OU bomber's memorial stone causes shock

[BailJumper]

By Nolan Clay
Staff Writer

NORMAN — The University of Oklahoma has put outside the student union a patio stone engraved with the name of the student suicide bomber.
"I was just kind of horrified,” said OU football fan Jenny Clemons, who spotted the stone after OU's Red-White game April 7. "I don't think he has any business being out here.”

OU's student affairs division arranged to have the stone placed, an OU alumni affairs employee said. OU officials say families pay for such memorials but the student's father said OU offered to place the stone and never billed him.

A stone costs $150.

Joel "Joe” Henry Hinrichs III, an engineering student, died Oct. 1, 2005, when his bomb went off at a campus bench a short distance from an OU night football game.

The FBI investigated whether the student, 21, tried or intended to enter the packed stadium but reported finding no conclusive evidence.

The student's father traveled from Colorado to Oklahoma to visit with university officials after the death. Joel Hinrichs Jr. said OU's dean of students, Clarke Stroud, offered to have the stone placed.

In an e-mail, the father told The Oklahoman the dean "very kindly understood that Joel's act was one of loneliness, not of aggression, and offered to have the stone placed in the memorial courtyard; he also indicated that the wife of the university president might select a tree to be placed on campus, also in Joel III's memory.”

The father said he asked to pay for the stone and tree "but was never told anything.” He repeated his offer to the dean in an e-mail Monday after being contacted by The Oklahoman. He said, "They never sent me any indication of cost, or even that they had moved forward.”

In a statement, OU President David Boren said, "As is well known, the death of Joel Hinrichs III was an apparent suicide. A tree was not planted on the campus. Instead, the university gives the opportunity for those who desire to purchase pavers in the union courtyard for students, graduates, or friends of the university.

"Some are given to honor graduates or friends of the university and some are given as memorials. They are paid for by those who have them placed there and the proceeds go towards the upkeep of the student union. The university tries to be sensitive to all the families who have lost sons or daughters while they were students.”

Stroud said in an e-mail: "We invite all parents or members of the university family to purchase stones in the courtyard honoring friends or family members. In this case it is certainly appropriate to allow Mr. Hinrichs to honor the memory of his son who tragically died while he was a student at the university.”

The father said his son was only committing suicide. FBI agents said they do not know if the student intentionally set off the bomb on the bench as a suicide or if he also had intended to kill others elsewhere. A Norman police bomb expert has said he believes the bomb went off accidentally and that the student had further plans.

Clemons, 50, a hospital nurse, said, "I was in the stadium the day that guy blew himself up. ... I feel like ... if he'd been successful he would have killed a whole bunch of us at the football game.”

The stone is engraved "Joel H Hinrichs III” and is toward an end of the patio west of the union. Clemons said the stone is in "kind of an out-of-the way place.”

Other patio stones honor CBS anchor Katie Couric, actor James Garner and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. They were given honorary doctorate degrees when they spoke at OU.

Joel Hinrichs Jr. said he asked that his son's stone be "on the outer edge, beneath a wall, and ‘upside down' from the point of view of someone in the center of the courtyard, as it was Joel's circumstance to see and read, but not to be seen or to be read very well.”

[Easy180]

By Nolan Clay
Staff Writer

NORMAN — The University of Oklahoma has put outside the student union a patio stone engraved with the name of the student suicide bomber.
"I was just kind of horrified,” said OU football fan Jenny Clemons, who spotted the stone after OU's Red-White game April 7. "I don't think he has any business being out here.”

OU's student affairs division arranged to have the stone placed, an OU alumni affairs employee said. OU officials say families pay for such memorials but the student's father said OU offered to place the stone and never billed him.

A stone costs $150.

Joel "Joe” Henry Hinrichs III, an engineering student, died Oct. 1, 2005, when his bomb went off at a campus bench a short distance from an OU night football game.

The FBI investigated whether the student, 21, tried or intended to enter the packed stadium but reported finding no conclusive evidence.

