"When I was in high school, I gave a report about rebuilding the walls of the Alamo," Robert Knox told me Saturday, adding that, just as now, "everyone said it was impossible to do."

One obstacle, he noted, was the new U.S. Post Office at the north end of Alamo Plaza. It opened in 1937 and still is there today.

Knox, originally from Uvalde, moved to San Antonio as a teen. Like many people in Texas and around the world, the retired civil engineer is inspired by the Alamo and the famed battle of 1836.

"I thought rebuilding the walls would be a wonderful way for people to understand more about the Alamo. It still would be wonderful. When you take visitors and show them where the original walls were, they are very surprised. They have no idea where everything happened," Knox said.

That fascination with the Alamo drew Knox and about 100 other people to the first Texas History Forum sponsored by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, custodian of the Shrine of Texas Liberty.

Rebuilding the Alamo walls wasn't debated, but other controversies were. They ranged from the number of defenders who died in the battle to whether Davy Crockett was captured alive and then executed ore (as in the 1950s Disney film ) he stood atop the walls swinging his rifle at advancing swarms of Mexican troops.

Historian Kevin Young said the new Crockett debate is more about "how people want him to die."

The forum held in Alamo Hall on DRT grounds offered perspectives from five historians and from restoration architect Carolyn Peterson, who is charged with making sure enough of the Alamo remains to remember.

After seeing Peterson's slides showing water and other damage to the chapel facade that is to be stabilized under a master plan, one DRT member reminded me:

"Those are very expensive repairs that will be done without any cost to the state or taxpayers."

But Tom Lindley's six years of research compiling a revised list of Alamo defenders from primary sources posed a challenge to the DRT, keeper of that list.

Lindley said some of the 189 now listed weren't at the battle and many who were aren't named.

Two Mexican officers counted the number of dead defenders at 250 and 257, but Lindley believes it was fewer than that, but 20 or so more than the DRT's 189.

While documents haven't been found for a full, accurate accounting, DRT leaders said they will update the list of heroes as proof surfaces, just as they have before.

All of which confirmed an observation by Victoria College History professor Stephen Hardin that the more Alamo history is explored, "the more fun it is" for everyone.

Well, maybe now that the first time forum jitters are over.Plaza traffic

A city engineering crew has been monitoring vehicular flow on Alamo Plaza and promises some "surprising news" at next week's meeting of the mayor's Alamo Plaza Study Committee.

Hint: When do you think "rush hour" happens on Alamo Plaza?

Well, you're probably wrong.

The recent North American Development Bank bash at the Convention Center with U.S. Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen and key Mexican officials scored on several fronts including flag protocol.

The salad with miniature U.S. and Mexican flags proved that luncheon organizers already have learned one thing from the North American Free Trade Agreement.

They opted for the more expensive Mexican flags with the eagles in the white field in the center.

For years, many here have made do with cheaper Italian flags of just green, white and red vertical fields. . .but no eagle.

And, if you don't think that makes a difference, at Dixie Flag Co., for example, a 4-foot-by-6-foot Italian goes for $28.60, while an identical flag with the Mexican eagle in the center is $37.20. Ole!