Rajneeshpuram news summary 1981-1986 (source document)

1981

January 10 (Wednesday)	Feature on Shannon Ryan (Ma Amrita Pritam) in Los Angeles Times. "After the Jonestown massacre, U.S. consular officials in India were ordered to visit the Rajneesh retreat and retreats of several other gurus with significant Western followings to measure the potential for a similar disaster. A consular official in Bombay concluded: 'I don't think we have any Jim Jones here, but if one of those guys suddenly turned sour, his followers would do just about anything he asked. That's the unsettling thing.'"
January 12-18 (Monday to Sunday)	Ma Anand Sheela (Sheela Patel Silverman) visits Chidvilas Meditation Center in Montclair, New Jersey, where Ma Amrita Pritam and Swami Samir are resident. It has been in operation about a year. In the 1970's Sheela had lived in Montclair with her husband, American Mark Silverman, and taken some courses at Montclair State College.
April 30 (Thursday)	Sannyasins buy 30-room Rhine-style Kip's Castle, built by Dutch industrialist 1902-1905, which straddles New Jersey's Montclair and Verona townships, for $370,000. Depending on accounts, castle has 7.2 acres or 15. According to The Oregonian series, "For Love and Money", the castle was purchased on Tuesday, April 21.
June 1 (Monday)	Rajneesh leaves India on Pan Am Flight 1, with stops in Frankfurt, Germany, and London, England.: The Herald News of Northern New Jersey prints story on Kip's Castle, opening with the line: "While the bhagwan has never left his native India ...."
June 12 (Friday)	According to July 6, 1985 The Oregonian article from the "For Love and Money" series, the search for American land, which was decided in November 1980 and begun in earnest in mid-May 1981 in the form of Helen Byron, is reaching climax on this day as Sheela and Jayananda (John Shelfer) visit the Big Muddy for the first time and decided almost immediately to buy it. The recent history of the ranch includes a Thursday, September 4, 1980, deal when Roy L. Ryan of Dumas, Texas, president of North Plains Land and Investment Co. through a shuffle of papers and some cash bought the ranch from Reuben Evans of Bend. Ryan gave Evans $139,590 and a title to another ranch in Waco, Texas [I wonder where that was exactly! MB] (a deal of about $3 million) and mortgaged the Big Muddy for $2.5 million to Mercantile National Bank of Dallas, Texas. Expecting to resell it immediately, Ryan was in trouble when the $2.5 million came due on March 25, 1981. Nevertheless, he brazenly asks $7 million for the property and eventually gets $5.75 million. When the deal is closed on Friday, July 10, 1981, so many lawyers, middlemen, wives and witnesses were in the room, that it was standing room only.
June 19 (Friday)	Dagmar Techow, a Hamburg-based writer for Neue Revue, discovers that Rajneesh is living at Kip's Castle. "She noted the compound in India is protected by machine-gun-toting guards who claim they are protecting their leader." Newark, N.J. Star Ledger, June 19. Techow later "accused Bhagwan of leaving his residence in India to escape an $18 million income tax evasion charge against the Rajneesh Foundation. Star Ledger, June 23. [Cf. Patricia Maggier, German TV station reporter calling to tell Antelope Mayor Margaret Hill to get them out of there.]
July 2 (Thursday)	Story on Rajneesh in Verona Cedar Grove Times shows Rolls Royce with India plates, MZA 1300, still on them.
August 12 (Wednesday)	35 people attend a meeting at Antelope School and worry about what's going to happen on the Big Muddy. "An Antelope woman, Donna Spint [sic, "Donna Quick Smith"], said she was concerned that the ranch owners would begin selling printed material now distributed through the New Jersey center. She said she considers the material pornographic. Jefferson County District Attorney Michael Sullivan said he would like her to furnish him with the materials she considers pornographic to see if it meets with the criteria for pornographic material under Oregon law. Mayor Margaret Hill [who came to teach at Antelope school in 1966], who had a brochure advertising sale of items from the Montclair center, said if not pornographic the material was 'at least far out.'" Bend Bulletin
August13 (Thursday)	Some are worried about property values going up and others are worried about property values going down.
August 29 (Saturday)	Rajneesh flies on rented Learjet 35 (cost $15,500) to Redmond and then arrives at Rancho Rajneesh.
