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04/20/93
Souvenir sales jump near cult compound as the end becomes clear
By Jennifer Files and Todd J. Gillman / The Dallas Morning News
WACO-On Overlook Hill, Bill Powers sold T-shirts while the Branch Davidian compound burned.
The hill -- 3 1/2 miles from the cult compound-was "more crowded than the State Fair,' said Mr. Powers, a motivational speaker from San Antonio.
As the flames flared and the smoke billowed out, he said, customers for his T-shirts were lined up 10 deep.
"If (David) Koresh would have stayed in there for a year, we could have retired rich,' he said of the cult leader.
The climax of the Waco siege, awaited for so long, was over with unbelievable speed. Armored vehicles moving like a military wrecking crew. Gas being fired into the compound. The flat pops of gunfire.
Then the horrible half-hour of orange flame and black smoke. When the inferno was over and the compound had been leveled,
business was still brisk at a roadside souvenir stand 3 miles down the road. Mugs and bumper stickers were going cheap-and the tasteless jokes were free.
An almost festive atmosphere reigned at the souvenir stand. Country music blared from a boom box.
The tragic end to the cult standoff can only help his business, said the souvenir stand's operator, Hector Antuna of Kaufman.
"I hate it. It's awful. I feel for the people bad,' said Mr.
Antuna, 37. "But someone has to sell something. It's just an honest living.'
He addressed the 24 customers crowded around his tables: "Everyone, we are having a fire sale.'
"Dishwasher, microwave safe,' Mr. Antuna shouted, holding aloft a mug commemorating the standoff. "ATF, FBI approved.'
Among the customers were Jan and David Niesman from Decatur, Ill., who stepped back from the hectic stand for a moment to praise federal agents for taking decisive action.
"I wish they would have gone in and done something a lot sooner,' said Mr. Niesman, a home video camera dangling at his side. "You give someone 52 days, they got a lot of time to plot strategies. I guarantee you what they did today (setting the compound ablaze) was premeditated.'
As Congress and law enforcement officials sort out and second-guess, Mr. Antuna said he expected a sales boom Tuesday.
"People from Dallas are already here. From Fort Worth. Oklahoma . . . ,' he said. "Tomorrow will be killer.'
On the highway, Mr. Powers was still hawking his T-shirts. He said he's been selling them since March 5, a week after the siege began. He won't say how many he sold or what his profit has been.
"I don't want the IRS to know that,' he said. "It's become like a street fair. We know it's tragic, but we're all just having fun.'
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