The student's father traveled from Colorado to Oklahoma to visit with university officials after the death. Joel Hinrichs Jr. said OU's dean of students, Clarke Stroud, offered to have the stone placed.

In an e-mail, the father told The Oklahoman the dean "very kindly understood that Joel's act was one of loneliness, not of aggression, and offered to have the stone placed in the memorial courtyard; he also indicated that the wife of the university president might select a tree to be placed on campus, also in Joel III's memory.”

The father said he asked to pay for the stone and tree "but was never told anything.” He repeated his offer to the dean in an e-mail Monday after being contacted by The Oklahoman. He said, "They never sent me any indication of cost, or even that they had moved forward.”

In a statement, OU President David Boren said, "As is well known, the death of Joel Hinrichs III was an apparent suicide. A tree was not planted on the campus. Instead, the university gives the opportunity for those who desire to purchase pavers in the union courtyard for students, graduates, or friends of the university.

"Some are given to honor graduates or friends of the university and some are given as memorials. They are paid for by those who have them placed there and the proceeds go towards the upkeep of the student union. The university tries to be sensitive to all the families who have lost sons or daughters while they were students.”

Stroud said in an e-mail: "We invite all parents or members of the university family to purchase stones in the courtyard honoring friends or family members. In this case it is certainly appropriate to allow Mr. Hinrichs to honor the memory of his son who tragically died while he was a student at the university.”

The father said his son was only committing suicide. FBI agents said they do not know if the student intentionally set off the bomb on the bench as a suicide or if he also had intended to kill others elsewhere. A Norman police bomb expert has said he believes the bomb went off accidentally and that the student had further plans.

Clemons, 50, a hospital nurse, said, "I was in the stadium the day that guy blew himself up. ... I feel like ... if he'd been successful he would have killed a whole bunch of us at the football game.”

The stone is engraved "Joel H Hinrichs III” and is toward an end of the patio west of the union. Clemons said the stone is in "kind of an out-of-the way place.”

Other patio stones honor CBS anchor Katie Couric, actor James Garner and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. They were given honorary doctorate degrees when they spoke at OU.

Joel Hinrichs Jr. said he asked that his son's stone be "on the outer edge, beneath a wall, and ‘upside down' from the point of view of someone in the center of the courtyard, as it was Joel's circumstance to see and read, but not to be seen or to be read very well.”

Not sure what to think about it since the parents paid for it....But one thing I do know that stone will be messed up within days...My guess is several frats already have it on their hitlist

[BailJumper]

I completely find it offensive.

How about we put a memorial style marker in front of the former Murrah Building - you know, he's just a misunderstood youth.

I agree, it better be cemented down good or it's history. I got a crowbar someone can borrow!

[MadMonk]

What next, a plaque near the WTC with the names of the hijackers?

[jbrown84]

WAIT.

We gave Katie Couric an honorary doctorate?

[brianinok]

Amazing that people working on the west concourse of the stadium that night say they turned him away from entrance into the stadium despite the fact he had a ticket because he refused to be searched, and the FBI, city, and university can't figure out if he had other plans than to just commit suicide. He should not have a stone, tree, or piece of dirt named after him on campus IMO.

It makes me mad because I sit right beside an entrance tunnel on the west side, and it would be one of the most accessible entrances to the crowd if he had gained access to the west concourse.

(For those interested in the claim I make above, talk to any OU student who knew someone working there that day.)

[jbrown84]

Urban Legend?

[Kerry]

Are you kidding me? This is wrong on so many levels I don't know where to begin. I am writing to David Boren tonight to have this outrage corrected and an official University apology to students, alumni, friends, and fans of the University of Oklahoma. Until it is corrected it will effect my future donations to the university.

[dismayed]

My thoughts are if you are only attending football games then it isn't your call. It's the student body's call. Let the student senate decide what they want on their campus. If they want it removed, great. If they want to keep it, great.