August 30 (Sunday)	Los Angeles Times feature on Rajneeshpuram - then called Ville de Rajneesh -dateline Antelope, by Russell Chandler and its New Delhi correspondent, Tyler Marshall. Antelope and Shaniko are depicted on the map as ghost towns. "'This has been the biggest thing to hit Antelope since a guy was gunned down at the John Silver [sic, Silvertooth] Saloon 70 years ago,'" a Madras farm implement dealer said. "The amazing growth rate over the last few years of his followers - more than 100,000 are estimated to have taken Sannyas, or initiation - may well make Bhagwan one of the most important - and most watched religious leaders of the next several decades." "A diplomat with contact among the Poona ashram's small inner circle before its departure claims that he was informed that Bhagwan has already married a Greek-born naturalized American disciple [Mukta] and hopes to use the marriage to gain permanent U.S. residence. That story has been printed in a German magazine and repeated on NBC television news." (But like so much else, it wasn't true.)
August 30 (Sunday)	The Oregonian article says the local people haven't seen "so much excitement since the sheepherders and the cattlemen were feuding decades ago. 'This town is so conservative, the women stand in one group and the men stand in another,' said Ray Reynolds, 57. 'That's the type of community it is, and we like it.'" The Reynolds live in Portland but own property in Antelope.
September 1 (Tuesday)	Antelope residents think they see Rajneesh on their streets for the first time. The Oregonian, Sept. 4
September 4 (Friday)	Wolfgang Dobrowolny's 1978 documentary, Ashram, highest grossing Germany documentary of 1980, opens in San Francisco.
September 27 (Sunday)	Margaret Hill talking of Antelope, said that at one time there were 490 people in the town and that H. L. Davis, Pulitzer Prize winner for 1935 novel, Honey in the Horn, was editor of the Antelope Herald. Bend Bulletin
October 6 (Tuesday)	Sheela addresses attendance record audience (80-85) at Madras Kiwanis Club.
October 14 (Wednesday)	Rajneeshees submit petition in The Dalles to incorporate their own city. "'It is sort of a foregone conclusion that the petition will be approved,' said Sue Profitt, Wasco County clerk. Judge Richard C. Cantrell said, 'There are no problems as far as the court is concerned. As long as they are legal, they have just as much right as any other citizen.' Although new towns may seem rare, according to the Oregon Blue Book, 11 cities were incorporated in Oregon during the 1970s." Bend Bulletin
October 19 (Monday)	Sheela addresses 140 people in Madras at Madras-Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce. Bend Bulletin, October 22
October 23 (Friday)	BSR applies for extension of stay in US to March 1, 1982, based on medical reasons.
October 27 (Tuesday)	Sheela addresses capacity crowd, consisting mostly of professional people and businessmen, at Riverhouse Motor Inn. Asked how many people would live in the city in the next five years, Sheela responded, about 1500-2,000. "Whatever we will need to get that oasis more and more beautiful. "Chuck Austin, a Bend real estate agent consultant said, 'From what I understand of her philosophy, it's counter to what I believe. It's probably a challenge to the rest of us to examine our values.'" Bend Bulletin, October 28
November 1 (Sunday)	The Oregonian editorial. "Rajneeshpuram would not be the first Oregon community settled by a religious, ethnic or cultural group, but all others were opened to settlement by outsiders long before revenue sharing. The community of interest in Rajneeshpuram is understandable: a group of people sharing one religion, a common lifestyle, and seeking to cultivate agricultural land that, until their settlement, was only marginally productive. In fact, that sounds like the way many cities throughout the United States got their start. In addition, many company towns have become cities. Before 1906, the Oregon Legislature incorporated cities. In 1941, the law was changed to allow formation of cities by 150 persons if they so desired."
November 4 (Wednesday)	About 250 people, including 26 Rajneesh disciples, crowded into the Wasco County Court House for 2 hour public hearing. By a vote of 2-1, The Wasco County Board of Commissioners voted to allow an incorporation election of Rajneeshpuram. The Oregonian, November 6. The Bend Bulletin described it as "the biggest crowd the second-floor circuit court room has seen in quite some time."
November 10 (Tuesday)	KATU-TV Portland's program, Town Hall, filmed in Antelope. Aired November 14.
