Ukiah Daily Journal from Ukiah, California • Page 1

Ukioh Daflq Journal 118th Year No. 188 Ukiah, Mendocino County, California Sunday, November 26, 1978 26 Cents Jonestown death count reaches 912 GEORGETOWN, Guyana (UPI) US Army burial teams Saturday put the last of at least 912 bodies from the Peoples Temple in Jonestown on a helicopter and broke into a clapping, hand slapping celebration of the end of their grim task almost one week to the hour from one of history's most bizarre suicide rites "The last of the bodies has been removed," the U.S. Embassy announced at 5:45 p.m. EST Soldiers at Port Kaituma put the final body on a Jolly Green Giant helicopter and, still wearing their combat helmets and surgical masks, began shaking and slapping one another's hands and clapping in a frenzy of relief that their search for corpses was over. Officials at Dover Arr Force Base, Del put the number for those who died in the mass suicide at 912.

A U.S. Embassy spokesman in Georgetown said earlier the death count had reached about 900 but "this is not the final figure." The U.S. Embassy said all U.S. military men would evacuate the jungle commune Saturday night and Guyanese police move in and take up posts to guard the buildings One embassy official, asked if more helicopter searches for possible survivors would be made over the dense rain forest surrounding the colony, said only "I suppose we will have to review that now The remark appeared to indicate authorities now believe most if not all inhabitants have been accounted for, dead or alive The recovery operation took about three days, exceeding early expectations as the initial body count more than doubled by the time the graves registration teams finished their task at the Rev- Jim Jones' jungle commune There were still discrepancies in the figures Guyaneseofficials had turned over 803 American passports to the Embassy and reported that 915 members of the California sect had registered with Guyanese immigration Officials said 39 of the cult members survived the mass suicide The findings dispelled rumors that hundreds of the members of the fanatical sect had fled into the jungle to escape death. A U.S.

helicopter flew along a trail as far as the Venezuela border Saturday in the faint hope some may have gone there The helicopter landed and crewmen were told no Americans had been seen. The US task force had to call for more shipments of plastic body bags and aluminum coffins to deal with the piles of corpses, some of them slacked three deep around the commune's open air pavilion, 150 miles northwest of Georgetown By noon Saturday. 532 bodies had been bagged and flown back to the United States. Seven newsmen flew to Port Kaituma and walked along a muddy road into the Jonestown death camp Friday, including UPI correspondent Nigel Cumberbaeh and UPI photographer Ix-s Smtay f'um berbatch reported that bodies of numerous dogs were strewn among the human remains still sprawled in the commune where army trucks were hauling in bodies to be flown by helicopter to Georgetown and then to Dover Air Force Base. Del The stench was almost unbearable and Army military men wore green gauze masks as they went about the grim business of putting the bodies into green plastic body bags "1 spent months in Vietnam." one American officer said, "and this is the worst I've ever seen The ritual suicide began at sundown a week ago Saturday at the commune's open air auditorium fashioned from tree trunks with a crude tin roof over a stage holding the like chair from which the Rev.

Jim Jones exhorted his followers to "die with dignity." Near the chair was a red lettered slogan "Love One Another." Still strewn about the stage were stereo eouinment and musical instruments including electric guitars which had once throbbed with music to fill Jones followers with religious fervor Also on the platform 'was the microphone Jones had used in the past to amplify the cries of those cultists being beaten unmercifully for some wrong they had committed, the same microphone he used to encourage his flock to kill themselves with a mixture of Kool-Aid and cyanide. Army men said almost all of the victims found were dead from poison drunk from the temple vat or squirted down their throats. The few exceptions were Jones, his mistress, one other person who were killed by gunshot wounds. Jones had believed in a new world of his own making, and somehow it fell apart. This was reflected in the message on a large sign over the stage of the commune's open air auditorium: "Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it." A member of the sect, Charles Edward Beikman, 43, of Indianapolis, was charged Saturday in Georgetown's magistrate court with four counts of murder in the throat-cut slayings of another cult member and her three children.

GUESS WHO? A familiar figure, dressed in red and white, arrived in Ukiah yesterday morning for preliminary order-taking prior to his annual Christmas Eve rounds. Yes it's Santa Claus, who arrived by helicopter in lieu of his traditional reindeer and sled. The latter, Santa explained, is in the shop for repairs, making it imperative that more conventional means of transportation be utilized. However, the jolly old gentleman assured the approximately 100 persons on hand to greet him mostly children that the sled will be repaired in time for Christmas. At left, St Nick greets the crowd of well-wishers, while Chamber of Commerce Manager Carole Jones assists him with some baggage in background.

At right, he "makes a list and checks it twice" of Yule orders from his adoring fans Santa spent most of the day traveling by fire truck to various area locations to meet children and their parents Journal photo by Kalkman. Egypt rejects 'take it or leave it' Israeli peace treaty CAIRO, Egypt (UPI) Egypt Saturday rejected Israel's "take it or leave it" ultimatum on the tentative peace treaty and denounced the Jewish state's declared refusal to resume the Washington negotiations as an obstacle to peace. Prime Minister Mustafa Khalil also said the wording on the future of occupied territories should be changed if the two sides were to "make this work." Six U.S. senators met with President Anwar Sadat, and one of them, Jacob Javits, later said differences between Egypt and Israel in the peace negotiations are "reconcilable and will be reconciled Egypt's next move in the peace talks was debated by a high-level committee. Its findings will be submitted to Sadat, who will make the final decision and convey it to President Carter.

