The Roswell Daily Record from Roswell, New Mexico • Page 18

18 Roswell (N.M.) Daily Record November 27,1979 The weather Albuquerque Atlanta Billings Boston Carlsbad Chicago Cleveland Dallas Denver El Paso Indianapolis Kansas City Los Angeles Louisvnie Memphis Miami New Orleans New York Omaha Phoenix Pittsburgh Santa Fe Seattle Washington 74 46 Highest Monday was 88 in Laredo, Texas. Lowest overnight Monday was -6 in Douglas, Wyo. UH WIATHIft FOTOCAST Horsepower rears Uh, don't panic. Texas Power Light Co. employee Lewis Livingston ponders the situation In Tyler, Texas, while waiting for a wrecker to arrive.

Tyler resident Unllaxllpholo Cornelious C. Jackson's car reared like a mustang and climbed power pole guywlre here today after a collision with another car. FORECAST. Occasional low clouds tonight and Wednesday with a 20 percent chance of intermittent light snow bofh doys. Overnight low, near 20; high Wednesday, low 40s.

'Block God' sets up new cult in Guyana By PIETER VAN BENNEKOM GEORGETOWN, Guyana (UPI) A year after the demise of the People's Temple sect, a new cult is malting waves in Guyana under the leadership of an American fugitive who came out of jail in the South after an early civil rights protest to proclaim himself a black God. Like most former British colonies around the Caribbean basin, Guyana has a proliferation of sects and churches, so the appearance of a new one wouldn't be unusual. But the House of Israel, as this cult is called, has sinister aspects. David Hill, who changed his name to Edward Washington and then to "rabbi" Omari Oba or God, has placed his fanatical followers at the service of the socialist Guyana government of Prime Minister Forbes Burnham. As a strong-armed goon squad, its members break strikes, beat up political opponents and intimidate the populace.

One person, a priest-photographer for a Catholic weekly, was killed during a clash between House of Israel fanatics and anti-government demonstrators. "Rabbi" Washington doesn't shun comparisons with Jim Jones of the People's Temple despite the macabre end of that sect. He boasts he has even more personal control over his followers than Jones had over his. "The great difference between me and the late Jim Jones is that he had all Americans with one Guyanese, but we have all Guyanese With one American I'm the only one," Washington said in an interview. "To them I am God.

I gave my first sermon to three people and I told them, 'If I'm not God, forget "If I say it's going to snow tonight, they're all going out to buy boots." During a church service, he told about 50 of his assembled followers, "If I tell you I'm President Jimmy Carter, I'm not lying, am The crowd thundered approval with stomping feet and clapping hands. At that service, Washington read from the Bible: "God told Moses or if you will permit me to explain it to you better, I told Moses." His Guyanese wife, a huge woman he calls Queen Lulu, pointed toward her husband as she sang a song, "I Have Seen God." Washington's "doctrine" is that blacks are Jews, that Jesus Christ, Moses and all the prophets were black, and that the people living in Israel and elsewhere are not Jews but descendants of Esau, Jacob's brother, "who sold his birthright for a morsel of meat." Washington cites the miracle performed on Moses' hand, turning it "white as snow," as evidence that The prophet must have been black. He also calls Egyptians black and says if Pharaoh's daughter was able to pass Moses off as her son, he must have been black. Washington prophesied he will be assassinated soon by another black man but will rise foom the dead in 30 days "and that's when the battle of, Armageddon will begin and I and my chosen people will be The former David Hill admits trying to delay his death as long as possible. He travels around Guyana in a steel-gray Cadillac, an ostentatious vehicle for Guyana, with a driver and two armed guards at all times.

He says his theology is racist I make no apology for that," but adds some members of Guyana's; large East Indian community, ipjuis ja few whites and two among his flock. The 51-year-pld pudgy, with several teeth missing mixes black power preachings, old-fashioned Southern revivalism and some of the same mind control techniques Jim Jones used to maintain an absolute hold over his Peoples Temple. He says his father died before he was born and his mother died givng birth to him in 1928 he doesn't know where "cause niggers not getting birth certificates in those days." He says he was raised by Ben Marshall, a black preacher in Nashville, and married Marshall's daughter Ruthie after coming back home from the Navy in World War II, then became a preacher himself in Marshall's Church of Christ. He says he was among people trying to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, in 1953 and drove a school bus through the door of the school cafeteria to gain access for black children. "A couple of hours later I was in jail with a busted head and swollen lips and I was sentenced to one year in prison for what they called destruction of property.