November 22 (Sunday??)	Governor Vic Atiyeh invited to Rancho Rajneesh.
November 24 (Tuesday)	BSR applies for permanent resident status as a religious leader and teacher.
December 20 (Sunday)	About 200 attend Yule celebration in Cascade Ballroom at The Dalles' Portage Inn, given by Sheela and John Shelfer (Swami Jayananda). "A brief study of area elected officials, however, showed that a number of them had been invited to the party and several of them plan to attend with their spouses." The Oregonian, December 16. Bend Bulletin, December 22: 200 followers of Rajneesh said to be on the ranch.
December 31 (Thursday)	Kip's Castle up for sale. Neighbors breathe a sigh of relief. "'I think the townspeople are relieved. The majority of residents I've talked to are glad the Rajneesh followers are moving to Oregon,' Bert Kendall, Montclair's township manager, said. Residents feared their children would be snatched off the streets by members of a 'cult' they compared to Rev. Jim Jones and Jonestown." Star Ledger

1982

January. 1 (Friday)	Bend Bulletin lists Rajneeshpuram as the number 2 story of 1981.
March	Pat Lear, aka Ma Amrit Chinmayo, growing cool towards Rajneesh, living in Woodland Hills, California with boyfriend.
March 11 (Thursday)	Governor Vic Atiyeh, campaigning in Central Oregon, addresses Rajneeshee situation at Madras Kiwanis meeting. On March 12, he states in a radio interview [KPRB Redmond, Oregon] that his sympathies lie with the Oregon residents. "'This has created a tremendous amount of emotional trauma and deep concern by long-time Oregonians,' the governor told an interviewer in Redmond. 'I'm provincial. I admit it. I was born and raised in Oregon, and of course my loyalty is to Oregonians.'" The Oregonian, March 14, 1982. Atiyeh's remarks continued: "My sympathies are with those residents who are concerned with Rajneesh. They are concerned with a tidal wave of people into a community that has been quiet and peaceful for many years. [The followers'] moves are intimidating, and I think that is what is scaring people.'" Bend Bulletin, March 15, 1982. "Atiyeh, who is of Syrian descent, suggested in a radio interview last week that followers of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh should leave Oregon if longer-term residents did not like them. 'It is very clear that their presence has been extremely disturbing to the longtime residents,' Atiyeh said of the rajneesh's followers last week. 'Their presence is so different. If I moved into the neighborhood and they really didn't like me, I see no reason why I should stay.'" The Oregonian, March 17, 1982. "A Democrat candidate for governor said at Bend that Gov. Atiyeh 'disgraced himself and owes an apology to those people' for his remarks about the Bhagwan's followers. "Lane County Commissioner Jerry Rust disagreed with Atiyeh. 'I think it is unfortunate when the chief elected officer of the state says essentially that if you move into a neighborhood and the people think you are different or don't like you, you should pick up and leave.'" Oregon Journal, March 16.
March 27 (Saturday)	Shots fired by four Prineville men at Rajneeshee in Antelope. "Basically, it was an obscenity attack at the minority religion, that's what was alleged to us by the victim,' said Wasco County sheriff's patrolman Sgt. Larry Tellinghausen." Bend Bulletin, March 28
April 8 (Thursday)	"'I think they'll fall apart from the inside,' Mrs. [Donna Quick] Smith said at a Redmond Rotary Luncheon Thursday. 'Someone from the top of that machine will get greedy. Cults have a history of corruption.. They [Rajneesh leaders] put the kids on a low-protein diet, then give them long hours of tedious work. Eventually any thought that might invade the mind is pushed aside by the young people. We see them [the young followers] sleeping all over town. They'll knock on people's doors, just to keep dry or warm or to get a ride to Madras,' she said." The Redmond Spokesman, April 14
April 13 (Tuesday)	"Better dead than red" bumper stickers are pictured in the Bend Bulletin.
April 15 (Thursday)	Over 100 media representatives present for Antelope disincorporation election, fails by a vote of 55-42. More media than voters. Bend Bulletin editorial says "vote was an outrage to Oregon."
April 20 (Tuesday)	Donna Quick Smith says the Governor should call out the National Guard during first world festival to protect Antelope residents.
