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1993-02-28
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This was the first report on the Davidians in Texas. It implies
that the group was under investigation for child abuse. Another
article that was nearly identical to this (so I didn't waste space
quoting it here) also said that child welfare workers had twice
investigated the group and found no evidence of child abuse at all.
The REAL agenda comes in the next day's news (see the next article
after this one).
02/27/1993 Copyright 1993. The Associated Press. All Rights
Reserved.
WACO, Texas (AP) -- Police are monitoring a heavily armed
religious cult that follows a guitar-playing, beer-drinking leader
who claims to be Christ and is awaiting the end of the world in a
compound near Waco.
A group of about 75 Branch Davidians, an offshoot of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church that moved its base here from Los
Angeles in 1935, is known to have a large arsenal of high-powered
weapons, the Waco Tribune-Herald said.
An Australian private detective who has investigated the group
for 2 1/2 years alleged that its latest leader, Vernon Howell,
abuses the children of his followers, boasts of having sex with
underage members, claims at least 15 wives and believes all women in
the world belong to him.
Howell denies the accusations and said he has had only two
children. He and his wife, Rachel, were married in 1984 when he was
24 and she was 14.
"If the Bible is true, then I'm Christ," Howell, 33, told the
newspaper. "But so what? Look at 2,000 years ago. What's so great
about being Christ? A man nailed to the cross. A man of sorrow
acquainted with grief. You know, being Christ ain't nothing. Know
what I mean?"
The newspaper said the group has military-type assault weapons --
one unidentified former cult member said it has .50-caliber weapons,
AK-47s, AR-15s, Israeli assault rifles and 9mm handguns.
But Howell told The Associated Press on Saturday that his group
has "regular, legally bought" guns. "Do we not have right to bear
arms?" he said in a telephone interview.
"I claim my father sits on the throne. Doesn't yours? Isn't your
father God? I claim my father gave me a book. The reason God gave me
the book is he wants me to show it to you," Howell said Saturday.
The Waco Tribune-Herald said it spent eight months investigating
the cult, including talking to more than 20 former members.
One of them, Robyn Bunds, said Howell boasted of having sex with
one of his 12-year-old followers. Others claim he is the father of
many of the cult's children, citing numerous birth certificates with
no father listed.
The detective, Geoffrey Hossack, said he was hired by a group of
former cult members who fled to Australia. He presented his findings
to McLennan County authorities in 1990, but no action was taken.
"There was not enough information at that time to pursue a
full-scale investigation," said Paul Gartner, then McLennan County
district attorney.
"Oh, it got my attention," said Ralph Strother, Gartner's top
aide. "I could see this sort of thing happening. To tell you the
truth, the thing that went through my mind is you've got a cult like
Jonestown."