[Easy180]

Does seem a little suspicious to say the least...I don't doubt for a minute he was considering taking others out with him, but not sure of the reports of him trying to get in the stadium or terrorist ties

Even an idiot would know a freakin backpack would get searched and if was being coached by professionals they would have certainly had a test run with a backpack with just books in it to test security at a game

I was sitting on the east side of the stadium and heard the boom...Thought it was a bus backfiring and on fire once the announcement to exit on the east side was made or something to that effect...Bout crapped my pants when I saw it on the news when we got home

Like I said before...No need to contact OU as the stone will get taken care of privately very soon

[Kerry]

Here is my email that has been sent to OU and members of the national press.

To The University of Oklahoma,

My name is Kerry Decker and I am a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. It has come to my attention that a memorial has been placed on campus to "honor" suicide bomber Joel "Joe” Henry Hinrichs III. Let me say this as succinctly as I can. I find this action to be disgusting, offensive, and horribly irresponsible and demand that this monument be removed immediately. In addition, I expect the University of Oklahoma to make a public apology to the students, faculty, alumni, friends, and fans of the University of Oklahoma.

You would think that as a center of education the University of Oklahoma would be aware of recent world events, but apparently you are not. Here is just some of the recent news you have missed out on. In 1995, Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people at the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City with a bomb. In 2001, terrorist killed almost 3,000 people in New York City, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania. In 2002, bombers in Bali killed over 200 people. In 2004, Madrid was shaken to its core by a series of train bombing that left 191 people dead. In 2005, London was rocked when their transit system was bombed killing 52 people. Over the last 20 years Israel has lost thousands of people to the very type of suicide bomber that Joel Hinrichs duplicated on the OU campus. Finally, just 2 weeks ago a suicidal student changed the Virginia Tech University forever when he killed 32 fellow students and staff members including one girl from Oklahoma. This is just a sampling of recent tragedies you missed out on.

Why the University has chosen to “honor” our own attempted terrorist is beyond me and I doubt that you could even attempt to explain the decision to me. The University can claim all it wants that Joel Hinrichs didn’t try to enter the stadium or didn’t have intentions of blowing himself up after the game when students were return to their dorms, but there is one thing you cannot spin away. Joel Heinrich did bring a bomb onto the OU campus and detonate it. It is an undeniable truth.

I can appreciate the grief felt by the Hinrichs family, but that grief should not be comforted with a plaque near the scene of the crime; yes what he did was a crime. This would be no different then al-Qaeda erecting a plaque to honor failed shoe bomber Richard Reid. Actually, this is worse as Reid’s attempt was thwarted. Until this error in judgment is correct, my wife and I will not make any future donations to the University of Oklahoma.

Kerry Decker
Class of 1994
Jacksonville, FL

[ouguy23]

No offense, but the students really could care less about this. He was a lonely misguided person and if his parents want to quietly have a memorial to him, then so be it. Students have more things to worry about then that and its just an engraved stone that is out of the way.

[writerranger]

My thoughts are if you are only attending football games then it isn't your call. It's the student body's call. Let the student senate decide what they want on their campus. If they want it removed, great. If they want to keep it, great.

It's NOT just what the students want. It's a publicly funded university, which gives all citizens a voice. Just as if any Oklahoman voiced an opinion of a football coaching hire, or an opinion on the stadium, a football recruit; nobody would say that only students should have a say. No difference.

By the way, nice letter Kerry.

-------------------------

[Spartan]

No offense, but the students really could care less about this. He was a lonely misguided person and if his parents want to quietly have a memorial to him, then so be it. Students have more things to worry about then that and its just an engraved stone that is out of the way.

It's in the middle of the Student Union courtyard.

[soonerliberal]

IT WAS SUICIDE BY BOMB, NOT SUICIDE BOMBER! As an OU student, I really don't get the outrage from the Oklahoma City media. We students who were actually at the football game and are on campus everyday understand that this was simply a screwed up student who did not have the desire to blow up the university. It is irresponsible, inaccurate, and idiodic to compare this incident to the Murrah Bombing or 9/11. The media along with conspiracy theorists have turned this incident into rumors of terrorism.

