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Oklahoma City marks 18th anniversary of bombing

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It’s been 18 years since a truck bomb detonated outside Oklahoma City‘s federal building, but family members of the 168 people killed in the attack said Friday their memories of the carnage and their sense of loss are as vivid as ever following the Boston Marathon explosions.

“It opens that wound,” said Dawn DeArmon, whose mother, Federal Employees Credit Union employee Kathy Leinen, was killed in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

Joyce Cleveland‘s daughter, Social Security Administration worker Pamela Cleveland Argo, also died in the bombing. She said Monday’s explosions in Boston, which killed three people and injured more than 180, stirred up past emotions and reminded her how difficult it’s been to cope with Pamela’s death.

“We just know what they’re going through and what they’ve got to go through,” Cleveland said. “They’ve got a long way to go.”

She and DeArmon were among 800 people who crowded into a church near the former site of the federal building to remember those killed, those who survived, and search and rescue workers who sifted through the rubble from the nine-story structure for weeks after the attack.

Speakers at the Oklahoma City ceremony remembered Boston even as they honored their own bombing victims.

“Our hearts break for our fellow Americans,” Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin said. “We grieve for those who have been killed.”

U.S. Rep. James Lankford said many bombing survivors and victims’ family members believe they have recovered from their sense of loss until tragedies like Boston occur.

“We see the coverage and the footage and all the raw emotions come back again. And we realize it’s still extremely tender to us,” Lankford said.

Boston filled people’s conversations afterward, too.

“You turn on the TV and you’re living this over and over,” said Jannie Coverdale, whose two grandsons, 5-year-old Aaron Coverdale and 2-year-old Elijah Coverdale, were among 19 children who died in the Oklahoma City bombing. “Even if we wanted to forget, we can’t forget.”

Family members placed flowers and mementos on empty chairs meant to honor each bombing victim at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum on the

From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/national/~3/8VzL220yahU/

Articles of Interest

Oklahoma Governor Signs Horse Slaughter Legislation

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By The Huffington Post News Editors

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s 50-year-old ban on horse slaughtering was lifted Friday when the governor signed a new law that will allow facilities to process and export horse meat, despite bitter opposition by animal rights activists.

Supporters argue that a horse slaughtering facility in Oklahoma will provide a humane alternative for aging or starving horses, many of which are abandoned in rural parts of the state by owners who can no longer afford to care for them. Gov. Mary Fallin also noted that horses are already being shipped out of the country, including to facilities in Mexico, where they are processed in potentially inhumane conditions.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post

White House Press Office

Remarks by the President at National Governors Association Dinner

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By The White House

State Dining Room

THE PRESIDENT: Welcome, everybody. It is wonderful for us to have you here at the White House. Michelle and I are so happy to host you, and I want to start by acknowledging your outstanding chair, Jack Markell — (applause) — and your vice chair, Mary Fallin. (Applause.) But more importantly, I want to recognize the First Lady of Delaware and the First Gentleman of Oklahoma because we know that the spouses put up with an awful lot. (Laughter and applause.) And we hope that you all get a chance to celebrate a little bit tonight.

Last year, I got to see firsthand some of the great work that our governors are helping to accomplish all across the country. Now, it’s true that I had the chance to see some accomplishments in some states more than others — Ohio — (laughter) — Iowa –(laughter) — Colorado — (laughter) — Virginia. But I hope to see more of you this year, the rest of you.

But all of you have helped to steer your states through some of the nation’s toughest times. You’ve had to make hard choices. You’ve had to make wise investments and mobilize the constituencies to do what needs to be done to grow your state. And that work is paying off. Companies are bringing jobs back to our shores. New homes are popping up in our neighborhoods. Small businesses are revitalizing our communities.

And many of you also had to deal with some incredible natural disasters. And, obviously, it’s always painful to see the loss and the hardship that our families have suffered, but it’s always wonderful to see the way in which governors in particular are able to lead and mobilize their states and their communities, rallying around neighbors, friends in communities.

So we know we’ve got more work to do — more jobs to create and more children to educate, and more roads to repair. The task before us is to find smart, common-sense solutions to each of these challenges that we can move forward on. And I’m looking for good partners. Because while nobody in this room sees eye to eye on everything, we know that when we work together –- Democrats and Republicans, North, South, East and West — we can accomplish so much more than we can on our own. Whether it’s helping our citizens rebuild from a horrific hurricane or a turbulent economic storm, we’re stronger when we work together as a team.

One of my predecessors, a former governor himself, put it well — America is nothing if it consists merely of each us — if it consists merely of each of us, Woodrow Wilson said. “It’s something only if it consists of all of us.”

And nearly one hundred years later, I expect that those words continue to be true, and they should be guiding all …read more
Source: White House Press Office