A state of disobedience

From the transcript at trial: Commonwealth of

Virginia v. Alvin Scheer

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DIRECT EXAMINATION, CONTINUED

BY MR. STENNINGS

Q. So what did you do about it, Alvin?

A. Do? Me? I didn't do a damned thing . . . excuse my language. Didn't see where there was anything I could do. Me being a kinda' little fish in a pretty big pond, and all. I saw on TV where somebody decided they could do something about it, though. Quite the thing, it was. News stations didn't hardly cover anything else for weeks.

Seemed some priest, the Catholic kind, I mean, well . . . when the government tried to bust into his church? Done kilt 'em. Most of 'em. Least that's what the TV said.

There were troops everywhere. Coming off planes from Washington. Unloading them things something like tanks but on wheels . . . that was that new "Presidential Guard, Secret Service" group. PGSS they called it. Something in that name rung a bell . . . the name and them black uniforms they wore. But I wasn't sure what. Like I said, I ain't no educated man.

They were landing by helicopter from all over, too. Surrounded the place.

Another funny thing. First few days? There were mostly Texas police surrounding the place. By . . . oh . . . lemme see . . . maybe three days later? Nothing but feds and reporters.

And all the reporters? Well, wasn't too much difference among 'em. All the same story. "Priest was a pervert." "Murderer, too," so they said. "Tax evader." (I says, 'Good for him, if he was.') Weren't but two weeks after the feds took over from the state that the books were comin' out. I didn't read none of 'em, mind you. But I remember seeing the title of one: Father of Pain, they called it.

The books came out just about the time everything began to cool down.

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