May 1 (Saturday)	Three Rajneeshees in boating accident in John Day River, one dead. Swami Prem Anbara, (age 29) aka Jim S. Colpitts of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. River at 1½ times the normal flow, but not at flood levels. Approximately three missing and presumed dead in other Central Oregon rivers, including Deschutes, at same time. (Colpitts' body found more than 2 weeks later on Wednesday, May 19 on small island in Gilliam County.)
May 3 (Monday)	"Before we judge their settlement in this country we had better think back to how the Indians were dealt with when the 'West' was settled. I'm all for freedom of choice, religion, etc. I'd much rather they voted us out than having to decide this matter with weapons. So far on the whole they've proved to be more peaceful than we were when the country was originally settled." Michael Curtis, militarily trained nuclear, biological warfare expert. Bend Bulletin
May 18 (Tuesday)	Rajneeshpuram incorporation election held. The vote is a resounding 154-0 for.
June 18 (Friday)	It is reported that 300 National Guardsman have been placed on call for Rajneeshee festival, and also letters from Governor show that he personally opposes festival. "About 300 Oregon National Guardsmen will be 'on call' for the duration of a religious festival scheduled next month near Antelope by followers of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, according to an internal memorandum by Bob Oliver, assistant to Gov. Vic. Atiyeh. "Oliver said in the memorandum that guardsmen from Bend, Redmond, Hood River, and The Dalles could be assembled 'if the worst came about.'"
June 24 (Thursday)	aired Friday, July 9: Merv Griffin program, Sheela and Rosemary McGreer
July 2 (Friday)	One inch of rain makes mud out of roads entering Rajneeshpuram. About 1800 tents have gone up and 6,000 people from around the world are expected. Rajneeshees spending about $3 million on the festival. A car full of women, one Trisha Ryckman from near Central Point and an ordained minister of the Light of Life Ministry, shouted curses in the name of Jesus Christ and blocked Rajneesh's Rolls Royce on the afternoon drive. (Daily Tidings, Ashland, July 3.) Later, Ms. Ryckman tried to sue Rajneeshees. "Ms. Ryckman, who opposes the Rajneesh's religious movement, said she believes 'disastrous social problems' will arise from it. She said Jesus is the one and only Lord, and that her opposition to the Rajneesh is part of 'a war between God and Satan.'" (Medford Mail Tribune, July 29, 1982)
July 24 (Saturday)	210-acre range fire one mile north of Antelope brought under control by 200 fire-fighters, 50 of whom are sannyasins. Seven pieces of Rajneeshee equipment are used to fight blaze: "The fire was reported about 3:30 p.m. about a mile north of the town. Bureau of Land Management spokesman Will Bartlett said the blaze was believed to have been human-caused." The Oregonian, July 26, 1982
August 30 (Monday)	A forest fire, which began on Warm Springs Indian Reservation on Friday, August 27 and ravaged 7,700 acres of brush and timber land, was brought under control with the help of 250 US Forest Service and Indian fire-fighters and an 8-Rajneeshee pumper unit.
September 6 (Monday)	Rajneesh gives interview with Kirk Braun.
October 6 (Wednesday)	Russian article in Komsomolskaya Pravda filled with Sturm und Drang and quotes from a French journalist. Rajneesh is depicted as fascist exploiter of spoiled capitalist brats. Young West German documentary film maker, V. Dobrovlny [sic, "Wolfgang Dobrowolny"] "putting his life at risk, secretly filmed a few scenes of cruel beatings which took place at the 'trainings' in the Poona commune." (Ashram. The secret filming were somewhat staged.)
October 14 (Thursday)	Rajneesh travels to Portland for an interview with INS' George Hunter.
October 31 (Sunday)	Airing of CBS' 60 Minutes segment about Antelope and Rajneeshpuram.
December 16 (Wednesday)	In a Medford Mail Tribune editorial it is said that the director of the Oregon State Penitentiary refuses Rajneeshees the right to teach prisoners meditation.
December 17 (Thursday)	Census: Rajneeshpuram 600, Antelope 70. Ranch residents outside city, 100.
