Thank you, Ron, and thanks for coming everybody. I'm not a public speaker, so I've got some good news: I'm going to be a little shorter than thirty minutes.

Um- we all miss Ron up here, I want to say that first of all, in, in the Dallas area. If there's any way he can get back on the air, I know I speak for everybody that, we'd like to have him back in, uh, on the air here in Dallas. [applause]

I still believe that the United States of America, is the greatest system in the world. And that our court systems, are the greatest court systems in the world. And that was confirmed to me, when on February the 26th, of this year, all eleven, of the Branch Davidian defendants, were found innocent, of murder and conspiracy to murder. Now they're still, there's eight of 'em still in jail. So there's still something wrong with the system, but the way to do it is peacefully from within the system to try and get things fixed.

I spent, uh, about six weeks down in San Antonio, covering the trial for Carol Valentine, and also for Lou Epton in Las Vegas, who has a radio show there. And one of the things I learned was, the system is geared against the defendant, in these federal criminal cases. In spite of that, you had twelve men and women on the jury who said, we're not going to stand for this, federal government. We're drawing a line in the sand here, these people didn't have to put up with that kind of abuse, and were going to send a clear message to the country, and to the federal government, that we're not going to tolerate assaults with tanks, with machine guns, this is not gonna happen again in America.

You're supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, but the FBI, called these people murderers, that they murdered federal agents for 51 days. And nobody seemed to ask them, well what happened to presumed innocent until, uh, found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Our law defines murder very clearly. You must have, you pre-, something that you've thought about. It can't be an accident. That's accidental death or negligent homicide. Murder is very clearly defined under the law. And to get up on national television and say these people were murderers without a trial, that was wrong.

Basically, in court, we were treated to a long list of witnesses by the government. I remember agent Lowell Sprague, who gave a very different account of the death of the first agent, Steve Willis, than what we were told by the government, or even Steven Higgins or Dan Hartnett, testified to before Congress in June, it was a totally different version of how Steven Willis was killed. And what he said was, Willis got out of the cattle trailer with a whole bunch of other people, and they were running towards the front door, and they were shooting a fire extinguisher at the dogs. They heard firing start, so they retreated behind the cars. Willis got behind one of the cars and fired a few clips with his 9mm pistol, then Willis ran behind a green-and-white van and fired some more, from a green-and-white, or from a 9mm pistol. Then, about 25 minutes into the firefight, Willis was hit. Well this is different from what we were told all along. We were told that Willis was shot immediately upon exiting the cattle trailer. Well, why would they have a totally different story come out in court? Usually when you lie to the police they think you're hiding something, you're covering something up. Apparently the news media thinks, well, they're the government, they can change their story, we're not going to ask them any questions. Well, we the people need to know, why the story has been changed so many times on the deaths of those agents. Because they were the first ones killed supposedly. That was the first big deal out here, was those four agents still have not answered. For me, for their families, for you the people, they still have not answered, how those agents died. What was the real circumstances, when are we going to know the truth?

There was an agent, Barbara Maxwell, that testified that she ran out of the cattle trailer, thefirst one, that parked, oh, just by that fence, or just to the end of that fence on the north end. That she got out of that cattle trailer and ran immediately as far from the building as fast as she could get to a white Ford van, took cover there and never fired a shot. Well she wasn't a chicken, she was doing what they were supposed to do. They did have a contingency plan, it was testified to in court. Because of the presence of women and children, if firing started, regardless of who started it, the agents were not to return fire, they were to take cover, and wait for reinforcements or instructions from their superiors. Did that happen? No, it did not happen. We had another agent, Tim Gabori, who testified in court, that he took his pistol, and his, uh, uh, submachine gun, and it held it over his head like this. And fired it from behind a pickup truck without looking. About 75 rounds into the upper floor of that building. Uh, this is against every rule of police engagement, the rules of engagement that state clearly you have to have an identifiable target, which is a threat to you or to your fellow, or to any person, before you can fire that weapon. And several agents testified that they fired at hands moving in the window. Said he saw a pair of hands in the window, so he shot at that. saw a curtain move, so he shot at that. Well who's behind those curtains? A child, trying to see what's going on? Was it a mother, trying to scream stop shooting at us? That's not a threat. Barbara Maxwell, as far as I'm concerned, was the only agent, that did what she was supposed to do.

Jack Zimmerman, the attorney that testified, said that Mt. Carmel looked like Swiss cheese inside there. He was given a tour of Mt. Carmel, and he was told on April the 14th by the FBI, that he had all the time in the world, that he and Dick Deguerin had all the time in the world, that there was not going to be anything done. Four days later, we all woke up and saw, the walls being knocked down. We were told they were inserting tear gas, poking holes to insert tear gas. I didn't see any holes being poked. All I saw was walls being knocked down.

You all know the rest of the story, we have 87 people who aren't here today because whoever started the fire, it started, and there was no effort, no effort that I saw to rescue anybody, no effort to bring in the fire trucks, no effort to put the fire out.

The trials, are over. But we've still got eight people, that are innocent, sitting in Coreal County jail, waiting, for to be sentenced. Sentenced for what. We had better ask some serious questions in this country. Or the next battlefield might be your backyard. If we don't take them on here, with what they've done here at Mt. Carmel, the next battlefield might be your living room. I don't want to see them in my living room. [applause] After the trial was over and the verdict was in, the , um , defense lawyers had a victory party. They didn't call it a victory party, but they had the big cigars that they broke out, the Cuban cigars, it was at the Fairmont Hotel down in San Antonio, and I went to that. uh, some of the people from the mainstream press were there, Lee Hancock from the Dallas Morning News, Lee bought me a beer, and I appreciate that. And we had a discussion. But without going into that, I'd like to say that Rita Riddle was there also, and she told me that she didn't think that the term victoty party was appropriate. Sure, the people were found innocent. on murder and conspiracy to murder, which was the main charges. In that respect we have a victory. But you have to remember. Nearly 100 of her friends had died out here. Her daughter, Misty Ferguson, is scarred for life because of what the FBI did. Twelve of her friends spent a year in jail for something they didn't do. All of their cars, their possessions, their clothes, and their house were run over with tanks and burnt. What kind of victory is that? What kind of victory can you claim from something like that, and on top of all of it, you've still got eight people, including your sister-in-law Ruth Riddle, that are sitting in jail, for no reason. No reason other than the judge is waiting to sentence them. Well I don't know about you ladies and gentlemen, but I've had about enough. hello? had about enough of this microphone! But I'm not gonna say a whole lot more, I just want to thank everybody for coming out. And everybody for their support, and they. I speak for the Branch Davidians in thanking you for your support. And let's fight this thing here at Mt. Carmel. Don't let them show up in your living room. Don't let them show up in your yard with guns and search warrant, and kicking your doors in and shooting at your house. Let's get this kind of thing stopped right now while we still have the chance to do it. Thanks, and have a good day, gang. [applause]