ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, September 21, 1996           TAG: 9609230060
SECTION: NATL/INTL                PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST

FEDS: NO EVIDENCE JEWELL IS BOMBER

After nearly two months of exhaustive work on the Atlanta Olympics bombing, federal law enforcement officials have found no solid evidence linking former security guard Richard Jewell to the pipe bomb attack, according to senior officials.

Law enforcement officials acknowledged in interviews this week that no one is likely to be charged soon for the July 27 bombing that left left two dead and more than 100 injured.

This week, FBI agents were surveying retailers in an attempt to trace an uncommon battery that was used in the bomb; they're also showing up at military surplus stores looking for green military bags like the one in which the bomber hid the bombing device and left it at the base of a tower in Centennial Olympic Park.

One senior law enforcement official said investigators, who have combed Jewell's apartment, truck and previous residence, have found no conclusive bomb residue, no witnesses to the attack, no accomplices. Moreover, preliminary analysis of the 911 phone call placed minutes before the bombing suggests the caller was not Jewell, sources said.

While he waits, hoping to be cleared, Jewell, 33 and unemployed, has been waging a public relations war to reclaim his reputation. In his first detailed public comments since he emerged as a suspect, he told ``60 Minutes'' on CBS that his life has been forever changed by the media and the unnamed law enforcement officials who created the impression that his arrest was imminent. The interview is to be broadcast Sunday.

Whatever the outcome, Jewell said his career in law enforcement is over. ``If you were a sheriff would you want a deputy in your employ that had as much press, both negative and positive, that I have had?'' he asked.

The Olympic park guard compared the media to ``piranha,'' adding that his lawyers are considering legal action for libel against ``anybody and everybody that told or printed lies about me.''

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