From the OU Daily today:

Our View: Memorial honoring Joel Hinrichs sparks fake controversy in media
By: The Oklahoma Daily editorial board
Posted: Apr 26, 2007


Our View: Memorial honoring Joel Hinrichs sparks fake controversy in media
In an unfortunate twist of events, news media have flashed back to a year and a half ago and started a minor controversy in the shadow of an unfortunate event.

Oklahoma City media outlets have jumped on a shocking discovery: Joel Hinrichs III, the OU student who blew himself up on the South Oval in October 2005, has a stone commemorating him on the Oklahoma Memorial Union patio.

We admit, it's strange and not necessarily in the best of tastes.

But at the same time, whatever. Despite a major scare, the Hinrichs tragedy affected mostly the Hinrichs family and OU administrators. So if they want to make that decision, whatever.

The problem that has arisen, however, is that message boards and talking heads have reborn what we hoped had died: non-factual rumor-milling and general salacious gum-flapping.

"That damn Muslim terrorist done tried to kill us all!" we expect to hear a few people say. Message boards already become home to similarly nonfactual nonsense.

That's why we wish sleeping dogs could have been kept asleep, even hit over the head with a bucket of golf balls, if need be.

And, before we hear cries of being in President Boren's pocket, we merely shared his frustration a year and a half ago when racist Web sites, fake journalists (which KWTV-9's Tamara Pratt managed to devolve into) and couch commentators teamed up for one of the free world's most gratuitous spectacles of misinformation, rumor-spewing and fear-mongering ... ever.

Meanwhile, here's why we didn't do a front page story today:

Johnny Journalist is assigned to write the story. He receives OU's official statements, he talks to Joel Hinrichs Jr. and then it becomes time for him to test the waters of public opinion and pick out a few good quotes.

But what does Ol' Johnny have to do to get those?

Johnny has to go stand by the stone outside of the union and wait for people to pass by.

"Excuse me, my name is Johnny Journalist, and I was wondering if you had seen this stone here on the ground?"

"Nope. Which one?"

"The one that reads ‘Joel H. Hinrichs III,' who was the guy who blew himself up on campus last year. Do you have a comment?"

And within three seconds of learning of this fact, the student is asked to give an emotional reaction to a controversy that is only a controversy because media have made it a controversy.

Do Johnny's antics sound familiar?

Yup. They sound just like what each local TV news outfit did two or three times Thursday.

We didn't feel it necessary to participate.

[MadMonk]

Great letter Kerry. I'm not a student there, but I do attend games, oftentimes with my younger newphew and I plan on doing so with my own children. Regardless of his intentions, he does not deserve to be "honored" in any way for what he did. If he wanted to just kill himself there were a myriad of ways he could have done it that didn't endager the general public as he did. An honorless act deserves no honor.

[Easy180]

IT WAS SUICIDE BY BOMB, NOT SUICIDE BOMBER! As an OU student, I really don't get the outrage from the Oklahoma City media. We students who were actually at the football game and are on campus everyday understand that this was simply a screwed up student who did not have the desire to blow up the university. It is irresponsible, inaccurate, and idiodic to compare this incident to the Murrah Bombing or 9/11. The media along with conspiracy theorists have turned this incident into rumors of terrorism.

From the OU Daily today:

Our View: Memorial honoring Joel Hinrichs sparks fake controversy in media
By: The Oklahoma Daily editorial board
Posted: Apr 26, 2007


Our View: Memorial honoring Joel Hinrichs sparks fake controversy in media
In an unfortunate twist of events, news media have flashed back to a year and a half ago and started a minor controversy in the shadow of an unfortunate event.

Oklahoma City media outlets have jumped on a shocking discovery: Joel Hinrichs III, the OU student who blew himself up on the South Oval in October 2005, has a stone commemorating him on the Oklahoma Memorial Union patio.

We admit, it's strange and not necessarily in the best of tastes.

But at the same time, whatever. Despite a major scare, the Hinrichs tragedy affected mostly the Hinrichs family and OU administrators. So if they want to make that decision, whatever.

The problem that has arisen, however, is that message boards and talking heads have reborn what we hoped had died: non-factual rumor-milling and general salacious gum-flapping.