"When I came out of prison, I was born again, but not like Jimmy Carter or Billy Graham. I realized that all the teaching of the churches was phony nonsense, that the whole meaning of white theology is to keep a whole race oppressed. "Jesus Christ and all the apostles and everyone but the devil was white and he was black, of course. The church is the black man's worst enemy with its songs about a white "And the main black leaders were whiter than the white man. The only difference between Martin Luther King and George Wallace was the color of their skin.

The civil rights movement didn't change a thing The civil rights movement got jobs for niggers that were hired Monday and fired Friday." Washington says he founded the first House of Israel in Chicago in 1956. He later moved to Cleveland, where in 1961 he organized the picketing of nine hamburger stands in the ghettoes to force the hamburger chain to sell franchises to blacks. "Not even a window was broken," Washington said. "But I was indicted on nine counts of blackmail for ech one of those outlets, convicted and sentenced to five years on each count, running consecutively that's 45 years." He says he jumped a $50,000 appeal bond, changed his name from David Hill to Edward Washington, got a passport in New York and headed for Algeria. From there, he said, he visited other parts of Africa and explored the possibility of starting a House of Israel in Haiti and Cuba before ending up in Guyana in 1972.

"In Cuba there is a better way of life, so there was no need for a House of Israel. They don't run no ads in no papers about coming to church on Sunday. There is no Christmas, like in the United States, where they get the niggers to buy a whole bunch of stuff that the trucks come back to get in June because the blacks can't pay for 'V-' Soon after: arrivfrig in Guyana, Washington was befriended by the American-born wife of Guyanan opposition leader Cheddi Jagan, the former Janet Rosenberg of Chicago, 111. Mrs, Rosenberg, also a Marxist, says she paid Washington's hotel bill for a week after he told her of being a 'black persecuted by the racist, imperialist U.S. system of justice.

A member of Jagan's party said recently he to be speaking on the floor of parliament because if he criticized the Burnham government on the street outside, the rabbi's people would bust his head. Some critics estimate that Washington's followers number only a few hundred, but he claims 8,600 members spread over 38 branches in Guyana, as well as others in Surinam, Jamaica, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland and New York. The figure may be higher than that because the faithful reportedly have infiltrated the Guyanese army, police and civil service under cover. Roswell Temperatures High Monday was 77; overnight low was 37. Normal high today is 61; normal low today is 25.

Record high today is 83, set In 1949; record low today Is 13, set in 1938. Precipitation Precipitation for 24 hours ending at 7 a.m. today was .00 inch. Total for month to date is 0.00 inches; total for the year to date is 8.16 inches. Normal for the month to date is 0.26 inches; normal for the year to date is 10.11 inches.

Sunrise today was at 6:40 a.m.; sunset today will be at 4:51 p.m.; length of day, will be 10.2 hours. Humidity The humidity at 9 a.m. today was 26 percent. cloudy Wednesday and much colder in the east. Highs today 30s In the north to near 60 in the south.

Lows tonight zero to 15 above In the north to mostly 20s in the south. Highs Wednesday 30s in the mountains and north to 50s in the southwest. Statewide Travelers' advisory today northern mountains. Gusty In the Nationwide winds Tonight will find snow in the with periods of poor visibility In snow vicinity of the Great Lakes while rain or blowing snow In the northern and showers will fall over most of the Atlantic coastal states. Fair to partly cloudy skies are forecast elsewhere across the nation for the period ending at 5 a.m.

Wednesday. mountains early today. Clear to partly cloudy and moderately windy elsewhere. A chance for intermittent light snow in the east tonight. Partly Bertie Fisher rites set Although Washington says he has never met Burnham or spoken to him on the telephone, there is no doubt about his extremely close working relationship with the Burnham government and the ruling People's National Congress Party.