December 21 (Tuesday)	INS denies Rajneesh's application for status as permanent US resident. "The INS made itself look silly by insisting that he couldn't be a religious leader because he had vowed not to speak in public. That might have been a case of discrimination, but the INS [eventually] gave in on that point." Democrat Herald, Albany, Oregon. June 6, 1985
December 31 (Friday)	Radio Station KYXI rates Bhagwan as Newsmaker of the Year. Associated Press lists the Rajneeshee story as story Number 3 in Oregon

1983

January 2 (Sunday)	Rajneeshpuram reports 700 residents. UPI mentions Rajneeshee story as one of the major events of 1982. The Bend Bulletin selects it again as the second biggest story of the year.
January 3 (Monday)	Jewish Federation Council Community Relations Committee, based in Los Angeles, passes a resolution urging the INS to deny Rajneesh's visa application, claiming he is the leader of a "cult with a history of anti-Semitism" and one who would "serve as a destructive element in American society."
January 12 (Wednesday)	INS suspends deportation order for Rajneesh.
January 23 (Sunday)	Jack Anderson's Confidential television segment on Rajneeshpuram aired.
February 16 (Wednesday)	Jefferson County District Attorney Mike Sullivan poisoned.
February 27 (Sunday??)	Rajneeshees file one of many freedom of information act (FOIA) requests, which is delayed for 1.5 years and then denied.
March 15 (Tuesday)	Klamath Falls State Senator Fred Heard defended freedom of religion before a group of Bend Senior Citizens. "'I'm arguing a very unpopular stand,' said Heard. 'I'm arguing for freedom of religion.'" Bend Bulletin, March 16, 1983
April 8 (Friday)	Unidentified INS memo says that pressure from INS may possibly cause the Rajneeshees to pick up stakes and leave America. (See August 4, 1984.)
wilApril 14 (Thursday)	Bill Driver article in The Dalles Weekly Reminder. "'More and more people are saying it's time to quit talking,' said one disgruntled resident recently. A story is going around Antelope that sums up a growing sentiment in the area. A local reportedly approached Krishna Deva (Dave Knapp) recently and asked, 'Dave, you're a psychologist. Just how much more of this crap do you think I can take before I crack and start pulling the trigger?' One local stated during a city council debate over the American Legion's proposed barbecue that anyone 'coming around that barbecue pit is gonna be shot.' John Silvertooth Stewart, the only non-Rajneeshee on the city council and an object of a great deal of local criticism for working so closely with them, stated during the last council meeting that he had been informed of threats against him. The danger, however, doesn't come from the people who are making all the noise. It comes from the people who have already 'given up talking.'"
April 27 (Wednesday)	Horse belonging to the head of Rajneeshpuram's Peace Force, a former Jefferson county Deputy Sheriff, is wounded by an unknown gunman.
May 18 (Wednesday)	Attorneys for Rajneesh file rebuttal with INS, consisting of 3 videotapes, 51 photographs, 48 pages of brief, and 628 pages of evidence.
May 23 (Monday)	750-1000 "Concerned Oregonians" attend anti-Rajneesh rally in The Dalles. Attorneys from One Thousand Friends of Oregon are, obviously, also in attendance.
May 26 (Thursday)	Preliminary initiative petition filed with the Secretary of State's office by 2 Albany women, Reba J. Boies and Melissa S. Baker, and one Eugene man, Cliff Everett, 63, Gov. Atiyeh's leading challenger in the 1982 Republican gubernatorial primary (17,537 votes for him, 202,075 for Atiyeh, Eugene Register-Guard, July 13, 1983)."Request for an initiative petition which will: expel the Rajneesh cult from Oregon. Whereas, all power is inherent in the people -they have at all times a right to alter, reform or abolish the government in such manner as they may think proper - Article I, Section I. Therefore, a majority vote by the people approving this initiative petition identifies the Rajneeshees as an alien cult that has invaded Oregon and threatens our governments - and herewith commands our governor to expel immediately from Oregon all members and vestiges of said cult. Any attempt by a judge or any public servant to obstruct enforcement of this directive will be a disobedience to the people, hence a violation of our Oregon Constitution and therefore be punished as treason." 47 signatures are obtained in the first hour. They will need 62,521 signatures by July 6, 1984 to get on the ballot by November 1984 {83,361 to be a constitutional amendment). [Dave Frohnmayer: Mike McCracken, a legislator from Albany, asked our office whether it was legal under the first amendment for Rajneeshpuram to receive revenue sharing. A significant component of the anti-Rajneesh sentiment was in Albany.]