"That damn Muslim terrorist done tried to kill us all!" we expect to hear a few people say. Message boards already become home to similarly nonfactual nonsense.

That's why we wish sleeping dogs could have been kept asleep, even hit over the head with a bucket of golf balls, if need be.

And, before we hear cries of being in President Boren's pocket, we merely shared his frustration a year and a half ago when racist Web sites, fake journalists (which KWTV-9's Tamara Pratt managed to devolve into) and couch commentators teamed up for one of the free world's most gratuitous spectacles of misinformation, rumor-spewing and fear-mongering ... ever.

Meanwhile, here's why we didn't do a front page story today:

Johnny Journalist is assigned to write the story. He receives OU's official statements, he talks to Joel Hinrichs Jr. and then it becomes time for him to test the waters of public opinion and pick out a few good quotes.

But what does Ol' Johnny have to do to get those?

Johnny has to go stand by the stone outside of the union and wait for people to pass by.

"Excuse me, my name is Johnny Journalist, and I was wondering if you had seen this stone here on the ground?"

"Nope. Which one?"

"The one that reads ‘Joel H. Hinrichs III,' who was the guy who blew himself up on campus last year. Do you have a comment?"

And within three seconds of learning of this fact, the student is asked to give an emotional reaction to a controversy that is only a controversy because media have made it a controversy.

Do Johnny's antics sound familiar?

Yup. They sound just like what each local TV news outfit did two or three times Thursday.

We didn't feel it necessary to participate.

Soonerliberal...I was at the game as well and thinking about that night creeps me out...Please don't try and pretend you definitively know his intentions that night...No one does...So I'm fine with you guessing, but no matter what ANY publication says his true intentions will never be known

Suicidal means nothing to me as the gunman at VaTech was also likely suicidal, but wanted to go out w/ a bang so to speak...If this guy just wanted to off himself...Why then choose a night where there are over 100,000 people in close proximity?

The stone doesn't bother you or many students on campus...OK...But I'm not sure why you are surprised that is does others

[BailJumper]

First, who cares what editorial is printed in that rag in Norman. Second, I saw plenty of students interviewed that took issue with the stone.

[dismayed]

It's NOT just what the students want. It's a publicly funded university, which gives all citizens a voice. Just as if any Oklahoman voiced an opinion of a football coaching hire, or an opinion on the stadium, a football recruit; nobody would say that only students should have a say. No difference.

By the way, nice letter Kerry.

-------------------------

No, it really doesn't. Do you have a say in what contractor the Air Force decides to buy its bombs from? Do you have a say in how the Department of Transportation decides to fund and build its highways? Do you have a say in what food service contractor mess halls or cafeterias at government facilities are chosen by those entities? Do you have a right to exclude certain students or certain majors from kids who are funded by federal student loans and grants?

You do have a right to try to exert political pressure on the powers that be, including David Boren. You do not have a "right" above and beyond that. If you did, we'd never get anything done in this country.

[writerranger]

No, it really doesn't. Do you have a say in what contractor the Air Force decides to buy its bombs from? Do you have a say in how the Department of Transportation decides to fund and build its highways? Do you have a say in what food service contractor mess halls or cafeterias at government facilities are chosen by those entities? Do you have a right to exclude certain students or certain majors from kids who are funded by federal student loans and grants?

You do have a right to try to exert political pressure on the powers that be, including David Boren. You do not have a "right" above and beyond that. If you did, we'd never get anything done in this country.

I don't think I said 'right' in any of my posts. I said the citizens should have a 'voice' in these things; and it not just be limited to students of the university. Using your own analogy, the students don't have a say either, considering the analogy carries over to the defense contractors employees, etc.


On edit: It's always been different in education, too. Whether it be secondary or higher education - the citizens have always considered themselves to have a greater role in the operation of the schools. Alumni associations, PTA, athletic supporters, or a voice when a university places a memorial - on school property - to a student who committed suicide with a bomb strapped to his body.

