Saturday, November 4, 1995
Page:A7 Section:MAIN Edition: STATEWIDE Type: Illustration: Source:CLAIRE HAWS; Courant Staff Writer
Wire reports were included in this story.For Maddy Shapiro of Stamford, who watched as people lined up Friday to place flowers on the memorial to her daughter and the 269 others who died in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland in 1988, the dedication ceremony was a reminder that the government had not forgotten the victims. APPRECIATION, FRUSTRATION VOICED AS LOCKERBIE MEMORIAL DEDICATED
But what mattered most to the mother who lost her 21-year-old daughter, Amy Elizabeth, in the explosion over Lockerbie is whether the government would continue to remember after the bagpipes had quieted, and the victims' families and friends had left the rain-soaked grass of Arlington National Cemetery Friday.
``The government is recognizing the importance of what happened and making a continued commitment to finding those responsible,'' she said, as people lined up to place flowers and American flags alongside the memorial.
``I just wish the country would put more muscle behind our words.''
Some families of victims boycotted the event to protest what they see as government's failure to bring suspects to justice.
That mix of appreciation and frustration was a common theme expressed by the loved ones of the victims who gathered for the dedication of the 11-foot-high circular tower of rocks cut from a quarry near Lockerbie.
Stones from the same quarry form the base of the Statue of Liberty.
A traditional Scottish monument known as a memorial cairn, the tower is made of 270 pink sandstones, one for each person killed when the jumbo jetliner plunged to the ground.
Susan Cohen of Cape May, N.J., whose 20-year-old daughter, Theodora Eugenia Cohen, was one of 35 Syracuse University students killed,said the United States government has not done enough to bring the two bombing suspects, both Libyan agents of Moammar Gadhafi, to trial in the United States or Britain.
The government should treat the bombing as an act of war and give Gadhafi a deadline for turning over the suspects. Libya has been under U.N. sanctions since 1992 in an effort to force Gadhafi to surrender the suspects.
``They've [U.S. government] given a green light to terrorism,'' she said.
After the names of all the victims were read, President Clinton addressed the audience of about 1,000.
``This cairn reminds us: We must never, never relax our efforts until the criminals are brought to justice,'' Clinton said in remarks lasting just six and a half minutes.
``Let us take this cairn as the sign of our bond with the victims of Pan Am 103, to remember the light they brought into so many lives, to work to bring justice down on those who committed the murders, to keep our own people safe and to rid the world of terrorism, and never to forget until this job is done,'' Clinton said.
Cohen and her husband, Daniel Cohen, said the president's appearance was merely a photo opportunity for him.
``We're here because we didn't know where else to be,'' Daniel Cohen said.
But Jack Schultz of Ridgefield said he believes the government is doing what it can and that Clinton would not have participated in the ceremony if he weren't committed to bringing the bombers to justice.
Seeing the completed memorial helped Schultz with his healing over the death of his 20-year-old son Thomas Britton Schultz who was on the flight when it crashed Dec. 21, 1988.
``It's not an end but it certainly brings a closure to the effort that it took to . . . establish this memorial. That, in itself, was a healing effort,'' Schultz said.