v
Page 8 • Thursday, September 30, 1999
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1
A Night in Rocketown
The Acoustic Tour
Featuring Watermark, Chris Rice,
Ginny Owens, and Cindy Morgan
October 14, 1999
8:00 p.m.
Rudder Auditorium
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Sponsored by Compass College Ministries
Cause of compound
at heart of Waco lawsi
WASHINGTON (AP) — For all
the recent furor over the FBI's use
of potentially incendiary tear gas
canisters on the final day of the
Waco siege, a lawyer suing the gov
ernment on behalf of Branch Da-
vidian survivors and relatives con
tends the inferno may have been
triggered by other causes.
Cult leader David Koresh and
some 80 followers perished during
the fiery climax to the siege on
April 19, 1993.
Michael Caddell, the lead
lawyer in a wrongful-death lawsuit
against the government, is wary of
tying his legal case to the military
canisters lobbed by federal agents.
Alternate theories under exami
nation include the possibility that
the fire was caused by contact be
tween exhaust from military tanks
used in the assault and the flimsy
wooden walls of the Davidians’
compound, he said, adding that the
exhaust could have reached 1,200
degrees Fahrenheit.
“There are a number of possible
explanations, and I don’t want to
get sucked in too much into the
whole pyrotechnic issue,” Caddell
said in a recent interview. “It may
turn out to be a red herring.”
Federal officials have always
said the fire was set by the Davidk
ans, not agents — a position main
tained after the FBI acknowledged
last month that its agents fired a
few pyrotechnic tear-gas projectiles
on the siege’s final day. There is no
evidence those canisters, lobbed
several hours before the fire, ignit
ed the flames, they said.
“I don't want to get
sucked too much
into the whole
pyrotechnic thing”
— Michael Caddell
Branch Davidian lawyer
That view is shared by an arson
expert on the team that investigat
ed the tragedy as part of the Justice
Department’s 1993 Waco probe.
“I still say what we came to the
conclusion on at the end
vestigation down there B0ST<
today, regardless of wh e ar to r
saying about these pyro al-joun
vices,” Thomas Hitchi:^iUusic
deputy fire marshaling Then
County, Pa., said. ilaiizat
Caddell and others v. , r s enrli
the government of a coveBgiciai
examining theories that: The F'
• M i 1 i ta ry tanks that: sets de
holes into the buildn. lass .
non burningteargaski ale, ( a
lanterns the Davidians re The j
ter the FBI cut off elect: udies l
• Flash-bang device: ngjand
federal agents ignited the ntfuall
Filmmaker Michael McN; iser tec
has offered that theory,cla Tin t
devices were found neartii the h
origins. The government isei ins
his assertions. evlrely
• Heat from the tank: ertliel
could have ignited thed Howt
walls, which were reinforaHi tin
makeshift ' !entei
C addell said a special! nanna
erative told him of once' "The
warm his gloved hand: iewed
the exhaust from suchtr reatern
to see his leather glovesi' jaVid H
In tin
Congress nears F-22 de
Agreement looms for purchase of six stea
Me tl
ne
| Pat
WASHINGTON (AP) — House-Senate negotiators
were on the verge of a deal that would provide $1 bil
lion for the Air Force to buy up to six test models of
its coveted F-22 stealth fighter, con
gressional officials said last night.
But the agreement — which could
be announced as early as today —
would not allow production of the fi
nal version of the ultra-sophisticated
warplane until at least 2001, the offi
cials, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, said.
The deal, struck during a closed-
door meeting of Republican congressional leaders
last night, would end a weeks-long stalemate that
has blocked progress on a nearly $270 billion bill fi
nancing the U.S. military in fiscal 2000, which be
gins tomorrow.
“We made a good breakthrough,” House Majority
Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, an F-22 supporter, said
while leaving the meeting. But he and other lawmak
ers would provide no detail.
The deal would represent a victory for House law-
ARMEY
makers, who have opposed purchasing the
next year. It would be a defeat for theplane'sS
defenders, including Senate AppropriationsCo
tee Chair Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and the Lock!
Martin Corp., its prime contractor. ^
The Air Force looks upon the radar-evadingF*
be its primary warplane for the begranafg of the ■’A
centurv and wants to buv more t hand# of them ••v
total cost close to $65 billion. The pile wouldrepll
the F-15 jet fighter.
The SI billion would probahlv betaa^toptf^d
chase four of the test aircraft, one offiq^^pB
would bo used lor n i.iIs th.it would hcIp^&SwM"li'/
plane’s final configuration. Presid
The Air Force could build up to six outv the im
with the money, but that would take additiomMdle
ey that it would have to request next year. ■cr,i
In its defense bill, the Senate had provitfeBn,
billion for the Air Force to buy its first sitni fiside
the plane next year.
But the House deleted the money in Jdybfjssee
that the plane's computers were not fully tested® fansft
the money was needed for other defense progK
Police departments test web
BOSTON (AP) — Police soon
may be able to do what Spiderman
can: net suspects by firing a web.
Police departments are in
creasingly looking for nonlethal
ways of capturing criminals, and
a device called the “Webshot”
could be the answer.
It looks a bit like a shotgun but
fires a Kevlar net that can wrap up
a suspect long enough for officers
to slap on a pair of handcuffs.
At least 20 law enforcement
agencies around the world are try
ing the product, which is made by
Foster-Miller Inc., a company in the
Boston suburb of Waltham.
“It’s going at about 65 mph to
ward you, so you have no time to
react,” Shawn Gaskell, a Foster-
Miller engineer who has played the
role of suspect during testing of the
Webshot, said. “It also kind of
stuns you because it’s loud and
there’s a big flash.”
A consensus is emerging in law
enforcement that officers need
more alternatives to their guns
and nightsticks, partly to avoid
the lawsuits and public relations
problems that result when officers
shoot lightly armed but belliger
ent suspects.
Some departments have tried
guns that fire bean bags to knock
down uncooperative suspects. Oth
ers have experimented with a
pump-like device that coats sus
pects in a sticky foam.
“The police officer today has ba
sically the same instruments at his
or her disposal as Wyatt Earp had,”
Michael Buerger, a professor of crim
inal justice at Northeastern Univer-
tfe pi
sity, said. "But they recogn-l
not all situations involvingf 1 cl
ive suspects require such to
Foster-Miller’s Webshot?
grew out of an Army contri
has been in development to
eight years, Gaskell said. Ttie
had wanted a nonlethal weap eompt
peacekeeping operations, front-i
But that is enough to Gore:
needs of police, who also cam gei to
the Webshot — nets sell for inaki
$50 each. Foster-Miller make;
gle-shot unit that sells for
Foster-Miller Vice Presto
nis Mangolds said he did not
of a situation in which anc
had fired it at a suspect. Butli
heard of several instancesin' f
suspects surrendered when
mean-looking Webshot was?
ed at them.
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