Waco

The FBI and ATF have plenty of theories and excuses for what went wrong in Waco, but explain this: What happened to the Davidians' right to bear arms and freedom of religion? JIM KALIN Santa Monica

In a span of two days the world witnessed a jury of 12 ordinary citizens hand down a decision with the wisdom of Solomon, and our government hand down a decision with the wisdom of Attila the Hun. Twelve lay people restore peace and faith in their community. An army of highly educated and professionally trained government experts get themselves and more than 80 others killed, leaving their nation with a feeling of blundered law enforcement. These events seem to back up the words of one who said the voice of God is found in the soul of the people.

Recent Congressional hearings on the Waco tragedy are supposed to help the nation understand what happened on the Texas plains in 1993, when about 80 people died during government raids on a heavily armed "cult compound." A 14-year-old girl's testimony of sexual abuse inside the compound explains, in part, the decision to arrest the people known as Branch Davidians and their leader, David Koresh. And the tales of incompetence and machismo told by some of the agents who participated in the raid illustrate the mistakes made by those who directed the two disastrous assaults.

On Saturday night, as President Bush prepared to celebrate Father's Day on his ranch in nearby Crawford, members of the Royal, Sovereign and Imperial Court of the Central Texas Empire gathered in downtown Waco for their annual drag queen coronation. In its 13th year, the event was part pageant -- with choreographed show tune numbers -- and part fundraiser for gay and lesbian and other causes.

Welcome. World's Most Persecuted Church. --Sign at Branch Davidian property near Waco For the last year and a half, Amo Bishop Roden has seen the visitors arrive. They pull up in their cars, their trucks, their vans. They get out, wander around. They try to absorb the spirit of the spooky, ravaged and oddly beautiful place she calls home. Sometimes, they take jokey pictures of each other amid the ruins. Sometimes, they ask lots of questions. Sometimes, they cry. "A lot of women cry here," Roden said in a soft voice almost lost to the wind whooshing through a chinaberry tree.

HOUSTON -- A paramedic arrested for possessing bomb-making materials after he responded to the massive fertilizer plant fire in West, Texas, has denied any connection between the fire and the charges he faces. Bryce Reed, 31, released a statement through his attorney Saturday saying he "vigorously denies" charges filed against him Friday. He is accused of passing bomb-making materials to a resident in nearby Abbott, Texas, where they were discovered by the West bomb squad on Tuesday, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives officials who arrested him. The complaint detailed the materials found, including a 3.5-inch length of galvanized metal pipe with two galvanized end caps attached, one of which had a 1/8-inch hole drilled in it. There were also canisters containing hobby fuse, a lighter, a digital scale, a plastic spoon and six coils of metal ribbon.

WEST, TEXAS --The mayor of this city said 35 to 40 people are believed to be dead in a massive fertilizer plant explosion “because they are unaccounted for and still missing.” “We are out there searching the rubble, looking in each and every house. We are trying to locate each and every citizen,” Mayor Tommy Muska said in a telephone interview with The Times. Muska said he arrived at the count of 35 to 40 dead because all other residents and first-responders in the area have been identified.