WEBVTT - Army of God 0:00:00.840 --> 0:00:04.359 Flashpoint is released weekly and brought to you absolutely free, 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:09.119 but for ad free listening, early access and exclusive bonuses, 0:00:09.440 --> 0:00:13.480 subscribe to tenderfoot Plus at tenderfootplus dot com or on 0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:14.480 Apple Podcasts. 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:20.759 You're listening to Flashpoint, a production of tenderfoot TV and 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:25.200 association with iHeartMedia. The views and opinions expressed in this 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:29.360 podcast are solely those of the individuals participating in the podcast. 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:33.159 This podcast also contains subject matter which may not be 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:36.519 suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised. 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:43.400 Oh. 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:46.600 I loved Atlanta, always knew I'd probably move here. And 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:50.839 the community was strong, men and women, black and white, 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:55.320 and transgender, and it was always the dream abov and 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:58.640 made to have a community nightclub that was for everyone. 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:03.720 They called it the other Side Lounge. It was known 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:06.800 as a lesbian bar, but as Dana Ford just said, 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:07.839 it was a bar for. 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:09.240 Anyone, for everyone. 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:15.480 Inside outside other Side people would wander in, some of 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:18.440 them I didn't even know Ellen Degenerous, I guess at 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:19.800 sometimes Steve Martin. 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:23.759 It was a big spot. A lot of things were happening. 0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:27.600 As you know now, back at the beginning of ninety seven, 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:30.919 I'm not even born yet. If the Sandy Springs abortion 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:34.760 clinic hadn't been bombed, I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't exist. 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:37.880 I've been picking at these threads for as long as 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:41.560 I can remember, and this podcast is my reckoning, my 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:44.720 coming to terms with the devil that made me. But 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:47.720 back in ninety seven, Dana Ford and her partner Beverly 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:50.760 had planted a pretty original flag with the other Side Lounge. 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:53.320 It was their personal love letter to the city of Atlanta, 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:58.320 a safe haven for free expression. But there's two sides 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:04.640 to that coin, and the truth is a place like that, 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:09.040 it's a refuge for lots of people, but for others, 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:10.960 it's a target. 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:32.440 Episode three, Army of God. 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:39.600 You know, back then, you still had to congregate together. 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:42.280 You know, you still had to be careful when you 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:48.000 walk the streets. And the politics were changing, and when 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:49.880 they were trying to get don asks, don't tell and 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:52.120 get people who were able to serve in the military, 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:55.640 and it was across the board looking for rights. You know, 0:02:55.680 --> 0:02:59.240 we'd have people vandalize our property, had eggs thrown at me, 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:01.919 and bobblestone at me, and my car keyed and our 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:05.519 locks super glued, and people would come through the parking 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:09.079 lot and vandalize the cars or they'd and one time 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:11.920 there was a homicide outline, like a dead body on 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:15.040 our stoop. We'd get calls where you know, they're threatening 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:18.440 rape or harm or assaults, and you know, you had 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:19.840 to be careful and you had to be aware, and 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:25.840 the community needed to stick together. It was a hard 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:29.000 fought period to get to where we got with gay 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:33.000 marriage and these small little victories. But it starts at 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:36.080 the community level. And that's why Bev and I were 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:40.480 active and active in human rights and people who knew 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:44.960 who we were downtown and that was part of our job. 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:48.160 We weren't just slinging drinks and making money. We wanted 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:48.960 to make a change. 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:54.200 Most people are creatures of habit. They don't like change, 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:57.080 and some folks they hated. 0:03:57.120 --> 0:03:59.680 Reported by Brian Williams. 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:01.640 Good Evening, the city of Atlanta might have a big 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:03.160 problem on its hands again. 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:06.520 It's the night of February twenty first, nineteen ninety seven. 