Elected through Terror

Untitled Part 23

The Rajneesh were most upset with the Planning Office. They viewed the planner as their arch-enemy and started treating him as such.

They harassed him whenever possible. Things were done to him that couldn't be directly attributed to the Rajneesh, but they were the only ones that had it out for him.

They felt they were not being given respect for who they were and felt the land use laws were being used against them. Notwithstanding the law was being upheld and prior ruling by the Land Use Board had upheld them in not only Wasco County but several others around the state – as well as the court system when others had tried to do something that was not permitted.

In January 1985 there was a fire in the Planning Office. It was clearly arson. Someone(s) had placed lighted candles in boxes soak with an accelerant and then they took off.

It was right around midnight – a bit later, as I recall – that someone driving by saw smoke coming out of the office and called 9-1-1.

Part of the office was burned, computers were damaged. You know how I enjoy puns, when the Planning Director arrived at the office the first thing he asked of one of the investigators, was: 'Are my computers okay?" The answer: 'Your computers are terminal.'

Damage was done, but not irreparable. We 'knew' it was the Rajneesh, but there was absolutely no proof. There were others that were not happy with the Planning Office, but none so vehemently as the Rajneesh.

Later in the year Bhagwan admitted it was done by Sheila and her gang.

They had set up the 'timers' – not all of which went off – and left the building. None of the windows were left open, so oxygen was burned out early and not as much damage was done as if they had let air into the building.

The Commissioners put out a request for bids on the cleanup and rebuilding of the office. Several, including a bid from the Rajneesh, came in. A local contractor was the low bid just $500 under the next lowest bid, the Rajneesh's.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, we all believed they would have set up some kind of surveillance system in the office if they had the contract – couldn't prove it, but 'knew' it would be done. Later, our suspicions were confirmed when we found they had bugged almost everything that could be bugged at the ranch. Hidden microphones were everywhere, and hundreds of tapes were made.

Obviously there were several criminals on the ranch; however, most were very inept, to our good fortune!

It shows some inexperience, but many times it showed the arrogance of thinking they were so much smarter than the locals they could get away with anything.

I do have to say that the Planning Director is one of the bravest men I know. With all the threats made against him, with all the harassment - he continued to do his job.

When he went to the ranch to do his inspections he was accompanied by a deputy. The first time, after I was elected, he came up to me and said that my predecessor had always let him use a bullet proof vest to wear when he went down there.

I had the UnderSheriff pull one out for him. After a few times of this, I told him he was more than welcome to use it anytime, but some of what the Rajneesh had as weapons would go right through it.

The poor guy just hung his head – but he put it on and went anyway. I immediately felt regret for saying it.

He never wavered and never let them intimidate him. He was afraid, but he did his job and did it very well.