Elected through Terror

Untitled Part 9

Meanwhile Larry Ann Willis, the Democrat candidate running for the US Congress in our district, filed suit. She basically stated that the Rajneesh were a corporation illegally using funds for campaign purposes when they drove people to the Court House to register as voters.

No more busses came up from the ranch with people to register.

Ms Paulus arranged to have hearings for contested registrations to be held at the local Armory. She had a number of volunteers, mostly attorneys, come into The Dalles appointed as hearings officers to preside over individual meetings with citizens. The hearings would be conducted in plenty of time for the voters to clarify their status.

There were a few voters who had to change their registration for whatever reason, they had moved and need to update their address was the most frequent reason.

However, there were also registration cards that were sent in by someone other than the citizen it was supposed to be from. It was a harassing technique, again, thought to be perpetrated by the Rajneesh, but it did not interfere with the election process and those few citizens affected came into the Armory to get the situation corrected. To be sure they were not happy, especially those that had someone tinker with their registration, but they did it.

None of the Street people staying at Rajneeshpuram showed up.

It became obvious to the Rajneesh that their ploy wasn't going to work and they had no use for these people. They were a drag on the ranch and few if any were productive.

So one Wednesday night, before the election, busses loaded with street people were brought into The Dalles, Madras and Portland. They were dropped off to fend for themselves.

In The Dalles, volunteers were called on, the Red Cross and Salvation Army set up at the Salvation Army to give them clothes, blankets, food and bus tickets to Portland. Portland was more equipped to handle these people and many of them came from there.

The Police Department patrolled the area and made sure there were no problems. These people were cared for and sent on their way with a minimum of disruption to the citizens of The Dalles.

Were all the street people sent away, or did some remain at the ranch, buried in the back hills? Don't know. They didn't keep records.

The election itself became uneventful. There was almost a 100% turn out to vote. Those that had been supported by the Political Action committee had won by a wide margin.

The people at the ranch boycotted the election.