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Atlanta Remembers Bombing Victims

ATLANTA (AP) -- Alice Hawthorne's trip to Centennial Olympic Park last summer was supposed to be a pre-birthday celebration for her daughter. When the day was over, she was dead and her daughter was among the more than 100 injured by a bomb blast at the park.

On Sunday, Fallon Stubbs was somber -- near tears -- as she stood only a few feet away from the last place she saw her mother alive.

"Time has taken away some of the pain," she said after a prayer service at the park marking the first anniversary of the bombing. "It's really hard today ... to be here. But it looks real nice."

Mrs. Hawthorne, 44, was killed when shrapnel from the bomb struck her in the head. Miss Stubbs, then 14, was wounded by flying screws and nails.

Atlanta remembered the July 27, 1996, bombing by shutting off the fountains and observing a moment of silence. A large wreath with red and yellow flowers was placed near the fountains.

"Whenever we remember the special time in the summer of 1996, we will remember Alice Hawthorne," Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell told the audience of about 200 people. "Atlanta and Alice Hawthorne ... will forever be linked."

As Mrs. Hawthorne's husband, John, watched children run through the dancing fountains that became the park's showcase, his eyes filled with tears and his voice trembled.

"I would love to have the person pay for what they did," Hawthorne said. "But that's not going to bring Alice back. And if I think about it, I'll lose focus on what's important -- making sure people don't forget her."

Later Sunday, a memorial service was held at Zion Hill Baptist Church in Douglasville, Mrs. Hawthorne's hometown.

There have been no arrests in the bombing. Federal officials believe the park bomber also is responsible for two other Atlanta bombings -- one at an abortion clinic and another at a gay and lesbian nightclub.

Federal agents have released composite sketches of people who were in the area where the bomb was left, and have made worldwide appeals for film and videotape from the park.

A man probably spoke for many people at the vigil when he held up a large placard with a message for the park bomber: "Please Surrender."