OKLAHOMA CITY: AFTER THE BOMB : Voices from Home

“Let that baby cry. It sounds like music today.”

THE REV. MARK ESTEP, when a wailing child interrupted his eulogy for Dana Cooper, director of the bombed day-care center where several children died

*

“She left behind four children. But even in death she continued to serve, for she donated her heart for a heart transplant...and saved the life of one more person. That is the real America, and no matter what else happens we should never forget it.”

PRESIDENT CLINTON, At White House ceremony honoring volunteers, describing nurse Rebecca Anderson, who was killed in rescue efforts.

*

“No fertilizer has been found to be missing from Army stocks. No link exists between Army-owned explosive components and the tragedy in Oklahoma, and no active-duty soldier has been identified as a suspect.”

DENNIS BOXX, Defense Department spokesman

*

“I know she didn’t make it. I just would like for them to find her.”

JOHN LONG, Accepting the inevitability that his mother, who worked for the Agriculture Department, was dead.

*

“The first rule of self-defense is to know the enemy who intends to destroy you.”

LOUIS FREEH, FBI director, asking Congress for greater methods of gathering intelligence.

*

“We heard it, we smelled it, we lived through it. We are witnesses to this event.”

SUSAN OTTO, court-appointed lawyer for Terry J. McVeigh, in unsuccessful attempt to be relieved from the case.

*

“I would like to express my deepest sympathy for the people and families of those involved in the Oklahoma City explosion. I am very sorry with what happened and feel terrible about it.”

WILLIAM McVEIGH, Timothy J. McVeigh’s father, in first public statement since his son’s arrest.