European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 8, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Pago 4 the stars and stripes . Monday March 8,1993 a Quot a to a a a a so ttrd�7inonilnf, . Tobacco and  sect by Michael Decourcy Hinds the new York times 1 Waco Texas a facing 31 television cameras at a news conference saturday Federal agents used the Opportunity to plead with David Karcsh Leader of the Branch Davidian sect to release his 100 or so follow ers including the dead and wounded. Quot if he s listening we want to give him assurances that he and everyone involved will be treated fairly and humanely Quot said Bob a. Ricks of the Fri. Quot we Appeal to or. Koresh to let those people go who want to  Ricks said that Koresh had Complete control Over the sect but that the Fri did not View the people inside the compound As hostages in part because so Many of the members took part in the shootout feb. 28. Four agents with the Bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms and at least three cult members were killed in the 45-minute gun Battle. So far two elderly women and 21 children none of them believed to be Koresh a have left the compound. The sect has stopped discussing any More releases the officials said. Tricks said negotiations were dragging on and added that while there was no breakthrough on any Issue Koresh had begun questioning Federal negotiators about How his personal safety would be protected if he surrendered. Koresh and another cult member St yen Schneider have also begun discussing the removal of a cult member who was killed in the gun Battle. Ricks said he was perplexed by the Cults insistence on discussing the removal of Only one Corpse since fed Era authorities believe that a number of members were killed and Many wounded. Quot we have no idea Why Only one body is brought up and not the others Quot Ricks said. We have no information on How those bodies Are being  authorities have used Bradley fighting vehicles to deliver medical supplies to the group. Officials seemed to be backing away from earlier statements that on sunday the cult members fired a .50-caliber machine gun that at least one member of the cull Paul a Fatia has acknowledged is inside the Media coverage to be studied Knoxville Tenn. Apr the society of professional journalists has organized a task Force to examine the Media s coverage of the heavily armed religious cult involved in a standoff with authorities near Waco Texas. As the we Klong standoff has attracted worldwide Media attention cult Leader David Koresh has been interviewed frequently by Telephone and radio and television stations have played parts of a tape he demanded be aired. The panel plans to look at journalism ethics in the Wake of such coverage said Georgiana vines spa president and an assistant managing editor at the Knoxville news san incl. The standoff began last sunday following shootouts Between members of the Branch Davidian cult and Federal agents trying to serve arrest and search warrants. Four agents were killed and Koresh has told authorities As Many As 10 cult members died. The seven member panel that will examine the cult coverage will be headed by Martin l. Red Gibson professor of communication at the University of Texas one glaring omission in the raid military experts say was the absence of medical personnel or evacuation be hides. Two wounded Federal agents were taken away on the hoods of vehicles owned by news reporters. Quot if i had done an operation As head of the Delta Force and had no medical evacuation for an hour and 40 minutes would probably have been court Martiale Quot said col. Charlie Beckwith a retired army officer and former commander of the Delta strike Force. Quot in an hour and a half a Man lays out there he s Gonna bleed to death. Federal officials also said they had discussed with a f concerns about the sect resorting to suicide. He indicates there is no intent on his part to 2muickte� nor does he contemplate suicide Quot Ricks told reporters Friday. Federal officials have a patently Long been concerned about a mass suicide taxing place at the compound and some officials have privately ii let that wimm a a a i. A Lac compound. Quot we re not Able to say that anyone was shooting at us with a .50-caliber weapon Quot said Daniel Hartnett associate director of the at Bureau in charge of Law enforcement. Quot but High Caliper weapons were  authorities limited the news conference to 25 minutes even Hough Many Basic questions remain unanswered. For example authorities have yet to identify the official in charge of the sunday morning raid or who planned the raid that fell apart almost instantly. Vatcky used that concern As a justification for staging a sneak attack rather than a siege on the compound. Ionic �?osk0? Waco has Many parallels with one in 1985 m Philadelphia where hundreds of police confronted a Back to nature cult called move. In both Phil a of a a i Thori i precipitated the crisis by trying to arrest cult members on months old Bench warrants for Possession of illegal firearms and to search premises they knew to be heavily fortified. Arc i auth critics pay cd a up opportunities to faces was on he Strucel or when they went shopping. In both situations the authorities permitted tensions to escalate for months allowing the Cults Toi make lethal preparations for Battle. And in both situations Law enforcement authorities had or pc and a7vcd in great Force Only to be stunned by the cult members Kamikaze like resistance. ,fm3 Moy concluded when police Slevc Blob on the move Home West Philadelphia. Eleven move members including five children were killed and a City Block burned to the ground. An investigatory commission appointed by a her b g�9dc determined that Goode had abdicated his responsibilities As a  civilian witnesses re create emotion by Jim Newton los Angeles times los Angeles a Benjamin Avila remembered four police officers hitting Rodney g. King a fall Over his body Quot Robert Hill could not remember exactly How Many officers there were but most of the blows he saw were to Kings legs. Felipe Lopez was mane vering for a belter View and missed a portion of the beating As did Dorothy Gibson. Gibson remembered hearing someone yell a please Stop Quot a and she assumed that that person was King. But on reflection she admitted that she could not be absolutely sure. In the opening Days of the civil rights trial against three los Angeles police officers and a former officer those four witnesses gave accounts that were As conflicting As they were powerful fleshing out the jury a knowledge of the incident while subjecting their credibility to doubt. The testimony was Long awaited a none of the four a Civijian witnesses was called to the stand in last years state trial and their emotional accounts captivated jurors and enlivened the Early Days of the prosecutions Case. Although the civilian witnesses were engaging they also presented lawyers on both sides with challenges prosecutors were forced to grapple with calling witnesses whose statements were easily contradicted while defense lawyers had to Deal with the fallout from witnesses relaying the horror of watching police beat an individual on balance Legal experts believe that the civilian witnesses probably accomplished what prosecutors had hoped. They took the jury to the scene re creating through the eyes of average people a a nurse a probation officer and a. Two musicians the Shock of the events that unfolded on that Chilly March night in 1991, real Valu of the civilian witnesses testimony is to convey that emotional Impact a a the feeling of watching lung beaten said Peter Arenella a jaw professor at the University of California at los Angeles. A that an important element that was missing from the state  on trial ate sgt. Stacey c Koon officers Laurence m. Powell and Theo and former officer Timothy e. Wind