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:09.240 Barely a month has passed since the bombing at the 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:13.640 Sandy Springs abortion clinic, and still no leads. But trouble 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:16.240 waits for no one, and with the echoes of this 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:17.839 blasts still lingering in the air. 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:20.200 Another bomb goes off in Atlanta. 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:23.160 Suddenly Atlanta's mayor thinks his city might be in the 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:26.000 sights of what he calls a deranged killer. 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:28.080 Take me through. 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:31.200 When you first heard news of the bomb, you didn't 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:32.200 think it was a bomb, did you? 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:38.120 I knew something was detonated as my manager, I said, 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:40.039 what is it? You said, something blew up? Is it 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:40.919 like an M eighty? 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:41.520 Is it? 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:41.919 You know? 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:43.919 What? What do you mean blew up? He goes, I 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:48.240 have no idea. I went eighty miles an hour down 0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:50.960 p Stree Hills Avenue and was at the club in 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:54.400 a matter of minutes. I pulled up in the front 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:58.040 and then I went inside just to make an assessment 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:01.880 of what had happened. I saw about four or five 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:05.320 flashlights flicking around in the bushes on the back of 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:07.600 the building, about two or three on the side. Knowing 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:12.239 its police officers, I walk in. There was a person 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:14.800 sitting on a bar stool being treated by a medic, 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:17.360 and they had a wound on their back. So I thought, okay, 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:20.159 that person obviously is well enough to be sitting on 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:24.560 a stool, and I kept going going, and I saw 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:27.040 as soon as I turned the corner, basically someone bleeding 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:29.760 out on the floor and people frantically working on them. 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:34.440 And then I saw a woman covered in blood on 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:37.640 the phone. She was taking orders, I mean, somebody was 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:40.640 explaining to her what she needed to do. And I 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:43.640 kept walking and the DJ was still in the booth, 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:46.839 the bartender was still behind the small bar, and so 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:49.760 I went out the patio door and assessed what was 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:54.159 going on. And that's when the tin roof that we 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:58.680 had was just shredded, and everything on an elevated deck 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:01.679 that we had was told leave blown around in speakers 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:05.400 so I could tell it was something huge, something significant. 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:09.120 And then there was this fine particular dust on the floor, 0:06:09.240 --> 0:06:11.839 which now I understand probably came from the rock wall, 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:14.839 but it blew all the way in like a cloud. 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:18.279 And there was a single young cop standing there kind 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:20.719 of dazed, and I said, so, what do you think, 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:23.760 and he said, I think it's a bomb. 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:30.160 After the twin bombs at the Sandy Springs Clinic, law 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:34.440 enforcement changed their approach to these situations. Veteran GBI agent 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:36.880 Charles Stone was early on the scene. 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:41.440 We had had training sessions then to APD and beat 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:44.960 offshers and detectives saying, if you get a call of 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:48.400 an explosion or anything like that, be on your page 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:52.640 and q's and look for damned secondary devices. Well they 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:57.479 did the very right thing. They combed the parking lot 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:00.040 and found. 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:05.599 The once again not one bomb, but two, which meant 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:09.000 the threat was not over. A second device was just 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:13.320 sitting there waiting to explode, and it could happen any minute, 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:16.760 any second, with dozens of innocent people in its path, 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:19.760 and nobody knew how much time they had. 