Odeh Dinner Is Relocated Due to Worry Over Security

A dinner scheduled for tonight on the University of San Francisco campus to honor a slain pro-Arab group official was moved off-campus Friday because of the university’s fears about security.

Osama Doumani, the Northern California regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said he tried to persuade campus officials to allow the dinner, which was to honor Alex M. Odeh, the group’s Southern California regional director who was slain Oct. 11 in Santa Ana.

But citing their fear of bomb threats, the president and other campus leaders refused, Doumani said. The event will be held tonight at Ramallah Hall, he said, a meeting place for Arab-Americans in San Francisco.

No Threats Received

Several organizations, including some Jewish groups, will provide security at the dinner for 600 people and will check all participants for weapons, Doumani said.

He noted that neither his organization nor the University of San Francisco had received any threats.

Odeh, 41, was killed in a bomb blast that went off when he opened the door to the group’s office at 1905 East 17th St. Seven other people were injured in the blast, which ripped through the second-floor office.

Group vice president Cheryl Faris, said another memorial dinner planned for Nov. 16 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles will go ahead as planned.

There have been no arrests in the bombing and no known terrorist group has claimed responsibility, local and federal law enforcement officials said Friday.

FBI Agent Fred Reagan, reading from a written statement, said particles of the bomb which killed Odeh will be compared with evidence taken from other bombings throughout the United States. He declined to say what bombings would be involved in the comparisons, but investigators said last weekend that samples of the device will be compared with particles from a 12-inch pipe bomb that exploded in the Roxbury district of Boston on Aug. 16 in front of a building housing the group’s Boston area chapter.

That bomb was equipped with an egg-timer and later detonated when a Boston police officer tried to dismantle it. The officer was seriously injured.

Bomb Being Reconstructed

The device used in the Santa Ana explosion is being reconstructed by technicians with the Orange County Sheriff Department’s hazardous devices squad and specialists with the sheriff’s crime lab. Although the bomb was shattered into tiny pieces, sheriff’s bomb technician Charlie Stumph said he is confident the device can be completely reconstructed. Santa Ana Police Sgt. John McClain said the process would take about two weeks.

Once Orange County technicians have completed the work, Reagan said, “evidence obtained will be sent to the FBI laboratory in Washington, D.C., for comparison with other bombings throughout the United States.”

Committee spokeswoman Anne Mooney said a woman who said she was with the Coptic National Liberation Crusade called that group’s Washington office on Oct. 11 and claimed responsibility for the bombing.

McClain and Reagan said the threat was discounted because investigators could not find any evidence that such a group exists. Reagan said the caller did not contact the FBI.

Questioning Continues

Santa Ana police spokeswoman Maureen Thomas, who, like Reagan, read a prepared statement on Friday, said the investigation “is not focused on any specific person or organization.”

Thomas said investigators are “continuing to question numerous witnesses,” but declined to elaborate.

Both the FBI and Santa Ana police are investigating the incident. The FBI investigation centers on possible violations of federal laws involving the unlicensed use or exportation of explosives. A conviction on the federal offense carries a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

Santa Ana police are conducting a homicide investigation. A conviction of murder with the special circumstances of causing a person’s death by using an explosive device carries a possible death sentence, according to Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Byron Brown.