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CNN Live Sunday

Oklahoma City Remembers

Aired May 13, 2001 - 17:07   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: Attorney General John Ashcroft says he will not delay the rescheduled execution of this convicted Oklahoma City bomber beyond June 11, even if McVeigh's attorneys ask for more time to review these newly discovered FBI documents. General Ashcroft told the Oklahoma newspaper that ample time has been given to those defense attorneys. McVeigh has not authorized his legal team to seek a further delay, but he hasn't ruled it out, either. The FBI, you'll recall, revealed Thursday that it had failed to disclose some evidence in the case.

And as a result, the FBI is facing a lot of criticism over its failure to produce all those relevant for McVeigh's attorneys. With the execution now on hold until next month, the people of Oklahoma City whose lives were forever scarred by the bomb blast six years ago, can only wait for what many consider the final act of closure in this tragedy.

CNN's Martin Savidge is in Oklahoma City. He's been there all weekend long and he's keeping a sense of what people are thinking. Martin, good to see you again.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Stephen. Right now the people of Oklahoma City are focused on a different date on the calendar, that being today, Mother's Day. It is Mother's Day across the nation, but here it is something special. There has been a constant stream of people coming and going. In a lot of cases it has been families that have been showing up. It's not just Mother's Day, it's graduation weekend here -- a lot of people in from out of town. When they here to Oklahoma City, many of them end up here at the Oklahoma City bombing memorial.

There have also been visits by victims' family members. You can tell those visits when they take place because they are the only people that are allowed to walk on the grass of the memorial and actually approach the number of chairs that are part of this memorial site.

Tom Keight lost a daughter in the explosion, and he admits that days like this and other holidays are tough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM KEIGHT, FATHER OF BOMBING VICTIM: Well, I think any holiday. I mean, you take Christmas or Thanksgiving, birthdays -- you know, there's always that empty chair. There's always going to be that empty chair at the dining table, wherever you are -- around a Christmas tree. The first year was -- no question, was the toughest, the first anniversary. We just had the 6th anniversary this last April. They're not easy, any of them, but it's a little easier.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: It's interesting to note that while we were down there at the memorial talking to Tom, we wanted to ask him and did ask him about the events that have taken place in the case of Timothy McVeigh. He wouldn't talk about that, not there, not at that time. He says that there are boundaries, and he considers the memorial to be hallowed ground, not a place worthy of talking about Timothy McVeigh. Many people in Oklahoma City consider the memorial behind us hallowed ground as well -- Stephen.

FRAZIER: In Oklahoma City at that hallowed ground, Martin Savidge. Marty, thank you.

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