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:23.720 And I asked for the officer on duty. I said, 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:25.960 what do we need to do and she said, we 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:28.680 think we found a second device. And that second device 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:30.720 was about twenty five feet or so from the door, 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:34.840 and she said, well, we need to get the people 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:36.360 out of there. I said, how are we going to 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:39.600 do that? She said, they can't run and they can't 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:42.960 know that's there. So I went inside and kind of 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:45.920 gathered everybody together. I changed my disposition so they wouldn't 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:47.720 be frightened. I said, well, you know, guys, we got 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:49.400 to get the head out of here, kind of like that, 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:52.480 and people were trying to down their drinks. I said, no, no, no, 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:54.880 nont grown, I'm just take them with you, and they 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:57.320 hit them under their coats. I well, that's a good idea, 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:00.400 you know, anything to kind of keep them calm. I 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:02.640 do know, though, my bartender, when I said just shut 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:04.680 the registers and walk away, they looked at me because 0:08:04.680 --> 0:08:08.360 they know I'd never leave money in the register. And 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:10.320 I calmed them down and said, it's cops. They're not 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:13.720 going to steal it. They just leave it there. None 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:16.640 of them knew that there was a bomb, none of them, 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:19.400 and I knew it was getting close. In my gut 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:23.680 because of the abortion clinic, I knew and my mind 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:26.200 a clock had started, and that's why I said, we've 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:26.840 got to get these. 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:27.520 People out of here. 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:31.600 They called in the bomb squad with the robot, and 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:34.000 the robot went to diffuse it. 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:38.520 US Attorney Ken Alexander, who was alreadinvestigating the two other 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:40.920 Atlanta bombings, was also in the parking lot. 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:44.280 You can actually diffuse bombs by shooting these high powered 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:47.400 water guns into them, and as they did it, the 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:50.199 bomb dropped on the pavement and everybody thought it was 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:53.880 going to explode, and he didn't. Then they started to 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:59.640 shoot it. The bomb ended up exploding, and I distinctly 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:03.120 remember or the valet sign. It was riddled with what 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:06.880 looked like bullets, but as with Sandy Springs, remarkably nobody 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:07.319 was killed. 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:10.520 A police robot shot it with a stream of water 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:15.520 about two this morning and it exploded. Authorities were investigating 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:19.520 another bombing at the same club when they found the backpack. 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:23.400 And it was really after that bomb when we took 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:26.520 a look forensically at the components of the bomb started 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:30.600 to compare that there was really little doubt that we 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:31.720 were dealing with the same bomber. 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:33.080 We were dealing with the serial bomber. 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:37.720 The bomb that went off in Atlanta's Centennial Park last 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:42.600 July also was placed in a backpack. Nails were used 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:44.840 in that bomb, as well as in the second of 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:47.920 two bombs that exploded last month at an Atlanta clinic 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:49.360 where abortions are performed. 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:55.400 God law enforcement was now clearly dealing with a serial bomber. 0:09:56.280 --> 0:09:59.600 The theories and suspicions from Sandy Springs were finding purchase 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:03.600 with this new evidence. But back in ninety seven, the 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:08.400 term serial bomber wasn't a very well known thing. Even 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:11.960 the forensic science surrounding a serial bomber was very much 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:16.440 just getting started. The information gathering, the safety protocols, the 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:20.560 communication protocols, the technology, the language, and how it seeped 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:24.200 into the culture. These things were just figuring themselves out. 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:28.199 Add to the fact that there were five massive bureaucratic 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:32.160 agencies involved, and this was a lot for anyone to manage. 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:36.000 But new evidence would begin to fit this story into 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:40.480 a bigger picture, one with a dark history and an 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:41.640 even darker future. 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:57.319 The bombings and sandy springs in Midtown were carried out 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:00.480 by units of the Army of God. The aboration was 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:03.200 the target of the first device. The murder of three 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:06.679 point five million children every year will not be tolerated. 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:09.480 Those who participate in any way in the murder of 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:13.360 children may be targeted for attack. The attack therefore serves 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:17.160 as a warning anyone in or around facilities that murdered 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:19.840 children may become victims of retribution. 