Washington ets 30 minutes free radio time every unday on the Burnham government's Guyana Broadcasting Service. He makes no apology for his cult's involvement in local politics "They're Guyanese, so why shouldn't they take part In politics?" When the sugar workers, most of whom belong to Jagan's opposition party, went out on strike, Washington sent 300 of his members to cut cane for seven days a week without pay to help break the strike. He did the same with a government-owned department store. He doesn't deny that his people go to anti-government demonstrations to intimidate the opposition, but he has never even been questioned by police about beatings that repeatedly occurred at such clashes. An alleged House of Israel member, Bilal Ato, is in jail for the stabbing murder of Catholic priest- photographer Rev.

Bernard Darke last May at an anti-government demonstration. But Washington says, "I don't have any member by the name Ato." In July 1978, Washington sent his members to vote in Burnham's controversial referendum delaying new elections indefinitely and keeping the prime minister in power while a new Socialist constitution is being written for Guyana. About 90 percent of Guyana's voters boycotted that vote. Washington says he hasn't received "10 cents" from the Burnham government for his services to the regime and adds the government is only showing its gratitude by letting him stay in the country on an expired U.S. passport.

His lawyer, Stanley Moore, also was a lawyer for the People's Temple The United States has no extradition treaty with Guyana and Washington said he hopes to get Guyanese citizenship. "I'll never go back (to the United States), I'm in heaven here," he said during the interview at his spacious, two-sFory house in a new Georgetown suburb across the street from a bank president. Washington's followers, whom he calls the most disciplined group in the Caribbean, practice communal living and turn all their earnings and possessions over to him. rms, they sell plantain chips, ketchup and clothes on the streets. They neither smoke nor drink and do not eat pork.

For their "pure socialism" sect, they have been known to recruit new members from among just-released convicts at the prison gate. Their homes in Georgetown have drawn the attention of the city's fire and health departaments because of alleged unsanitary conditions and fire hazards. Neighbors complain about the daily revivalist-style services at the cult's headquarters with feet-stomping, music, loud singing and shouting. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Ballard Chapel for Bertie L.

Fisher, 72, who died of natural causes Monday in her home at 210 E. Pear St. The Rev. Buford Coplen, pastor of the Washington Avenue Baptist Church, to which she belonged, will officiate. Graveside services are scheduled at 2 p.m.

Thursday in Sunset Memorial Gardens, Lawton, Okla. Pallbearers will be J.T. Clements, Herschel Cook, Carl Hickam, James Hix, Leslie Hix, Lonnie Hix, Skipper Hix and Willie Morton. Mrs. Fisher was born April 24,1907, in Corsicana, Texas, to Mr.

and Mrs. James Willie (Ida Hair) Hix. She was married May 22, 1932, In Lawton, to Oscar Fisher. A nomemaker, Mrs. Fisher had been a resident of Roswell for the past 38 years.

One son, Omer Cecil Mullins; one brother, Earl Hix; her husband and both her parents preceded her in death. She Is survived by one brother, Walter Hix of Roswell; four sisters, Clara Horton of Roswell, Fannie Hargrove of Fort Worth, Texas, Willa Mae Hickam of Lubbock, Texas, and Katie Cook of Duncan, and several nieces and nephews. Jack Shaw CAPITAN Jack Shaw, 75, of Capitan, died Wednesday following an extended Illness. Bora In Van Vleet, July 24, 1904, Mr. Shaw spent his childhood in Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas.

He moved to Lincoln County in 1928 and lived there till he died. He was employed by the U.S. Public Health service In Fort Stanton from February 1928 till June 1953 and the New Mexico Tuberculosis Hospital at Fort Stanton as chief engineer until his retirement in October 1965. Shaw was a past master of Carrizozo Masonic Lodge No. 41 AF AM; past patron of Chapter 29 OES; Capitan United Methodist Church and a past member of Capitan city government.

