The opening of the church on Mount Carmel may revive the fading custom of making a pilgrimage to mark the anniversary of the siege's end. Over the years, according to sympathizers and perennial celebrants, the numbers of people who showed up on April 19 had fallen off. Last week's turnout was not as large as it was the first two years, but it marked a dramatic increase in interest and an important counter to the attention given to the Oklahoma City tragedy. Some made the pilgrimage from as far as Nevada, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Allen Croft, fresh from losing his job over his complaints about his boss' employment of illegal immigrants, traveled from Rocky Face, Georgia, to attend the ceremony.
Most people are asleep.
He gestured toward the assembled reporters besieging Mount Carmel with notebooks, satellite vans, cameras, and microphone booms. All this, and I bet not even 10 percent of these interviews will be used on TV or in print. Anyone who wants the real news should listen to shortwave radio. There were several Branch Davidian survivors on hand, none more prominent than Clive Doyle, the new trustee of the Davidians' church. Doyle is a dumpy man, so soft-spoken that his comments at an impromptu press conference were muted by the phalanx of television reporters and constant breeze.