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:25.160 A very specific point of view was claiming responsibility now 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:28.920 and sending handwritten letters to news outlets and federal authorities. 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:33.520 They called themselves the Army of God. The letters were 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:36.640 riddled with spelling and grammar errors, but they were deadly 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:40.280 serious and for as unprofessionals. The letter may have read 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:43.120 to most in the media. It was designed to put 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:45.840 the fear of God in you, and that's exactly what 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:46.280 it did. 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:50.480 The second device was aimed at agents of the so 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:57.320 called federal government ieatf FBI, marshals, etc. We declare and 0:11:57.360 --> 0:12:01.080 will wage total war on the ungodly communist regime in 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:06.200 New York and your legislative bureaucratic lackeys in Washington. It 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:09.280 is you who are responsible and preside over the murder 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:13.240 of children and issue the policy of ungodly perversion that's 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:17.800 destroying our people. We will target all facilities and personnel 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:21.679 of the federal government. The attack in Midtown was aimed 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:26.120 at the Sodomite bar. The other side, we will target Sodomites, 0:12:26.440 --> 0:12:30.160 their organizations, and all those who push their agenda in 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:34.359 the future, where innocent people may become the primary casualties. 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:37.200 And warning phone call will be placed to one of 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:41.200 the news bureaus or nine to one one generally, a 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:45.359 forty minute warning will be given. To confirm the authenticity 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:48.240 of the warning, a code will be given with the 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:51.800 warning statement. The code for our unit is four to 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:56.160 one nine nine three, Death to the New World Order. 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:05.720 The analyst said, first, who I was writing this is 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:08.360 really angry, just because the way they were bearing down 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:10.360 that was written by a bomber. That's kind of a 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:13.040 given they're gonna be an angry person. But second they 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:15.920 said they were trying to disguise the writing. The thing 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:19.640 that jumped out at everybody though, which was chilling, was 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:22.280 the letters were signed off with the code, which was 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:23.440 the date of Waco. 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:29.240 Waco, Texas April nineteenth, nineteen ninety three. This was the 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:32.440 day when state and federal authorities laid siege to a 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:36.800 religious compound led by cult leader David Koresh. He and 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:39.600 his followers had been a standoff with law enforcement for 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:40.600 nearly two months. 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:43.360 It was chilling to see that date, and it was 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:47.679 also a major clue that whoever did this bombing wasn't 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:50.840 necessarily driven by abortion. But there was something deeper with 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:56.360 this anti government bent relating to Waco and perhaps Ruby Ridge. 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:03.160 Remember this date April nineteenth. We'll dig into that later, 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:07.640 but it was here in this moment that the authorities 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:10.720 first picked up on a deeply menacing and unexpected scent, 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:14.280 one that connected to a very dark piece of American history. 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:18.600 But they still didn't have any idea who was actually 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:19.520 planting the bombs. 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:24.200 So our focus started going in that direction a bit 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:28.280 more as we decided this might be somebody really trying 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:32.320 to almost throw us off track by bombing a largely 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:36.040 gained lesbian nightclub and bombing an abortion clinic, because what's 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:41.040 really afoot here is somebody who's very much against the government, 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:43.800 world or that sort of thing, and the same sort 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:46.040 of things that drove a lot of people who used 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:51.320 Waco as their personal wake up call to a call 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:52.560 to arms against the US. 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:55.640 Sour's as close to the investigation tell NBC News there 0:14:55.680 --> 0:14:58.840 are differences in those five bombs too. Natils used for 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:02.160 shrapnel were longer than time and the backpack was described 0:15:02.240 --> 0:15:03.840 as ready, you. 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:06.600 Know, we have kids. So we had the car seats 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:10.640 in the back, and the shrapnel they were like bullets. 