He is survived by his wife Frances; one daughter, Helen Diane Rlska; one son. Jeff Shaw; one son-in-law, Mike Riska; one daughter-in-law, Vicki Shaw; two grandchildren, Mike and Danielle Riska; one brother, Smith Shaw of Lubbock, Texas, and one sister, Lena Maude Oxford of Mission, Texas. Services were held at Capitan Methodist Church Friday at 10:30 a.m. Graveside services were at Angus Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to the New Mexico Cancer Society or to Capitan Methodist Church.

The family has named all old-time Fort Stanton U.S. Public Health Service employees as honorary pallbearers. Pallbearers were N.E. Britton, Sam Cox, Hollis Cummins, past commander of American Legion Gerald Dean, Bill Edgar, Richard Post No. 57; a charter member of Phillips and Herbert Lee Traylor.

Court issues decision in Naranjo perjury case SANTA FE (UPI) The State Court of Appeals said today it had reversed the perjury conviction of Rio Arriba County political leader Emilio Naranjo because the charge was based on an invalid indictment. The court's reversal of the perjury conviction last January came nearly three weeks ago on the eve of Naranjo's re-election as Democratic county chairman, but the court at that time did not detail why it had overturned the conviction. In an opinion issued today, Judge Lewis Sutin cited three main reasons for throwing out the case. The court, in reversing the conviction, ruled that Naranjo cannot be retried on the perjury charge. Sutin, who wrote the opinion, said the indictment, which charged Naranjo had lied about evidents surrounding the arrest of La Raza Party leader Moises Morales in November of 1975, did not contain the essential elements for a charge of perjury.

Sutin said Naranjo, then the county sheriff, had testified at Morales' trial on marijuana possession charges, that he saw Deputy Sheriff Ruben Vigil take a paper bag from Morales' truck. Sutin said, "the statement made was true, not false, and was not even a material issue. The material issue was whether the bag contained marijuana." The Appeals Court judge in order to be charged with perjury, Naranjo would have had to nave made a statement regarding whether there was marijuana in the bag. The court also ruled former Attorney General Toney Anaya did not have the power to appoint a special prosecutor in the case and noted First Judicial District Attorney Eloy Martinez did not disqualify himself roni the Anaya originally appointed former District Attorney Joe Caldwell of Taos as special prosecutor, then named former Silver City District Attorney J.C. Robinson to handle the case.

District Judge Ray Hughes of Deming presided over the trial. "The attorney general is not authorized to act except upon the failure or refusal of the district attorney to act in any criminal case," Sutin's ruling said. Sutin also said Hughes should not have allowed testimony to be introduced that Morales had been found innocent on the marijuana possession charges. "In the instant case, the trial court failed to instruct the jury that the verdict should not be based upon the fact that the previous jury believed the defendant lied when he gave the same testimony before them," Sutin said. Tikhonov is promoted MOSCOW (UPI) Nikolai S.

Tikhonov, long considered a possible successor to Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin, was promoted to a full membership in the powerful Politburo Tuesday in a move that could signal preparations for the retirement of the reportedly ailing Kosygin. Kosygin has not appeared in public since Oct. 18 and the promotion of Tikhonov, the first deputy premier, appear Nov. 7 parade in Red Square, and it has been rumored he has heart trouble. Tikhonov, 74, an industrial specialist, was moved up to the powerful Politburo from his position as a candidate, or alternate, member.

Tikhonov's promotion came at a plenary session of the Communist Party Central Committee Tuesday. He was named as a candidate or non-voting member of the Politburo last year, Tass said Mikhail Gorbachev was appointed an alternate member of the Politburo. The elevation of Tikhonov increased the number of Politburo members to 13. But Soviet sources reported Kosygin did not appear at the plenum, leaving his future in the party ranks still in doubt. Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev also spoke at the session.

Tass said the plenary meeting also adopted the draft plan and draft budget that will be submitted to the Supreme Soviet, or parliament, at its who has been closely allied to Brezhnev for a long time. Tikhonov began his career as a tram engineer and built his political base in the Ukrainian city of Dnepropetrovsk, close to Brezhnev's hometown. Like Brezhnev, Tikhonov worked in the metallurgical industry. record ENMMedtalCenter Births Nov. 26 session that opens Wednesday.

Tikhonov Is an industrial specialist To Connie Landers, Rt. 3 Box 59, a boy. 33 1 fe-.