Khalil told reporters Egypt was urging Israel to resume the Washington talks, now in their seventh week, "on the basis of putting the Egyptian remarks on the negotiating He rejected recent statements by Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan and Justice Minister Shmuel Tamir that the Jewish state had accepted a proposed treaty and Egypt must now "take it or leave it." "We cannot accept such ultimatums, because if you put it like that take it or leave it --this is no way to conduct the negotiations." Khalil said. Asked Dayan's declared intention not to return to Washington, Khalil said: "Well, it is up to them They would be breaking off the negotiations, not us. They would be standing in the way of peace Temple care home faces uncertain future A Redwood Valley care home for the mentally retarded, owned and operated by the People's Temple, faces an uncertain future because of questions surrounding its state license. "We are not certain if we have a licensed facility or an unlicensed facility," said Curt Firestone, director of the North Coast Regional Center, in the course of a Friday afternoon press conference. Firestone said the State Department of Social Services has been unable to locate Richard and Janaro, two People's Temple members licensed to operate the care home.

Until the Jararos are found, the state will not allow 13 mentally retarded young men to return to the facility, he said The 13 clients were removed Monday from the home on Road generally referred to as the "Road Ranch" or "Happy Acres." They were originally evacuated, according to Firestone, "because of the whole unsettled status" of the People's Temple in the aftermath of the recent events in Guyana. He said the action was "strictly precautionary." But an investigation by the Department of Social Services last week revealed uncertainties in the care home's licensing," he said. Although the home is licensed under the Janaros' names, it is operated under the supervision of Bonnie and Don Beck, also members of the temple The Becks have applied for a license themselves, Firestone said However, they cannot be granted a license until the Janaros' plans are determined, the state has said. If the Janaros have no intention of remaining actively involved in the project, the slate could grant a license to the Becks The Janaros have to be found first, however. Richard Janaro is said to be in Trinidad, while Claire Janaro is reportedly in Georgetown, Guyana Both the Becks and the state are attempting to reach them.

Firestone, who appeared at Friday's press conference with Dr Richard Loberg, director of the State Department of Developmental Ser vices, indicated that neither the North Coast Regional Center or the stale had any qualms about the Becks continuing to operate the care home program "They've made some definite progress that we're very happy about." Firestone said. He told members of the local press that the Becks have operated "a program of very high standards he said the Regional Center has found no evidence that the mentally retarded clients are in any danger The North Coast Regional Center administers programs for the mentally retarded and others under contract with the state "The Acres program has a total staff of 11 Nine are members of the People's Temple According In Firestone, a nuiuber of the staff members are volunteers He said that when the 13 clients were evacuated Mouda). "the stall there was extremely cooperative and extremely helptul to us Firestone letl no doubt aUiut Ins confidence in the People Temple operation at Happy Acres I i call an ha I progi am opera ing lie said lYogtam director Bonnie Beck contacted by the DaiU nal SaUndav declined to com mcnl on lln mallei Families ask for aid to return dead SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) Distraught families of the Guyana dead pleaded Saturday for help in bringing the bodies back to the neighborhood in San Francisco's Fillmore District from which many of them left to join the ill-fated Peoples Temple mission. Bishop Paul Miles of the Church of God in Christ, speaking for some of the families, said, "Many, many people have approached me, weeping and upset. They have loved ones and are not able to pay for bringing the bodies back." Miles said that "as Christians and citizens, we should be concerned about the surviving family members." He said an organization was being set up to collect funds and to help make arrangements for funerals and help the families bear their grief during the coming days.

One funeral home in the predominantly black neighborhood near the Peoples Temple headquarters has already been asked to handle burial by 35 families. Miles said he hoped to send a representative to Dover, where the bodies are being processed to assist in arranging transportation. "A dark cloud hangs over this community," he said "It is no time to be looking for someone to blame. Many of these people left our churches and went to Jones. Neverthless, they are our sisters and brothers.

As Christians and Americans we should do everything we can for the families." The magnitude of the tragedy in the Fillmore District was illustrated by the case of Nate Alexander, who lost nine members of his family in the tragedy, including his mother, sister, brother and several neices. Veronica Perry Bell, a young mother, said her father sold his truck and gave the money to Jones before leaving for Guyana. She thinks the government should provide the funds to return his body. "Who paid for the Vietnamese to be delivered out of Vietnam''" she asked. The "emergency committee" included Bill Eisen, an accountant who said he has set up a trust fund for contributions to the project.

Rev. Don Klompeen, a white minister of the Christian Reformed Church, said it would be easy to blame Jones and the people who went to Guyana. But he said this would not alleviate the present tragic crisis for the surviving families. "There must be sympathy and Christian concern for those who are here who lost their loved ones," Klompeen said. The group said the Peoples Temple has promised to provide a list of the persons who were in Guyana to aid in checking bodies which cannot be identified.

Attorney Charles Garry, who represents the Temple, was quoted as saying Temple funds may be used to help return the bodies. Weather SUNNY 1 Nov 1978 Date Hi 24 64 33 High Sal. 62 Rainfall 3 61 Nov 1977 Dale Hi Lo 24 61 49 Low Sat. 32 Last Year 9 07 Northwestern California Mostly fair through Monday except local fog nights and mornings Slightly warmer days inland Northwesterly winds to 15 mph.