set up for media trailers, Susan Caraher continually answered calls in an air-conditioned trailer with walls made of bulletin boards. Newspapers, fax machines, televisions, raincoats and orders for a catered breakfast littered the table in front of her.
The coordinating producer for ABC in Chicago, Caraher was on her fourth trip to Terre Haute. The station, which heads programs such as "Good Morning America," "Nightline" and "20/20," decided to arrive in Terre Haute early on Thursday, rather than await word on further appeals.
"We have to start covering this story," Caraher said of her staff of 25.
Warden Harley G. Lappin said at a press briefing Thursday morning that the media will be allowed to broadcast from prison grounds until noon Tuesday.
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