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:14.720 I mean, they just pierced everything I know. On the patio. 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:19.000 It literally sliced like a butter knife through a full 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:21.800 section of tin roof that was probably about twenty feet long, 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:24.560 and so it was embedded in the trunk and there 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:27.440 was glass shattered all through the car seats and it's 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:29.800 a little jarring to see that when they're handing your 0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:33.080 baby seats back then, apologizing that they couldn't get all 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:33.840 the glass out of. 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:37.280 It, so the children's car seats and Dana and Bev's 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:41.280 car were riddled with shrapnel. The nursery at Sandy Springs, 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:45.680 the actual crib where Rob Saddler's twin toddlers napped, was destroyed, 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:50.680 the ceiling collapsing on top of it, crushing it. This 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:53.880 bomber is leaving quite a trail of collateral damage, not 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:55.920 to mention the emotional trauma. 0:15:57.080 --> 0:16:00.440 The death threats that we subsequently received for years threatened 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:03.560 the lives of our kids. Only certain people could touch 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:06.120 the mail. We had to write down who handled it. 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:08.120 We had to put it in special envelopes, We had 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:10.720 to call the FBI, and this went on for years. 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:14.520 For a while, all of Dana and Bev's mail was 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:17.920 passed on to the FBI for filtering. To this day, 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:20.360 Dana doesn't know the exact contents of this hate mail, 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:22.760 but she knew that they contained threats to both the 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:26.320 club and her family. This is another example of one 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:28.520 of those protocol things law enforcement hadn't. 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:32.280 Quite figured out yet. So what was the solution? A 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:34.720 family couldn't open their own mail for three years? 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:40.160 The last one we received was two thousand and one. 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:43.960 You know the FBI. The reassurance they gave us was 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:45.840 if they really want to hurt you, they're not going 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:48.320 to warn you about it, so you don't have to 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:51.400 worry about the ones that threaten you. It's like that's 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:53.920 not reassuring when you're staring at your children at the 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:57.080 dinner table, thinking, well, today I received a threat that 0:16:57.120 --> 0:16:59.280 someone's going to kill you, and there's not much I 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:04.200 can do about it. It was a struggle after the bombing, 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:09.000 with all the stress we were under. I would get sick, 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:13.399 literally get sick going in and you had to hide it. 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:16.080 You can't let people know that you're having anxiety attacks 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:20.720 and you're going into the restroom and vomiting. And I 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:23.199 know it sounds horrible, but that's part of what the 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:26.560 stress was. And I have to tell you. After I 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:29.639 got that last death threat, I turned to Bev and 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:36.800 I said I'm done. We closed in two thousand and one. 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:38.080 And that wasn't the only fallout. 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:42.320 Bev and I don't really have conversations. We broke up 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:45.760 about a year ago, and the bombing had its effects. 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:48.960 It wiped out our savings, and you know, we have 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:52.080 children approaching high school, trying to get them into college. 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:55.480 Had an opportunity to work in Florida. You know, even 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:58.760 a few months before we broke up, she said something 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:03.520 about the bombing and what she recalls as my response 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:06.120 to it. So I don't think it ever left her. 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:08.200 I don't think she ever resolved it. 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:16.160 Some consequences are unintentional, unanticipated, They aren't engineered to happen 0:18:16.200 --> 0:18:23.560 by design. Others are more purposeful, blatant, even deliberate. 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:43.240 I never knew I could have been so outspoken about something. 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:47.800 When I first got the job. It was exactly that 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:51.320 I looked in the newspaper doctor's office blah blah blah, 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:54.800 said I would never work in the doctor's office, little 0:18:54.800 --> 0:18:57.200 one behold. A couple of months after we got married, 0:18:57.240 --> 0:18:59.840 I went and had an interview and she asked me 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:03.000 what was my view and abortion. I said, I'm okay 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:03.440 with it. 