Elected through Terror

Untitled Part 55

I cannot have stories on the Rajneesh without including stories of Bill Hulse, County Judge.

Bill grew up in Wasco County outside the small community of Dufur. He was a wheat rancher and was extremely well-respected.

In November 1982 (election night) I stopped in, while on patrol, at the Wasco County Court house. I wanted to see who had won in the different positions.

I saw where Bill had been elected. I talked to several people then, looking for another person, I found Bill in one of the court rooms surround by friends. I had never met him, but knew several of the people in the room and started talking with them.

Bill was in his sixty's and a bit stooped over. As I shook hands with him, my first thought was "This man is so frail, can he take what the Rajneesh are dealing out?"

During the next two years I didn't have contact with Bill. He was in the news because of his position, but he was the County Judge (Administrator) of the County Commission and I was a City Police Officer. The two entities were in the same town, but my only contact with the county – most of the time – was with the Sheriff's deputies or the District Attorney and courts system.

From what I could read in the papers and what I was hearing around town, Bill was holding his own, but he was being hammered by the Rajneesh – as was one of the other Commissioners - every chance they got.

But, just as I was wrong on my first assessment, so too were the Rajneesh; Bill was a 'tough old bird' from pioneer stock.

But Bill was also a gentle soul and one of the most humble men I have ever met.

After I was elected, I had contacts with Bill on a regular basis, sometimes several times a week. I soon learned why Bill was so respected.

A quiet man, he spoke with the authority of wisdom, experience and confidence. He loved people and his desire was to serve the citizens of Wasco County to the best of his ability. He wanted to treat EVERYONE, including the Rajneesh, equally and it grieved him that they didn't see that he was genuinely interested in them.

The Rajneesh saw his gentleness as weakness and his patience as a thing to be despised, made fun of and exploited.

Bill didn't wear his Christianity on his sleeve, but it didn't take long to see that Christ did indeed live within him. Christ was his strength as he went through these and other challenges in his terms of office.

I remember one time, not sure how we started the conversation, but he was telling me that he had some bad years as a Wheat Rancher – all farmers can give that same story – one year he had to borrow money from the bank to PAY HIS TITHES. It was said matter of fact. No fanfare, boasting or thumping of his chest, just a statement made on how he fulfilled that obligation.

It is hard to explain how that statement impacted me, it wasn't meant as a lesson, it wasn't a teaching moment, it was just a statement of fact by a Christian who had Christ living within him to another Christian.

By the time of this conversation, I had learned to appreciate Bill, his wisdom and his service to Christ; but this lifted Bill to a whole new level in my eyes.

Bill tried to work with the Rajneesh, I have already talked about how he tried to help them one day and instead of allowing him to do so, they shoved him aside so they could look in the filing cabinet drawer themselves.

A couple of weeks after the 1985 festival he and I went down to the ranch. They were supposed to have everything cleaned up and all temporary housing removed, there was still some set up – he looked at me and said, "Now, don't 'holler' at me, but I am giving them additional time."

He understood when I said, "Bill that is one of the reasons they try and take advantage of you, you give too much leeway." The thing is, he was trying to treat them like any other citizen – need extra time, no problem.

The problem, of course, is that you give some people a leash and they run with it and the Rajneesh were famous for that. You couldn't let them take the bit between their teeth and run with it. However, by the next week they had them down.

K.D, aka Krishna Diva, aka David Knapp, had been a thorn in the side of Wasco County ever since he arrived. Soon after the ranch was purchased, he and a couple of others had sat down – wearing non-Rajneesh attire – with the County planner and told him about all the great agriculture ideas they had – carefully not mentioning the new city they wanted to form.

When they went beyond the laws and were caught in it, they became aggressive doing whatever they could to make the lives of Wasco County Citizens and their elected and appointed official miserable. K.D. was a ring leader who seemed to take great joy in his role in the disruption.

During the investigations of the ranch, K.D. became a star witness against the other leaders, turned state evidence and went into the witness protection plan.

K.D. was an arrogant person. He was the Mayor of the ranch when I met with the Chief in 1985. He had a demeanor about him that showed he thought he was superior to everyone else. More than once, Bill had been the recipient of K.D.'s sneers and sarcasm.

He was a key figure in the operation of, guidance of, and planning of the violence against the citizens.

One day, a few years after the investigation, he was brought back, to the courthouse to give a deposition. He was in our basement meeting room with the Marshals, who had brought him, and the state attorneys.

Bill asked me to go with him to see K.D. I did so. Nothing was said between the two men.

Bill knew of the criminal assault against him personally and that on several other people. He knew that they deliberately put the citizens of Wasco County and many in other parts of Oregon, at risk. Bill knew K.D. was a large part of that illegal operation.

Yet,

As we went back upstairs, Bill said, "Art, I just cannot stand that man. I have prayed about it for years, but I still cannot stand him." This genuinely bothered him, on a level that I still cannot understand – to me it speaks so many volumes about the man. He didn't like feeling that way about another person.

That was Bill; that was why I respected his leadership and the life he lived in Christ so much.