For the pain of losing an eye and going through 21 operations since she was maimed by a blast at an abortion clinic, Emily Lyons has gotten all she ever expects to receive from the bomber, Eric Rudolph: $57.69. The Associated Press reports that Lyons was among the first victims to receive a share of the $2.3 million in restitution that Rudolph was ordered to pay after pleading guilty last year in a string of crimes that included the Birmingham clinic attack and the Atlanta Olympics bombing.
While Lyons laughs at the amount she received – “Right now it’s a tank and a little more of gas,” she said – others view the paltry payments as a disgrace. “The best thing would have been not to do anything,” said Diane Derzis, owner of the clinic that was bombed in 1998 in an attack that also killed a police officer. Lyons got her check in January. Derzis got $38.42 around the same time. John Hawthorne, whose wife, Alice, was killed in the Olympics bombing in 1996, is still waiting for his. Rudolph is serving four life terms for the Birmingham and Atlanta attacks and two other bombings in Atlanta in 1997.
Link: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-04-25-eric-rudolph_x.htm