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:07.960 Emily Lyons was thirty seven years old when she answered 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:10.800 the job posting for the new Woman All Women Healthcare Center, 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:13.800 an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama. 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:17.560 The first day I went, there was a protester out 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:22.240 on the curb of the street, and you know, He 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:27.080 was the one that was there all the time, mostly blind. 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:30.800 He couldn't tell if you were male or female. But 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:35.159 everybody he just said, don't kill your baby. But he 0:19:35.280 --> 0:19:38.480 was a fanatic about it, and that first time I 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:42.479 was like, what is that. I had no clue, but 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:50.080 the mental the verbal abuse they gave those women was horrible. 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:56.760 Then there was David Lackey, used to be the former 0:19:56.800 --> 0:20:01.359 head of Operation Rescue in town. One day to work, 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:04.200 I was getting out of the car and he says, 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:07.520 what do you do with your blood money? Did you 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:13.160 buy that car with your blood money? He was vicious. 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:16.280 Out of all the people that usually came to the 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:20.119 clinic to protest, he was the one that could have 0:20:20.160 --> 0:20:26.360 been the biggest trouble. We had a package delivered one day. 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:29.360 It was brown paper, had a lot of stamps on it. 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:33.040 He was dressed to the office and I'm like, what 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:37.399 is this? And so the administrator took it upstairs to 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:40.800 the doctor and he's like, put it down called the 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:45.320 bomb squad. It's like, oh my goodness. But inside was 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:48.720 a box of chocolates and there were little plastic fetus 0:20:48.800 --> 0:20:52.760 things stuck in each of them. 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:56.159 Emily says, even in the face of such threats, she 0:20:56.280 --> 0:20:58.440 never once questioned her position at the hospital. 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:03.800 The pats would come to you afterwards and shake your hand, 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:06.919 thank you so much for being there, thank you for 0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:11.200 holding my hands, And that became important to me. Most 0:21:11.200 --> 0:21:13.960 people have a job and they just do it. The 0:21:14.040 --> 0:21:16.439 bosses really don't say a whole lot. They keep on, 0:21:16.800 --> 0:21:20.760 just keep going. But that became one of the reasons 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:24.240 to do a good job, to make sure you took 0:21:24.280 --> 0:21:26.479 care of the women, because that's what your job was. 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:33.040 And Thursday, January twenty ninth, nineteen ninety eight, was just 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:34.280 like any other day for Emily. 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:39.320 She was just doing her job. What do you remember 0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:39.880 from that day? 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:46.359 Nothing? Absolutely nothing. I don't remember getting up taking a 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:53.000 shower about that. The only thing I know about it 0:21:53.080 --> 0:21:58.320 is what people have told me. The lady that usually 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:01.600 came in was pregnant. She was on attornity leave. She 0:22:01.640 --> 0:22:04.640 had the baby the next week, so I was taken 0:22:04.720 --> 0:22:09.440 her place doing some of her jobs, working on lab 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:13.240 work and stuff. They had put a new security system 0:22:13.280 --> 0:22:16.239 in and I didn't have the code for it, and 0:22:16.280 --> 0:22:19.360 the administrator was late that day because she had been 0:22:19.680 --> 0:22:23.680 sick that morning. So I was there an hour and 0:22:23.760 --> 0:22:27.240 a half early. Of course, Sandy would have always been there. 0:22:28.720 --> 0:22:32.080 Robert Sanderson, better known as Sandy, was an off duty 0:22:32.080 --> 0:22:34.720 police officer the clinic hired to protect their nurses and 0:22:34.800 --> 0:22:38.480 patients from protesters. He had only recently begun working at 0:22:38.520 --> 0:22:41.240 the clinic, filling in for another off duty officer who 0:22:41.240 --> 0:22:42.000 was away on leave. 0:22:43.680 --> 0:22:47.359 I didn't know Sandy much. I mean, he came to work, 0:22:47.680 --> 0:22:50.919 he did his job. He was courteous. He was not 0:22:51.040 --> 0:22:55.240 pro choice, but he knew it was his responsibility. Every 0:22:55.320 --> 0:22:58.959 day he came to work to protect those women. He 0:22:59.119 --> 0:23:03.240 was there before we got there. He would leave after 0:23:03.359 --> 0:23:07.080 they left. There was very few hours of the day 0:23:07.119 --> 0:23:14.439 that we weren't protected by a police officer, just mild manner. 0:23:15.600 --> 0:23:18.880 I considered him one of the good guys. I'm sure 0:23:18.920 --> 0:23:22.520 it was a difficult thing for him to do. He 0:23:23.280 --> 0:23:24.000 did his job. 0:23:25.840 --> 0:23:28.760 Back to that morning, it's around seven thirty am. 0:23:28.840 --> 0:23:34.359 Now there were other people there. Man and his daughter, 0:23:35.240 --> 0:23:40.240 the daughter's boyfriend, and the boyfriend's father were there. They 0:23:40.280 --> 0:23:43.320 came way too early. They got out one time and 0:23:43.359 --> 0:23:45.960 talked to Sandy. I wasn't there yet, I don't think, 0:23:47.400 --> 0:23:49.359 and they left because Sandy said no. The clinic's not 0:23:49.400 --> 0:23:54.520 open yet. So they left. They came back and the guy, 0:23:54.880 --> 0:23:56.960 the dad, got out of the car and walked up 0:23:57.800 --> 0:24:00.360 and Sandy told know they're not open yet. He goes, 0:24:00.480 --> 0:24:04.040 what is that over there? And when he told Sandy that, 0:24:04.119 --> 0:24:07.080 Sandy took out his night stick and went to look 0:24:07.119 --> 0:24:14.440