Lessons Learned .....

It's been a long time since a West Texas town has been the focus of so much attention from across the country, and around the world. The last couple of weeks have been full ones for news makers, news reporters and news consumers as the story of a run-in between church and state in Eldorado, Texas, continues to develop.

At both the local and national level, there have been plenty of comparisons between the Mormon Fundamentalist compound in Eldorado, the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, and authorities' interventions into both. Me? As I watched this story unfold, I was making a similar - yet different - comparison ..... the Mormon Fundamentalist compound in Eldorado, the Republic of Texas compound in Fort Davis, and authorities' interventions into both.

I think there were some lessons learned in the Davis Mountains eleven years ago. It wouldn't hurt to reacquaint yourself with the ROT Standoff of 1997 ..... one of the best accounts is from our very own Captain Barry Caver, Texas Rangers, in this interview with Robert Nieman.

I think one of the lessons learned and affirmed was effective preparedness by those outside, for a variety of responses from those inside. Buses from local churches were standing by to transport the children to a shelter ..... but so was an armored personnel carrier on loan from Midland County. The buses were needed, the armored personnel carrier was not, and both points speak well for how this operation was conducted.

I was impressed with the authorities' conduct in the 1997, as I covered the story ..... I was even more impressed with their conduct now, in 2008, watching the story develop - not as a news reporter, this time, but a news consumer.

That's not to say there won't be some new lessons to learn this time around. For example, the courtroom setting now is decidedly - almost completely - different from that of 1998, when the ROT separatists were put on trial. And I don't recall any sidebars from reporters at that time, writing about fashion statements being made, then, by the separatists ..... as is apparently the case, now, for the polygamists.

And, speaking of the media, there are still some lessons for them, too ..... I think it's high time for one of the West Texas stations to raise the stakes and get their own 'sat truck.'