September 20, 1972, San Francisco Examiner, page 1, Probe Asked of Peoples Temple, by Rev. Lester Kinsolving,

September 20, 1972, San Francisco Examiner, page 1, Probe Asked of Peoples Temple, by Rev. Lester Kinsolving, Examiner Religion Writer,

4th Kinsolving Expose in a Series of 8, but the last to be published

Wednesday, 

The State Attorney General's Office has been asked to investigate the People's Temple Christian (Disciples) Church in Redwood Valley - as well as the conduct of the church's attorney, Timothy O. Stoen, who is also assistant district attorney of Mendocino County.

The written request was made by the Rev. Richard G. Taylor, who served as pastor of Ukiah's First Baptist Church for six years prior to his appointment in July as South Coastal Area minister for the American Baptist Churches of the West.

In his letter to Attorney General Evelle J. Younger the Rev. Mr. Taylor noted:

"In March of 1972, I requested that Sheriff Reno Bartolomie ask the Attorney General's Office to investigate the People's Temple and in particular the conduct of Timothy O. Stoen, attorney for The People's Temple and assistant district attorney of Mendocino County."

"Prior to that, I asked Mendocino County District Attorney Duncan James about Stoen's conduct with Maxine Harpe, a suicide whose funeral service I conducted."

"I knew that Mrs Harpe had been connected with the People's Temple Christian Church of Redwood Valley (near Ukiah). I had been informed by Mr. Stoen that prior to her suicide she had been engaged in counseling at the People's Temple, in which counseling Mr. Stoen had participated."

"Following Mrs. Harpe's death, her sister informed me that unidentifiable persons from People's Temple had occupied her sister's house and ransacked it."

"District Attorney James informed me that he had discussed this matter with Stoen, but no action was taken other than requesting Stoen to refrain from any further misuse of his office."

A spokesperson for the Attorney General's Office in San Francisco said that the requested investigation would be considered.

In Ukiah, District Attorney James confirmed the Rev. Taylor's statement that no action had been taken - but he otherwise declined to comment.

Mendocino Sheriff Bartolomie was not available for comment.

But Undersheriff Tim Shae firmly denied the claim of another of the People's Temple's three attorneys - that the Temple has armed guards at the sheriff's request.

Redwood Valley attorney Eugene B. Chalkin wrote the Examiner before any story on the People's Temple was published - as did 54 other Temple members. In his letter, dated September 11 - and hand delivered by Sharon Bradshaw of the Mendocino County Probation Department, Chalkin wrote:

"Our local law enforcement agency has requested that we have trained persons carry firearms, and we have reluctantly acquiesced to the sheriff's request."

But when this letter was quoted to Shea, the undersheriff replied:

"That is an absolutely untrue statement. We never requested this."

When informed that armed guards (three pistols and a shotgun) were spotted outside the People's Temple on Sunday morning September 10, Shea explained:

"That is private property and people may carry firearms on private property provided the weapons are not concealed."

Shea did not comment upon the letter of the Rev. Mr. Taylor who, while he was ministering in Eureka, served on the Mendocino County Planning Commission, the Community Center Committee, and as president of the Ukiah Ministerial Association in 1970.

In his letter, the Rev. Mr. Taylor also informed the Attorney General:

"What is of utmost concern is the atmosphere of terror created in the community by so large and aggressive a group, which effect is implemented by Stoen's civil office."

"The People's Temple, I understand, employs armed guards, contending that their pastor, the Rev. Jim Jones, has been threatened."

"From my experience, I seriously wonder if they have ever been threatened and whether instead they have not contrived such reports in order to justify armed guards at their services which attract crowds in excess of one thousand people."

"I have counseled with one paroled inmate of a California correctional institution who was sponsored on parole by People's Temple, but after he lived for some time in Redwood Valley, he planned to move away. Here again, a group of men from People's Temple held him incommunicado for four hours - leaving him terrified."

"For these reasons and because I sincerely believe more questionable activity is going on, I do request that your office conduct an investigation."

END OF EXPOSE #4


Postscript:

In the "Special Features" section on the PBS "Jonestown" film website are the video accounts of eight ex-Temple members, each clip separated by a dramatic "TURNING POINT" section in which they sensed something was"amiss" in what the director Nelson has described as a "social-activist experiment".

This fourth expose, about a desperate minister's attempt to stop Jim Jones IN 1972, was an unquestioned"Turning Point", that would bear incalculable ramifications. It would be the last published true investigation for nearly five years, thanks to the cowards on the Examiner's editorial board who caved into threats of a law suit by Tim Stoen.

All the rest of the local media, the San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland Tribune, San Jose Mercury, as well as TV and radio stations, slithered beneath their news desks as well over the thought of standing up to Jim Jones. Some of them, like the late, famed Chronicle columnist Herb Caine, in spite of the Temple revelations, unforgivably promoted the lethal cult, all the way up to the slaughter in 1978.

And what does our "informative"Nelson documentary tell us about this critical episode, when the media turned ran away at the critical hour, when there was still time to stop Jones from morphing into a political Frankenstein?

Carefully stay tuned Monday night. Record it. Listen to every word, watch every scene.

You'll find nothing.

But MISSING information isn't the only thing ailing this production. Lying outright is the biggest epidemic. And the reason for much of that is the"research team" that put together all"facts" for Stanley, which you'll find in the credits, consists of Denise Stephenson--a college roommate of Becky Moore; Stephenson, you see, controls the Temple Archives at the California Historical Society. Our other sage is "Mac" McGhee, Moore's husband, who runs the cult apologist"Jonestown Institute". Together, they are a truly mind-numbing, maybe even--shudder--brain-washing fountain of ideas.

Of course, Nelson made the final decision to buy this conterfeit load of goods and mass market it. And PBS? Well, here's the "in-depth" story they offer about this cult's impact on Ukiah, as presented in their Jonestown site's"People & Events" section:

"Indiana minister Jim Jones moved his growing family and his Peoples Temple there in 1965. In California, the Peoples Temple continued to grow and develop into a political and social advocacy group. There were still religious services, but longtime members understood that those were a means to an end: social justice and racial equality."

And, pray tell, what did PBS say in its site about this media-turning-and-running-away point in its site? Did our Jonestown Institute Of Orwellian History get 'em like they did Nelson??

In a word, yeah. Actually it was an entire sentence. 

"When local reporters suggested investigating Jones and the secrecy surrounding many aspects of the Peoples Temple, their editors or publishers would discourage them."

Wow.

Somebody really ought to contact PBS and suggest they stick this one in their site's "Teacher's Guide". The"ethics" section, perhaps?

One other addition they might consider. That is that HAD those craven editors at the Examiner not surrendered to Jim Jones and allowed the investigation to continue, the "rest of the story" would have seen daylight and over 900 could have had a chance. Here is one full accounting [from www.fonebone.net] of the Harpe episode that my father was on to, that has drawn from a number of post-Jonestown sources, including the book "The Cult That Died":