Oklahoma City Bombing

Marissa Pittman went to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial and Museum for the 16th anniversary service on April 19, 2011. There, she heard stories from Donna Weaver, the widow of Michael D. Weaver who was killed in the attacks, Major Ed Hill of the Oklahoma City Police Department, a rescue worker on the day of the attacks, John Richels, the Chairman of the Oklahoma City National Memorial Foundation and Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin. Also, Marissa talked to Jordan Turner, an 18 year-old Oklahoma City native whose mother, Shelly D. Bland, was killed during the attacks.


RUNS: 2:14
VIDEO BY: Marissa Pittman

Following the devastating acts of the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995, the United States federal building security was created.

Currently, there are 9,000 federal facilities with about one million employees protected under this security. It is overseen by the Federal Protective Service (FPS) with a budget of about $1 billion. The FPS employees about 1,200 full-time workers and about 13,000 guards deployed at federal agencies.

“With this Memorial and Museum, it is the hope of the rescue workers that our stories continue to be shared with future generations so they can understand the full impact and senselessness of such violence,” Major Ed Hill of the Oklahoma City Police Department said.

This security ensures many rules to keep federal buildings safe, including classifying buildings into five different levels and establishing security requirements for each of them.

Level V was created for the buildings that are critical to national security, such as the Pentagon and CIA Headquarters. Level V requires 451 or more federal employees occupying the building and over 150,000 square feet of space. The tenants of these buildings secure the site according to their own requirements.

Level IV has the same requirements for the number of people and space as well as having a high volume of public contact. It also includes agencies that are high-risk law enforcement and intelligence agencies, such as the FBI, DEA and ATF. Level IV also includes the Federal courts, judicial offices and highly delicate government archives.

Level III is a building with 151 to 450 federal employees with a moderate to high volume of public contact and 80,000 to 150,000 square feet of space. This type of building includes law enforcement agencies, court related agencies and function and government records and archives.

Level II is a building that has 11 to 150 federal employees, moderate volume of public contact and 2,500 to 80,000 square feet of space. Level II includes federal activities that are routine in nature, similar to commercial activities.

Level I has 10 or fewer federal employees with a low volume of public contact or contact with only a small percentage of the population. It has 2,500 or less square feet of space, such as a small “store front” type of operation, such as a military recruiting office. Level I is more susceptible to be attack.

“As we continue forward, we know that what was meant for evil has been used for good,” Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said.
Other methods are used to make sure that these buildings are safer, including glass glazing to reduce the possible injuries from shattering glass. Also, measures have been taken to prevent progressive collapses of buildings.

The U.S. General Services Administration website states that “from the installation of alarm systems, x-rays, magnetometers and entry control systems, to monitoring those systems 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, providing uniformed police response and investigative follow-up, the FPS is organized to protect and serve.”

The United States federal building security is available to help minimize terrorist attacks and damage caused from terrorist attacks so that Americans do not have to be in fear of another attack like that of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

LoneStar Sports Center Coming to Frisco!

Frisco Athletic Network is set to open its very own sports facility May 21.

The facility, LoneStar Sports Center, is a 36,000 sq. ft. area that will include seven volleyball courts, a snack shop, pro-shop kiosks, offices and a conference room. It will be home to LoneStar Volleyball Club, Frisco Youth Volleyball League, LoneStar Academy and Smackdown Tournaments.

“I am very excited about the fact that we are going to be able to promote volleyball from a volleyball-specific facility,” founder and director Arneva Martin said. “The LoneStar Sports Center will bring attention to youth volleyball in a city that is nationally recognized as one of the best places to raise an athlete.”

The Center will host many of Frisco Athletic Network’s activities including club volleyball tournaments, youth volleyball games, volleyball practices, private lessons, skills training and open-play nights.

“We’ve got professional athletes coming in to conduct skills camps,” Martin said. “We are also looking at adding on other sports, such as wrestling and indoor tennis.”

Arneva Martin has been looking for a home to call her organization’s own for nine years.

“We started out as a group of parents with talented young athletes on a single team and as the visibility and popularity has grown in Frisco and the surrounding cities, the organization grew as well,” Martin said. “We started with ten kids and are now at somewhere around 1,200 members.”

Martin said that as the number of athletes grew, so did her want and need for the facility.

“Because we’ve grown so much in size, we have outgrown the facilities that we are renting now,” Martin said. “We are a year-round program and other seasonal sports took up our court space. This will truly allow us to be a fully functional, year-round training center.”

Martin credits her family of coaches and administrative staff for bringing this dream to fruition, most notably Technical Director and former UNT coach, Harvey Sanders, scouting expert and former South Eastern Oklahoma State University head coach, Skip Freeman, and financial director and USA Volleyball National Referee, Chris Mares.

“We have a phenomenal coaching staff who is completely dedicated to the sport of volleyball and sharing their knowledge of passion and the game,”
Martin said. “Not only are they coaches, but they are also an integral part of this overall organization.”

The new facility will also make it easier to control schedules, optimize the court time and the coaches availability to train more kids as the sport grows in the North Texas area.

“There’s a need for a focus just on this sport,” Martin said.

Parents in the programs have shown an overwhelming amount of support for Martin’s endeavors. They have been volunteering their time, their networks and their resources to help get the doors open.

“Before the announcement of the Sports Center, word got out that we were close to realizing our dreams and the support from the members grew faster than the facility itself,” she said. “Our club family has a pride of ownership before it is even open.”

Construction has started on the LoneStar Sports Center and will open the day of the Frisco Youth Volleyball League tournament.