Ready to move at 6 a.m.
Getting registered
Media outlets receive credentials to begin setting up shop at prison
By Suzanne Risley
Tribune-Star
The first wave of media for Timothy McVeigh's execution hit Terre Haute on Tuesday night as prison officials began issuing press credentials and setting up tents on prison property.
Prison workers were busy at the U.S. Penitentiary, Terre Haute, installing plastic orange fencing, olive green open-air tents and portable toilets. The fencing marked areas for media and protesters from both sides.
And at the Holiday Inn, on U.S. 41 south, officials started issuing the first of more than 1,300 press credentials. Media can start moving their individual setups to prison property starting at 6 a.m. today.
"I think it's going to come in spurts," said Marybeth Cully, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Prisons.
Only a few local and national media outlets, such as CBS and CNN, registered Tuesday. Many of the national media outlets need the extra time allowed by registering early.
"That was to give them time to set up, to get their platforms and trucks they need to get set up. That's why we're letting people on early," Cully said. Though broadcast outlets will start setting up as early as this morning, they can't broadcast from the prison grounds until Sunday, she said.
Fox News Channel announced Tuesday it plans to start Sunday with live broadcasts from the prison as well as from Oklahoma City.
A numbered media badge allows members of the media access to prison property.
Media registration will continue at the Holiday Inn through the week of the execution, Cully said.
With the broadcast trucks moving in, hotels are starting to fill up.
At least some members of the media already have checked in to most hotels near the I-70 and U.S. 41 intersection on Tuesday, hotel employees said.
The media influx will pick up today and will last through May 17, said Daniella Peck, assistant manager of Fairfield Inn, 475 E. Margaret Drive. Five reservations for media were for Tuesday night, she said.
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