Here are some notes on the sixth anniversary at Mt. Carmel. I plan to have more later.

More than 100 people attended the memorial service on Monday, April 19. Counting stragglers, the number may have approached 120. This figure includes media. This was down from more than 200 last year, mainly because this year the anniversary fell on a weekday.

There was actually more media present than I remembered the year before. I had thought there would be less, not just because it was a year later, but because last year marked the fifth anniversary- though the whole "five years later" angle got surprisingly little play in the press. Maybe there were more reporters at last year's event than I realized, or maybe it is easier to get reporters out on a Monday morning than a Sunday.

This year's event represented a break with last year's event, and even with other years. Apparently there was a backlash among the survivors to last year's event, which was seen as having gone too "political," and away from being a memorial service. Thus, there were no ideological speakers, and since some who were invited to speak, like Ramsey Clark and Dr. Phil Arnold, could not come, there were noticeably fewer speakers at the event. To fill the void, Clive Doyle, the pastor of the surviving Branch Davidians, spoke a lot more than he has at past events.

"And, uh, it's been quite a- turmoil- to arrange this particular memorial. Uh, in the past, we've opened it up to, all kinds of speakers, with different agendas, different motives for, for being here... A lot of them, uh, we invited because they were involved, we've had, professors from Baylor University, we've had, uh, libertarians, we've had Republic of Texas people, and I see there's quite a few of them here today. And they've shown their support through the years. Uh, we've allowed a lot of these people to speak, uh, from different groups and concerns... And, uh- but this year we wanted to keep it more like a church service. To be more of a memorial. Uh, there was concern- sometimes we get some people that get a little radical, get a little, you know, to raising their voices, and, and, uh- a lot of the survivors felt that, you know, we want it to be more subdued. We want it to be more in the spirit, of, a memorial service. I hope you bear with us on that."

(Whether this change was entirely welcome to the audience is open to question. While many past speakers have indeed seemed so interested in their particular cause that they lose sight of the dead, and I sympathize with the survivors' view that some firebreathers have struck an inappropriate tone for a memorial, it must be said that they enlivened the events.)

In another change from past years, the event did not close with a reading of the names of the dead. Instead, the names of the dead were read in blocks over the course of the event. Clive explained that, rather than relegating the lost lives to the end of the event, something to "get it over with," this new approach would keep the audience reminded of the human tragedy throughout the service. He also said this would allow them to talk about some of the dead, rather than leaving them as mere names.

"A little later we're going to read some names. In the past, at, uh, memorials, we've waited until the very end. Uh- the idea we had in mind was we would read the names around the time that the fire started, because that's when most of them died. Uh- we're not going to do that today, we just want to kind of mix it up a little bit, change the order of the reading of the names and incorporate it throughout the program. And, uh, so- you know, kind of break it up a bit. We want to talk a little bit more about those people, rather than, uh, just read 'em off, and try to get it over with, and, and run off to the restaurant. That's not what we're here for, just to pay them lip service."

(Again, whether this is an improvement is questionable. Rather than having a "let's get it over with" attitude, for me the closing memorialization of the dead has been the most emotionally powerful part of the memorial service. This new approach, aimed at keeping the audience focused on the loss of life throughout the service, also diffuses the impact over the entire event.)

Clive Doyle, the pastor of the surviving Branch Davidians, opened the event, and also spoke in between the other speakers.

Stanley Rentz, the lawyer for imprisoned Graeme Craddock, described his appeal, and why his situation might be more hopeful than that of the other prisoners.

CJ Taylor, a friend of Clive's, sang a song.

Catherine Matteson, one of the survivors, talked about how people from many nationalities and races lived as one family at Mt. Carmel. She described how shocked she had been when she had been thrust back into the world, and saw the children of the world. Unlike Mt. Carmel's mature children, she said, the world's spoiled children were running riot. She also talked about the earthquake that will destroy the dam on Lake Waco- an event she is still expecting to take place.

Milton Odom was the keynote speaker. He was a Seventh-day Adventist who had studied at Mt. Carmel in the early 1970s. He had left that church for an independent ministry, and lost contact with the Branches, but had recently made contact with the Branches again. He described shocking personal tragedies he had suffered, and how they had caused him to ask the same question so many were asking about Mt. Carmel, "Why, God?"

Following the service, those who wanted to went to the fellowship lunch, held this year at the Waco Ryan's Cafeteria, where a room had been reserved. As in past years, this gave those who went the chance to talk further with survivors and other attendees.

Some of you, knowing that I transcribed the speeches from last year's service, may be wondering when I will be posting the rest of this year's speeches. Well, I am not sure that that will be anytime soon, or if I will even transcribe very many of them. Transcription takes me away from my other work of providing analysis and commentary of my own, and from some of the unfinished pages already up, you know that is something I need to be working on! The speeches that had priority, Catherine Matteson's remarks and some of Clive Doyle's introductory comments, have been transcribed. Perhaps I will transcribe some more of Clive's remarks. Also, the tapes I have to work with this year are significantly less clear than last year's, and the accuracy of any transcripts thus more uncertain.

wacocult@yahoo.***

version 5/21/99