[0] ATLANTA PERSEVERES : 911 CALLER HUNTED; BLAST SURVIVORS STABLE SECURITY'S GRIP SLOWS SPECTATORS.

Byline: Charles J. Hanley Associated Press 

The Games went on but the buoyant Olympic spirit lay wounded Saturday in the aftermath of a bombing that killed one person, injured more than 100 and exploded hopes that this great global festival would escape the terrorism of a troubled world.

Inch by inch, federal agents were searching the bombing site in Centennial Olympic Park for evidence. And the nation, still stunned by the loss of TWA Flight 800, was searching for reasons why someone would strike at the Atlanta Games.

Investigators keyed in on a mysterious 911 caller who calmly warned of an explosion in a half-hour. It was just 18 minutes later, however, as police inspected a suspicious bag, that the pipe-bomb blast sent terrified late-night revelers scattering ``like wildfire'' across downtown Atlanta.

``We will track them down. We will bring them to justice,'' President Clinton said in Washington, where he had returned from an Olympic visit barely 24 hours before the attack.

No immediate claims of responsibility were reported.

However, within two hours of the bomb blast, police charged an unidentified man with making terroristic threats. Police said they don't believe he is the park bomber, although the man told them he had a bomb in his bag and planned to blow up a hotel and other places.

``It may very well be merely coincidental,'' said Atlanta police Lt. Cal Moss. ``But all possibilities will be explored.''

Soon after the 1:25 a.m. Saturday bombing, an army of security personnel tightened its net around the Olympics, halfway through the two-week schedule. For the first time, heavily armed soldiers were deployed at competition venues. Tougher security checks caused delays and long lines.

``We must go into a different mode, a much more heightened sense of awareness,'' said Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell.

At the Olympic Athletes Village, at the Georgia Tech campus, U.S., Canadian and Dutch officials recommended their athletes stay put or - if they had competition scheduled - to come straight home.

Jittery Atlantans phoned in other scares over suspicious packages as the long, nervous Saturday wore on. Officials said scores of threats and false alarms had been recorded since the games began July 19, including some 120 abandoned or suspicious parcels that were investigated and proved harmless.

Campbell said a suspicious package that prompted officials to evacuate Underground Atlanta, a downtown shopping mall, for several hours turned out to be a clothes iron with a thermostat control.

Atlanta Fire Department Lt. Edwin Higginbotham identified the bombing victim as Alice S. Hawthorne, 44, cable TV company receptionist from Albany, Ga. Her 14-year-old daughter, Fallon, who had been standing with her in the park, was hospitalized in stable condition with arm and leg wounds.

Turkish broadcasting officials said one of their cameramen, Melih Uzunyol, 40, died of a heart attack while running to film the explosion's aftermath.

Most of the 111 injured suffered minor wounds or shock, officials said. Only 11 were hospitalized, all in stable condition. At least two underwent surgery for shrapnel in the torso.

It was the first terrorism at the Olympics since the Munich Games of 1972, when Palestinians seized Israeli athletes in an attack that left 18 people dead.

This time, the terror struck a vulnerable target, a new, 21-acre downtown park, ringed by office buildings and Olympic arenas, where tens of thousands of tourists and locals have been gathering for pop music concerts, to visit corporate pavilions and to simply soak in the ``Olympic spirit.''

Early Saturday morning, celebrants blanketed the grass and walkways to enjoy and dance to the rock band Jack Mack and the Heart Attack, playing on a stage near the park's edge. In the nearby Georgia Dome, the U.S. basketball ``Dream Team'' had won its game against China just before midnight.

At 1:07 a.m., an unidentified caller at a pay phone just two blocks away told a 911 operator there would be an explosion in Centennial Olympic Park in 30 minutes, a law enforcement official said on condition of anonymity.

Investigators believe the caller was a white male, and he had no distinguishable accent, said the FBI's Woody Johnson.

About the same time, witnesses later reported, a security guard advised police he spotted a suspicious-looking bag at the rear of the audience, near a corrugated-aluminum fence surrounding a sound-light tower.

Police moved spectators back, and bomb squad officers examined the bag and saw three pipes inside, the federal official said. Before further action could be taken, the device exploded.

For a long, puzzled moment hundreds just stood there after others fell, videotape of the scene showed.

``My first reaction was it was that it was a pyrotechnic,'' said Robert Gee of Scottsdale, Ariz.

``We thought it was part of the show,'' said another spectator, Willie Peters of Marietta, Ga. He was sitting with his family 30 yards from the blast. Then he looked to his side and saw his mother-in-law on the ground, crying in pain, hit in the back by metal debris.

The bomb, laden with nails and screws, had torn some 15 feet of fence apart and sent shards of wood and metal hurtling through the warm early morning air.

``I had my back turned, and then when I heard the explosion, I felt this gust of wind,'' said James Lee of Detroit. ``People were trampling over each other to get out of there.''

