ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 20, 1996 TAG: 9604220029
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID REED ASSOCIATED PRESS
FEAR OF A COPYCAT kept many federal workers home Friday across Virginia.
Workers at federal buildings in Virginia observed a moment of silence on the first anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing Friday, while many took the day off and visitors contended with increased security.
At the federal building in downtown Richmond, about a half-dozen Internal Revenue Service employees somberly watched the Oklahoma City ceremony on television. They didn't feel like talking.
``We've waited for this moment,'' said Judy Bartel, communications manager for the IRS office. ``We'd like to respect what has happened to others in Oklahoma.''
In the lobby, business proceeded as usual as security guards checked visitors through the metal detectors installed after the bombing.
As uniformed guards patrolled the perimeter of the federal building in Roanoke at the precise moment of the anniversary, it took Diane Straub three tries to get through a metal detector just beyond the front doors.
``I'm used to this going through airports, not going into buildings,'' Straub, 39, of Salem said after stripping off her watch and bracelet and handing over her keys. ``It's kind of scary.''
The hospital worker was on her way to the Social Security Administration, where employees had just finished a commemoration of the bombing that killed 168 people.
``We cut down some of the lights, bowed our heads and thought about all those people who were killed,'' said Lavette Powell, 38, a Social Security claims representative who distributed ribbons for co-workers to wear for the day.
Powell said federal workers were told to be particularly observant Friday. ``There might be crazy people out there who consider today a day to do a copycat bombing,'' she said.
Deputy U.S. Marshal George Metheny said there were ``a lot less people here today,'' and some employees confirmed that co-workers worried that terrorists might strike on the anniversary stayed home.
Jim Oost, 36, a computer specialist with the Department of Veterans Affairs, said he teased a nervous co-worker by pointing out that a big, yellow rental truck had been parked across the street for most of the day and hinting that it might contain explosives. A yellow rental truck was used to carry explosives that blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City.
As he stood next to an armed security guard during a smoke break, Veterans Affairs appraiser Mark Wickham said, ``If they want to blow it up, they would find a way through all this security.''
Sitting in her first-floor office at the Richmond Federal Credit Union, Meredith E. Uhl recalled that she had decided to take her job as operations manager there about a week before the bombing.
``I had noticed that there wasn't visible security,'' she said, but that changed soon after the bombing.
``We all have to wear IDs. We all have cards to access the building, and you can't let anyone in with you,'' she said.
The General Services Administration, which oversees federal buildings, has spent $9 million so far to improve security in the five-state region that includes Virginia, spokesman John Thompson said.
The committee overseeing security at the federal building in Norfolk was just wrapping up a meeting at the moment of the anniversary.
The timing was coincidental, said Jack Ferguson, an IRS employee.
On Monday, the eight-story structure with approximately 600 employees in IRS, Coast Guard, Customs Service and other offices will install a metal detector and an X-ray machine at its entrance.
Ferguson said the eight-member security committee needed to make final plans on how the device will be used.
Tensions have eased somewhat since last year, Ferguson said. But a few skittish workers complained when a television crew tried to film inside the building's lobby on the bombing's anniversary.
``Don't mention bomb in this building today,'' said one worker, who declined to give his name.
``It's private, very personal to each individual as to how they're doing it,'' Ferguson said of the moment of silence. ``The realization is that if it could happen there, it could happen anywhere.''
LENGTH: Medium: 80 linesby CNB