KEATING ASKS MINUTE OF SILENCE AT 9:02 A.M. WEDNESDAY

Oklahoma City Governor Frank Keating today asked all Oklahomans to join in 60 seconds of profound and silent meditation and prayer at 9:02 a.m. Wednesday one week after the explosion at the Murrah Federal Office Building.

"Although Sunday's day of mourning and televised prayer service were wonderful steps on the road to healing, not all Oklahomans could be in the arena," Keating said. "Wednesday's observance is one that everyone, no matter where they may be, can join. "

Keating asked that Oklahomans wishing to join the observance do the following:

Begin assembling in emcee lobbies or parking lots, on school playgrounds or in classrooms and in other common areas a five moments before 9:02 a.m. to join hands and pray silently during the one minute observance;
In retail businesses, suspend all transactions and gather employees and customers for one minute of silent prayer;
At home, join with neighbors or family members in living rooms or outdoors;
On roads and highways, motorists may pull safely to the side of the road and either sit quietly in their cars with headlights on or join w with other drivers in forming circles off the roadway.

Keating also urged radio and television stations to observe 60 seconds of silence by broadcasting silent views of the observances on television or the sound of church bells on radio, with no narration. He asked that all bells in the state be tolled during the period.

"Ideally, that would be the only sound we hear, " the Governor said. He said police, fire and other emergency phones should still be answered during the moment of silence, and that medical personnel must continue with their duties in hospitals.

"We will honor our dead, our wounded, our missing and our bereaved on Wednesday morning," Keating said. "We honor and remember them with our silence and our prayers. "

The Governor and First Lady Cathy Keating are expected to join hands with search and rescue crews near the blast site for the observance.

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