June 10 (Friday)	Oregon Attorney General's office decides that the initiative to expel Rajneeshees should be rewritten, because it provides "no specifics on how to accomplish their goal". Attorney General's staff said the proposal as law "would violate the religious provisions of the U.S. and state constitutions", but that wouldn't interfere with the proposal being put on the ballot. The constitutional issue would be determined by the courts after.
June 14 (Tuesday)	Thirty people protest in favor of deporting Rajneesh in front of Portland INS.
June 23 (Thursday)	Anti-Rajneesh petition given an approved ballot title. Governor Vic Atiyeh gives speech to the Greater Portland Convention and Visitor's Association in Portland and stressed the importance of tourism to Oregon's economy. After the meeting Sheela invited Atiyeh to Rajneeshpuram. He shook hands and smiled at her and said, "I know you're sincere and I accept your invitation sincerely. Sheela has extended invitations to the governor to visit on other occasions, but this was the first time he accepted." The Rajneesh Times, June 24 (But, of course, he never got around to it.)
June 24 (Friday)	The Oregonian guest editorial by Dr. Ted L. Shay, professor of political science at Willamette University, recounts some of prejudices against Rajneeshees beyond the fear of Jonestown. Most of the women didn't wear brassieres. The Dalles Ministerial Association agreed that the Rajneeshees are human beings, June 1983. A Madras Woman wrote, "We are fearful of what may happen to our children." Albany man wrote, "Why should intelligent, taxpaying citizens of Linn County need or desire an understanding of the Rajneesh movement?" The disciples are branded as "mindless, brainwashed, zombies". "Bhagwan is a phony." "Bhagwan's utterances are utterly meaningless", or "They are a bunch of religious nuts." "Our Bible teaches us to fight against any and all that teaches other than our Lord's word." "The guru and his demons should be deported immediately." "Finally, a letter writer to a Beaverton newspaper quoted an unidentified Bombay correspondent who urges Americans: 'Don't entertain any scruples. If necessary, slaughter them.'"
July 4 (Monday)	Thirteen non-Rajneeshee residents remain in Antelope.
July 8 (Friday)	Approximately 35 cars and pickups drive through Rajneeshpuram in a planned media event.
July 23 (Saturday)	New anti-Rajneesh group, Americans for Constitutional Rights (AFCR), attracts about 700 people to its first meeting in The Dalles. AFCR holds its first state-wide meeting in Gresham two days later, on Monday, July 25, and 200 come.
July 29 (Friday)	Three bomb blasts, one at 1:22 a.m. and two at 2:57 a.m., in Rajneeshee's Portland hotel. One of the culprits, Stephen Paul Paster, age 34, from Los Angeles, is caught no-handed. Two men believed to have been with him, Robert D. Greenwood and Edward C. Lindsey, also from California, remain at large.
August 3 (Wednesday)	Rajneesh Portland Hotel receives a call from Seattle stating that someone has discussed hiring a person to kill Rajneesh.
August 6 (Saturday)	Two Californian men arrested and taken to The Dalles on extortion and criminal conspiracy charges involving a year long series of threatening letters. Richard Vernon Alexander, Jr. (also known as El Rashid), 45 of Sacramento, and Abraham Capers Jr. also 30 (in one article he is described as being 19 years old) of Sacramento. The Oregonian, August 8. (See Alexander's $1,5 million suit against Rajneeshpuram on July 31, 1985.)
August 8 (Monday)	Despite protests from his father, James Phillips, a San Mateo boy is allowed to continue visiting his mother, Bogar Phillips. (Apparently, a sannyasin woman.)
August 18 (Thursday)	The Dalles Grand Jury votes not to prosecute the two above-mentioned California men for extortion.
September 7 (Wednesday)	Rajneeshee Disco in Berlin firebombed. $70,000 in damages, but reopened 10 days later.
September 18 (Sunday)	The Oregonian feature on Bill Bowerman, 72-year old former head track coach of the University of Oregon (24 years) who brought jogging from New Zealand to America, coached the 1972 US Olympic track and field team, and has trained more sub four-minute milers than anyone else. Developer of the waffle sole – crippled, no kidding, by too much glue sniffing –he is the now millionaire co-founder of Nike ("Just Do It", Bill), a Beaverton-based company that is the largest producer of athletic shoes in North America. He is described as the "Guru of running" and a "single-minded", plain spoken descendant of Homesteaders and pioneer stock. His mother was born in Fossil. He bought a ranch near Coburg last September (1982) for $1 million.