Panic took hold.

``There was a wave of people coming out of the park,'' said Joe Cornwell, an employee at a nearby hotel. ``It spread like wildfire.''

Some three dozen emergency vehicles responded.

``I kept telling myself, it's not a bomb, it's something else, like a truck backfiring,'' said fire official Lt. James Westbrook. But ``when I first entered the park, there appeared to be 75 to 100 people down.''

Later, it seemed clear the damage could have been worse - if the guard had not spotted the bag or police not moved the crowd back, or if the bomb had been bigger.

Clinton said the ``brave security personnel . . . prevented a much greater loss of life.'' Some security personnel were among the injured.

Local and federal officials said scores of threats and false alarms had been recorded since the Games began July 19, including some 120 abandoned or suspicious parcels that were investigated and proved harmless.

The only major reported security lapse occurred at the Opening Ceremonies, when weak security allowed a man carrying a .45-caliber pistol to enter the stadium. He was later released.

In April, reports surfaced that a Georgia ``militia'' group arrested for allegedly conspiring to stockpile bombs had its sights set on the Olympics. Those reports later were discounted, but they heightened concerns here about the terrorist potential - concerns that grew further when the TWA flight exploded and crashed July 17 off Long Island in what is widely thought to have been a terrorist bombing.

Compared with the sports venues, where spectators must past through metal detectors to enter, security is relaxed in Centennial Olympic Park, designed as a new central gathering place for Atlantans after the games.

Chief Atlanta Olympic organizer Billy Payne said Saturday no one had ever recommended tightening park security. ``People have to have some freedom of movement,'' he said.

Within hours of the explosion, Olympic organizers announced the tragic episode would not upset the competition schedule.

``The Games will go on,'' said Francois Carrard, director general of the International Olympic Committee.

The decision found wide acceptance among athletes and fans.

``To let whoever did this get away with this and cancel the games, that would be absurd,'' said U.S. basketball star Charles Barkley.

``They're going to do their job,'' said Illinois visitor Jo Ellen Southerland, gesturing toward a guard as she waited to buy Olympic tickets. ``And mine is to go out and enjoy the games.''

But Olympic tourists were clearly on their guard.

Mark Settles and his family of four from Lookout Mountain, Tenn., were at the bomb scene earlier Friday, and from now on, said 7-year-old Tyler, ``we're not going to Centennial Park.''

``We warned the kids that if they're told to come on, it means now,'' his father added.

The competition resumed Saturday with a moment of silence and the lowering of flags to half-staff at Olympic venues.

But the day-by-day impact on the plans of tens of thousands of fans who have not yet arrived in Atlanta remains to be seen.

Delta Airlines reported ``no big stampede'' of travelers leaving the city.

The FBI's Johnson said a toll-free number had been established - [phone] - to take information on the case, and he said investigators were especially interested in any photos or videos taken in the area before the explosion.

AT A GLANCE

Details about the explosion in Centennial Olympic Park:

THE BOMB: The FBI says it was a pipe bomb. A federal law enforcement official said it consisted of three pipes and was in a knapsack spotted next to a lighting and sound tower at Centennial Olympic Park, where a free concert was going on. The device, laden with nails and screws, tore some 15 feet of fence apart and sent shrapnel, including shards of corrugated fence, hurtling as far as 100 yards.

THE AREA: The 21-acre Centennial Olympic Park holds up to 50,000 people and has corporate exhibits, concession stands and a five-ringed wading fountain. The bomb went off between the Swatch pavilion and a concert area sponsored by AT&T.

THE CALL: Federal officials say a person believed to be a white male with no distinguishable accent called 911 at 1:07 a.m. from a pay phone two blocks from the park. He warned there would be an explosion in the park in 30 minutes. The blast occurred at 1:25 a.m.

THE VICTIMS: The explosion killed Alice S. Hawthorne, 44, of Albany, Ga. A Turkish broadcasting cameraman, Melih Uzunyol, 40, died of a heart attack while running to the scene. The bomb injured 111 people; most suffered minor wounds, shock or fractures. Only 11 remained hospitalized Saturday, and all were reported in stable condition.

THE COMPETITION: The Games went on amid heightened security.

PRESIDENT'S PROMISE: President Clinton, who has twice visited the Games, vowed from Washington that the perpetrators would be caught: ``We will track them down. We will bring them to justice.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, Box, Map

Photo: (1--color) In downtown Atlanta's Centen nial Olympic Park, the pipe bomb sprayed the late-night crowd with shrapnel after police discovered what it was.

The New York Times

(2--color) Agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation inspect the phone where a man warned of the blast 18 minutes before it came.

Associated Press

Box: AT A GLANCE (see text)

Map: Explosion within the Olympic Ring

Knight-Ridder Tribune