-------------------

[dismayed]

I just happen to think that over the last few years Americans have adopted this sense of almost entitlement to dictate where any of their government or public collected funds can be spent, and I don't agree with it. I think we both have very different viewpoints on the issue that neither one of us is going to change anytime soon.

[Superhyper]

As an OU student, I can't imagine taking issue with this. He was a misguided young man who's story should serve (even more so after the Virgina Tech shootings) as an example for the future. We should remember him, and we should also remember how we as a community failed him. Those full of supposedly righteous anger at someone who did not harm them in any way(regardless of what people have guessed his intentions may have been) should remember that someone driven to such an act has been failed by all of us. At OU we are a family, and this family remembers those we have lost. To do otherwise would be a vile attack on our traditions and our community. We must remember, and we must not repeat the mistake.

[writerranger]

As an OU student, I can't imagine taking issue with this. He was a misguided young man who's story should serve (even more so after the Virgina Tech shootings) as an example for the future. We should remember him, and we should also remember how we as a community failed him. Those full of supposedly righteous anger at someone who did not harm them in any way(regardless of what people have guessed his intentions may have been) should remember that someone driven to such an act has been failed by all of us. At OU we are a family, and this family remembers those we have lost. To do otherwise would be a vile attack on our traditions and our community. We must remember, and we must not repeat the mistake.

Please.

Let me get this straight:

1. He has a "story," that should serve as an "example" for the future.
2. "We" should remember him, because "we" failed him.
3. He didn't harm any one in any way.
4. Someone driven to such an act does so because "all of us," failed him.
5. To not "remember" him with a memorial would be a "vile attack" on our traditions and community.
6. "We" made a mistake and "we" must not repeat it.

That's all just nuts.

He committed suicide (at the least) and possibly could have been on his way to harming others. (You don't know, and neither do I.)

His "story" is obviously a complicated one that I, and nobody else, can take responsibility for. As much as you would like to make it a failure by everyone else, he - and he alone - built that bomb, strapped it on his body and blew himself up. An odd way of committing suicide. Certainly nobody's "fault."

He DID harm innocent people. That was quite traumatic for people in the university stadium that night. None of us know the harm it caused young children who heard the blast, saw the aftermath and learned what had happened. Fear and shock of that magnitude can definitely cause long-term harm.

To think that "we" should see, and come to the aid, of every tormented soul before they blow themselves up (and not doing it in time is cause for shame and responsibility) is thinking that is far removed from that of most people - and is certainly alien to me and my values.

Nobody made a mistake but this young man. Nobody can read minds and determine that someone is ready to commit a violent act. Your insistence that we all take responsibility, made some kind of mistake that must not be repeated, is thinking that says we are not responsible for our OWN actions. To attempt a guilt trip of some kind on the entire community (which takes some rather warped thinking in its own right) is wrong and makes me wonder what the hell is going on up there at OU. Where were you taught that we, including you(!), must stop every suicide or we have "failed" that person? That when someone commits suicide the entire community has made a mistake "that must not be repeated?" And by not erecting a memorial to a person like this is a "vile attack"????

You know, to be quite honest, there are some who might suggest that anyone who believes all that you said you do about this kid, avail themselves of the services available at OU to try and get a better grasp on reality. I know I certainly don't want to be responsible for "failing" you by not suggesting this. Nobody can believe all of the above and not consider the possibility that they are a little misguided. That is truly bizarre thinking that, frankly, is a little frightening.

---------------

[Superhyper]

While your thinly veiled suggestions that I myself need psychiatric assistance is a brilliant and credible attack on me, I must (obviously) disagree with many of your points. Do I believe that each person is not responsible for his/her own actions? Absolutely not. I do, however, believe that society as a whole has a responsibility to it's members. We should remember this young man and his terrible story, to do otherwise is foolish and insensitive. There IS a difference between memorializing, and honoring someone. Do not assume that giving him a stone in the Union Courtyard means we are celebrating what he did, we are simply remembering it.

[jbrown84]

There IS a difference between memorializing, and honoring someone.

This is a very good point.