From: [f gaut j w] at [ccsvax.sfasu.edu]
Newsgroups: alt.activism
Subject: Re: Waco aflame
Date: 24 Apr 93 13:06:35 CST

In article <[C 5 y 6 sq B 6 x] at [chinet.chi.il.us]>, [d--rt--g] at [chinet.chi.il.us] (Dan Hartung) writes:
> [r j l] at [pitt.edu] (Richard J. Loether) writes:
>>Today, the BATF is in court in Idaho explaining why they killed the wife
>>and son of Randy Weaver in another siege excercise in 1992. He had reportedly 
> 
> Right, so they just shot his wife.  I had the distinct impression they
> were fired upon, and once again, that an agent serving a warrant was
> killed.  But you conveneintly omit these facts, no?
> 
Sorry, I just can't let this one slide by.  I assure you, the more you
know about the Randy Weaver episode the more alarming the federal action
in Waco becomes.  Please follow the Weaver trial.  Some recaps were
being given on talk.politics.guns.  Here's a brief recap of why Weaver
is on trial:

Papers were served on Weaver to appear in court over the sawed-off
shotgun charge.  The problem is that the date Weaver was told to
appear was different than the date Weaver was told in the letter sent
out by the court so court was held on a day prior to the date Weaver
was told.  Since Weaver already knew he had been set up in a sting
operation for refusing to cooperate in an information gathering operation
for the feds, he was understandably angry about it.  Several months
went by with ample opportunity for the government to serve papers on
Weaver when he went into town, etc.  

Instead, four federal agents were reconnoitering Weaver's property in
a remote section of wooded Idaho.  They were dressed like hunters in
camouflage garb, wore no badges and had no warrant.  They were tres-
passing to get the lay of the land before attacking this "dangerous"
individual who was well liked in the community and had run well in
a recent sheriff's race.  

From within the cabin, Weaver, his son Sam, his wife with a nursing
infant, two daughters, and a good friend who was staying with them
heard the dogs barking.  Sam and the friend went out to check it out,
taking their deer rifles with them as the dogs sometimes barked when
deer crossed the property which provided an opportunity for venison.

They went down and saw the four "hunters", one of whom panicked and
shot Sam's dog which he had raised from a pup.  Sam, the fourteen
year old fired on the unmarked marshall and in turn was fired on and
wounded in the arm.  Sam turned and began running back towards the
cabin when he was shot in the back and killed.  Sam was fourteen
years old.  

The friend, who was an excellent woodsman and hunter, came upon Sam's
warm body and very angry, shot and killed one of the federal agents.
He then kept them pinned down for a considerable period of time and
they were able to get Sam's body back up to a shed near the cabin.

Weaver had no desire to surrender to the killers who had just murdered
his son.  Some 500 agents...BATF, FBI, swat teams, custom officials,
etc., gathered to root Weaver out of his home. 

On about the third day or so of the standoff, Weaver and his friend
went out to the shed where his son's body was.  Weaver was shot and
wounded in the arm and his friend was hit in the stomach.  They
ran back towards the cabin where Weaver's wife, holding a nursing
baby in her arms, held the door open for them.  A trained marksman
with scope shot Weaver's wife in the head, killing her.  How he
could not have known it was a woman holding a baby, I do not know.

At some time during all of this, a government helicopter loaded with
an ominous cannister of gasoline flew over the cabin.  A neighbor with
a video camera was spotted filming the copter which turned and went
back to land near the bevy of federal agents.  When asked about the
cannister,  the claim was that there were gasoline motors now near
the cabin and the gasoline was intended for servicing them.  If that
was true, why wasn't the gasoline dropped off?  Weaver may have come
close to meeting a fate similar to that of Koresh.

This was a massive standoff and yet only small uninformative articles
appeared in newspapers across the nation.  Weaver had once been at
a military camp where Bo Gritz had been an instructor or some such
and Weaver had respect for him.  Weaver asked that Gritz be brought
in.  He came and negotiated a bloodless surrender about nine days
later.  

These are the events in broad outline as I remember them from several
months back.  

The trial is now taking place.  The jury has been instructed by federal
Judge Lodge not to follow the events in Waco.  Wonder why?  You might
also note that if you don't live in the Pacific Northwest, you are
not likely to hear much about the Weaver trial from your local media.
As this is an important case, this might be worth thinking on also.

-- 
 *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *
 Joe Gaut                    |   In the super-state, it really does not
 <[f gaut j w] at [ccsvax.sfasu.edu]> |   matter at all what actually happened.
     Remember the Alamo      |   Truth is what the government chooses to 
       Remember Waco         |   tell you.  Justice is what it wants to happen.
                                        --Jim Garrison, New Orleans, La.