September	The wife of Stephen Paul Paster, the man accused of the July 29 bombing of Hotel Rajneesh in Portland, posts $2,000 bail and he is released.
October 6 (Thursday)	Oregon Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer files his church-state case against Rajneeshpuram and calls a press conference.
October 9 (Sunday)	The Oregonian editorial: "Legal issues about the incorporation of Rajneeshpuram as an Oregon city must be resolved, but it would be more appropriate for the state to be the conciliator seeking answers rather than assuming the role of adversary." "Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer issued an opinion last week that incorporation of Rajneeshpuram violates constitutional standards on separation of church and state. His judgment appears based on at least some flawed assumptions of fact, which may undermine his legal conclusion. At the very least, his whole approach further polarizes the Oregon political and social climate for the religious minority forming a community on an Eastern Oregon ranch. The Rajneeshees still seem to be guilty until proven innocent, a condition that has characterized their association with the state since they sought a home here." "His work would have had greater weight, however, if he had bothered to check the facts before basing it on the assumption that only the faithful may reside at Rajneeshpuram. Also, it would have been more helpful had the thrust of his effort been an attempt to guide the Rajneeshees on how to distinguish municipal from religious functions in order to have a legal city within both federal and state constitutions. Instead he produced a generally negative document." "Many constitutional authorities believe members of a religion can create cities, just so long as they treat religion and civic affairs separately and do not presume to exclude those of other persuasions." "Like many minorities past and present, the Rajneeshees are obvious political targets. But they are entitled to fair treatment in Oregon, and Frohnmayer should respond to the questions he raised by trying to help them achieve their civic goals within the letter and spirit of the law."
October 13 (Thursday)	It is reported that Senator Robert Dole from Kansas is interested in "what's drawing people to Rajneeshism. Dole, according to an assistant, Ann Lindgren, is interested to learn more about the Rajneeshees following calls from several Kansas constituents. According to Lindgren, several persons in Kansas are concerned that their children have become involved with the Oregon-based cult." The Dalles Weekly Reminder (Dr. John Wally (Swami Dhyan John) and Dr. Bill Barnum, see below, were from Kansas.)
October 23 (Sunday)	1202 residents in Rajneeshpuram.
October 24 (Monday)	A report states that there have been 70,000 visitors to the ranch since March 1982 and estimates that 80,000 will come in 1984. The Wasco County Treasurer's office states that the Rajneeshee tax bill is $95, 607.66. Last year it was $33,656.33.
October 30 (Sunday)	A national cult awareness group, Citizens' Freedom Foundation, holds its annual conference near Los Angeles.
November 1 (Tuesday)	Week Night TV show in Seattle quotes non-Rajneeshee rancher as saying "If shooting starts around here, I think it will catch on pretty fast and there's a lot of people who want to get their licks in."
November 1 (Tuesday)	Roy S. Haber, formerly deputy chief in Civil Rights Division of the US Justice Department, publishes an editorial in The Oregonian against Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer's church-state case against Rajneeshpuram. "None of Frohnmayer's individual conclusions, whether they legally are sound or not, are a basis for holding that the city is unconstitutional. He attempts to do what is called bootstrapping in the law. When the basic premises are not sufficient in themselves to warrant some legal conclusion, naive practitioners will attempt to lump the parts together, hoping that somehow the whole is mysteriously greater than its parts. "For example, if only members of the Rajneeshee religion can use the streets, that may involve a question of civil rights violations warranting a federal court intervention....These citizens have a perfect right, as citizens, to incorporate their city. It is because the opinion fails to treat them as citizens, but only as adherents of the faith, that it is able to make the illogical jump to the conclusions that the city is unconstitutional. There is, by the way, no legal authority cited in the opinion for the proposition that the city is unconstitutional. "Finally, a large percentage of the original small towns in this country were settled by groups of people of one faith who were fleeing religious persecution. In some instances, they purchased all the lands as a group and incorporated their areas as cities or towns. In other cases, they owned the|}

author

Max Brecher