The Unfinished Bombing by Edward T. Linenthal

Author:Edward T. Linenthal
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2001-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Samuel J. Butcher, artist and creator of Precious Moments®, with the statue he created in remembrance of the children. (Samuel J. Butcher)

There was also significant public ambivalence about a Baylee Almon statue. The Daily Oklahoman declared on May 10, 1995, “officials should avoid the tendency to micro-manage memorial plans. They do no honor to those murdered by arguing over who should be honored and how. Police Chief Sam Gonzales is already playing this game with his objection to a memorial that stresses a statue of the fireman carrying Baylee Almon. Gonzales wants more emphasis on the role played by police.” Occasionally a letter would object to the statue because it offered a “display of grief and horror,[and] we truly will have given in to the terrorists who perpetrated this crime.”

Beyond official memorial proposals, however, there were plans for Baylee Almon statues in Oklahoma City. Some statues were just sent, unsolicited, to the city. “I remember one huge statue that must have weighed a ton or more,” Aren Almon-Kok recalled. “Someone just brought it on a flatbed truck and left it in front of city hall. They wanted it placed in a park. I had to go the mayor and governor and tell them I didn’t want any statue of Baylee erected.”70

Kari Watkins, the Memorial Foundation’s executive director, recalled a concern that many submissions for the official memorial design competition, which was announced on November 15, 1996, would contain some version of the fireman and the baby. “There were many reasons why we didn’t want this,” Watkins recalled. “Certainly Aren’s feelings were important. I introduced myself to her on the first anniversary and told her that the foundation would work hard not to perpetuate the image.” Indeed, in the design competition booklet, participants are specifically requested “not to depict physical representation of any known person, living or dead, in their Design Entry.” While this instruction helped rule out other potentially problematic images (e.g., statues of Jesus), it was unofficially known as the “Baylee Almon clause.” In spite of this, Watkins said, “One of the five finalists did include a small sketch of the fireman and the baby. I called Bob Johnson, told him that ‘we have a problem,’ because this design could have won! We informed Aren about this, and the judges of the competition were told that this particular segment of the submission would not be acceptable should this design win. It did not.”71

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