THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 26, 1996 TAG: 9608261198
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Maddry
LENGTH: 80 lines
RICHARD JEWELL certainly has his faults, Lord knows, not the least of which that he looks like the kind of Georgia cracker whose idea of a tailgate party is a six-pack and roasted possum.
But ole Richard - who was born in Danville - don't look like no pipe-bomber to me. And it is time for the FBI to either put an end to his torment or make it worse.
The first we heard of Richard - a security guard at the Olympic Centennial Park in Atlanta - was when he was being praised as a hero to a nationwide TV audience.
He had, by all accounts, seen the suspicious green knapsack with the pipe bomb inside, and helped move people from the area. Two died as a result of the blast and hundreds were injured. Might have been worse had it not been for Richard Jewell, we were told.
A few days later the FBI confirmed that the 33-year-old former sheriff's deputy was a suspect in the case.
That was nearly a month ago. Since then the FBI has carried truckloads of Richard's belongings out of his apartment and examined his pickup truck after hauling it away. Agents also searched a shed in a cabin he rented before moving from northeastern Georgia to Atlanta.
Since their investigation began, Richard's face has appeared in newspapers and on television screens from here to Hong Kong. He has been hounded night and day by teams of media asking him if he is the scoundrel who made the bomb.
``I didn't do it,'' he has said, over and over. And, by all reports he has cooperated with the FBI's investigation.
Yet Richard cannot go anywhere without a horde of news media following him, sticking mikes and tape recorders under his nose and knocking off his ball cap.
I have felt his pain several times watching him march stoically from the apartment to his pickup in his old jeans, a troubled expression on his face, like a man with a bad toothache. ``I didn't do it,'' he repeats over and over. Then he gets behind the wheel and drives away.
I have no idea what kind of music he plays on the tape deck in his vehicle. But to date the FBI's attitude toward Richard has been ``I Never Promised You a Rose Garden.''
FBI spokesmen have told us that we are not to infer that Richard is guilty of anything merely because he is a suspect, among others. But the names of other suspects have not been released. Just Richard's.
There are lots of folks who would snap under the psychological pressures weighing on Richard Jewell. They would crack up after a couple of days of being followed by the media and the attendant indignities: cold stares and finger-pointing from total strangers at supermarkets, gas stations, or wherever he goes.
But Richard has been getting that treatment for almost a month now. An attorney for Richard has said his client is virtually a prisoner in his apartment. He can't get a job because no one wants to hire a notorious pipe-bombing suspect. And so much trash has been written about him that future employment will be difficult.
Since the FBI began its investigation, we have been told that the caller's warning from a pay phone prior to the explosion was not Richard's voice. And last week his attorney revealed that Richard had passed a lie detector test - administered by an expert with an FBI background - which confirmed his innocence.
Richard's attorney says it's time for the FBI to charge Richard or offer an apology.
That makes sense to me. At the least the FBI should either charge him or say that he is no longer a suspect. If there isn't enough evidence to charge him, he should be allowed to get on with his life until they can make a case.
If the feds decide that Richard is no longer a suspect he is also due an apology from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and most of the media for breaking a long-standing rule of fairness which dictates that names of suspects are not used until they are charged.
Since Richard's name was leaked to the press by Georgia police officers, his life has been made a living hell. He may not be the ideal security officer or deputy, but there is yet a presumption of innocence in this country.
In the interest of fairness and common decency the feds should deal with Richard Jewell - now. Charge him or cut him some slack. ILLUSTRATION: Richard Jewell has been a suspect for almost a month. by CNB