Return to: 2001: A Year of Change

Execution, economy jar state

McVeigh's death drew the world's attention

By Dan McFeely

Published Dec. 30, 2001

Top 10 local stories of 2001: 1. Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh is executed in the federal prison near Terre Haute. See FactFile 2. The economy sours, triggering a state budget crisis and layoffs throughout Indiana. 3. (TIE) Indianapolis says goodbye to Market Square Arena, imploded to make way for new development on the east side of Downtown. 3. (TIE) An investigation by The Star triggers questions about how the Build Indiana Fund is used by legislators. See FactFile 5. After a standoff, federal marshals seize the Indianapolis Baptist Temple and remove the Rev. Gregory J. Dixon. See FactFile 6. Eli Lilly and Co. has a year of ups and downs as Prozac (left) goes generic and a new sepsis drug wins FDA approval. See FactFile 7. Results from the 2000 census show growth in Indiana has not kept pace with the rest of the nation, costing the state a congressional seat. See Census coverage 8. Judy Kirby is convicted in the traffic deaths of seven people, including three of her own children. See FactFile 9. Guide Corp. and other businesses reach an out-of-court settlement in the White River fish kill, paying millions to people who live along the waterway. Eric Trampton (left) and Indianapolis student, wears a fish suit to protest the way Gov. Frank O'Bannon handled the situation. See FactFile 10. Three current and former school staff members in Carmel face charges of sexual misconduct with students.

Before Sept. 11, the most hated man in America was Timothy McVeigh.

Measured in terms of victims, the Oklahoma City bomber fell a couple thousand short of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, but the unrepentant McVeigh will go down in history as the man who brought modern terrorism to America.

McVeigh was executed by injection in a federal prison near Terre Haute on June 11.

The execution was Indiana's biggest story of the year, as chosen by reporters and editors of The Star . It drew international interest and sparked a fire under the ongoing debate over capital punishment in America.

McVeigh was convicted of bombing a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995 and killing 168 people, including 19 children. It took about six years to bring him to justice, but on that final day, justice was swift. After declining to make a final statement, McVeigh received his first injection at 7:10 a.m., followed by two more. At 7:14 a.m., he was dead.

Some blame the state's media outlets for "overcovering" the execution of a man whose crime had little to do with Indiana.

"The story had very little effect on my life, other than the effort I made to ignore as much of the excessive coverage as I could," said George Williams of Indianapolis.

Dave Brown of Sheridan said the press could have saved a lot of time and energy.

"The media could have covered it all in a single sentence on the execution day: "Tried -- Convicted -- Dead. All the rest was crap I quit reading after day one."

While McVeigh's death might not have had a direct effect on Hoosiers, the year's second biggest story -- the slumping economy -- certainly did.

Since late 2000, more than 50,000 Hoosier jobs have been lost as Indiana followed the rest of the country into the slump.

Thousands of others have lost anticipated pay raises, which dominoed into less spending and one of the worst Christmas shopping seasons in recent years.

"As a self-employed individual, my spending patterns changed significantly this year as the economy slowed," Williams said. "I have postponed a new car and furniture, preferring instead to set aside the money and watch what the economy does next year."

On a much grander scale, Gov. Frank O'Bannon has been forced to do the same.

The economy has helped waylay the state budget to the tune of about $1 billion -- with the prospect of being flat broke by mid-2003. State pay raises were frozen, and some departing personnel were not replaced as agencies were asked to tighten their belts.

This story will continue into 2002 as legislators report to Indianapolis for the next session.

Another continuing story -- tied for No. 3 on the list -- will be how the legislature responds next year to the Build Indiana Fund, which was the focus of a Star investigation in June.

The investigation found that at least $40 million of the fund had been sent to nonprofit groups that aren't audited by the state -- and sometimes to projects that directly benefit lawmakers or projects that were never built.

Two others from the Top 10 that likely will come up again are the ongoing performance of Eli Lilly and Co. and the fallout from the census report that cost Indiana a congressional seat and forced the redrawing of district lines.

But some stories will not carry over into the new year, like the July 8 implosion of Market Square Arena -- a monument deemed too old for today's NBA and too costly for anything else.

"MSA will always have a certain nostalgic value to me because I saw my first concert there in 1987, I was at all of the Pacers' firsts, and my high school class graduated in that building," said Nathan Manual, a student at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. "I was saddened to see it fall, but at the same time, there is a growing space crunch in this city."

Return to: 2001: A Year of Change