Survivors have no regrets about memorial's transition to public landmark

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Can sacred ground withstand the American public? <br><br>It was a question asked early on by the survivors and volunteers who developed the Oklahoma City National Memorial, scheduled

Tuesday, April 18th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Can sacred ground withstand the American public?

It was a question asked early on by the survivors and volunteers who developed the Oklahoma City National Memorial, scheduled to open Wednesday.

"We want it to be a place where everyone can come and remember, but we also want to keep the site pure and preserve the quality it should be kept to," said Kari Watkins, executive director of the memorial trust.

With about 300,000 people expected to file through the site each year, protecting the integrity of the bombing memorial will be a full-time job for the National Park Service rangers manning the site.

Some rules are straightforward. No pets. No littering. No picnics among the 168 chairs that represent the victims of the April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

But there are other considerations more specific to the site.

For example, what should be done with the mementos and flowers left on the chairs by visitors and relatives? How should rangers handle a child who decides the memorial's grassy grounds are fit for horseplay?

For those and other questions, Watkins said a panel of bombing survivors and victims' family members developed a set of guidelines to protect both the private meaning and public function of the memorial.

Watkins said chairs will be cleared of mementos at the end of each day, with flowers going in the trash and other items going into the site's archives. On bombing anniversaries, items left on the chairs can remain there for 72 hours, she said.

Behavior around the chairs and the footprint of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building -- considered sacred ground -- will be watched closely just as at other intimate national memorials, said chief ranger Mark Foust.

Bud Welch, who lost his 23-year-old daughter Julie in the blast, said he has no reservations about opening to the public what has been somewhat of a personal sanctuary.

"I think it's time. We've kept it a very private thing for five years and I think we want to honor the lives of those who were killed by sharing their lives with the world," he said.

Welch said he plans on leaving roses at his daughter's chair and would not get bent out of shape to see another child sitting in it or even playing on it.

"It's not a burial ground," Welch said. "I view it as simpl ya place where there was killing. A killing field, if you will."

Kathleen Treanor is guardian over three chairs. Her 4-year-olddaughter, Ashley Eckles, and her parents-in-law, LaRue and Luther Treanor, were killed in the bombing.

She said she expects those who visit the site to be respectful of its purpose. "I don't think I've ever been down there when there wasn't a very deep feeling of spirituality," Treanor said. "I think because of that, there's going to be a great deal of respect given to that site, no matter who comes there."

In the meantime, Treanor said she looks forward to the opening of the memorial Wednesday when she can honor her daughter in a new way and once again come together with others who lost loved ones in the bombing.

"I've deliberately stayed away from (the memorial) these past few weeks," she said. "On the morning it's dedicated, I want to be completely overwhelmed and surprised by what they've done and the way it looks."