Bombing victims unsympathetic to McVeigh

Monday, March 13th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Patti Hall watched as Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh spoke of his anger and disillusionment, government standoffs in Waco, Texas, and Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and the Persian Gulf War in the same breath.

The federal credit union worker, who has undergone 16 surgeries and still faces more operations to repair 40 broken bones and other injuries, didn't buy a word the former Army veteran told reporter Ed Bradley of CBS' "60 Minutes" during Sunday night's segment.

"As far as I'm concerned, that has nothing to do with what he did to us," said Hall, who was in the hall of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building's third floor when the April 19, 1995, explosion occurred. "He ripped a building apart and killed 168 people who hadn't done anything to him."

Shackled and dressed in tan prison clothes, McVeigh looked heavier than at his 1997 trial. Most of the time, his gaze was steely, but his voice appeared to crack when he spoke of the use of tear gas during the 1993 Branch Davidian siege.

McVeigh declined to answer Bradley's question about his guilt or innocence, citing a pending appeal of his federal murder conviction and death sentence.

Even if the appeal fails, McVeigh said he is prepared to die. "I came to terms with my mortality in the Gulf War," he told Bradley.

Avoiding questions about his involvement angered Jannie Coverdale, who lost two grandsons in the bombing. "Ed Bradley didn't ask the right questions," Coverdale said. "He never asked, 'Did you blow up the building? Did you murder those people? And, why?"' she said.

Jim Denny, whose children, Brandon and Rebecca, were injured in the bombing, said he watched the interview but wasn't angered by what McVeigh said. Brandon suffered brain damage when he was crushed by falling debris while in the second-floor day center of the federal building. ". . . our focus is on our family and not on the people who did this," Denny said. "The whole interview didn't make a whole lot of sense . . . "When he compared that to what happened in Oklahoma City, I didn't see the comparison."