The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 21

Opinion Weather Deaths Ban Jranrforo Examiner i A a.rtinn nf th San Francisco Sunday Examiner A Chronicle iJUIV 31, VdoJ SECTION FBI, police watching 'religious cult' led by god named Om I Officials fear children involved in group's sexual rites; cultists tied to phony IDs, fraud I if, Slit ft i iiiiil -y-v mm llil iltot- 1 mmm I mil -yl ExaminerFran Ortiz lence. Om obviously feels he is oijt-side society." One of Thome's disciples, a man formerly known as James Smothers who now calls himself "Intelligence Om," has been charged with conspiring to kidnap two children from a San Francisco foster home. The two boys had been found wandering in a Berkeley BART station last April 18, and no one had claimed A month earlier, on March 21, Intelligence Om tried unsuccessfully to claim he was the father of two other children, aged 3 and 4 found In a stolen van in the Haight-Ashbury District. All four children apparently had been in the cult; they are now wards of Juvenile Court. Most worrisome to officials are hints of sexual activity among children in the cult At least one of the children made wards of the court suggested to social workers that the cult's youngsters may be involved Jh the free-wheeling sexual activity Tbf the group.

A former Om member has told authorities that the cult children are initiated into sexual rites at an early age. Om children have been delivered at home, have no birth certificates and, according to law enforcement officials, have received no formal education even up to the age of 13. According to Intelligence Om, the eight hardcore Om members include blacks, whites and Asians, male and female. 1 There are 20 to 50 others who are sympathetic and are aiding us," he claimed in an interview in the San Francisco County Jail, "not Just hi California but in other places." If Several members grew up as activists, with arrest records stemming from Bay Area political demonstrations in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They consider their group "revolutionary, is mantra, or chant, used in Eastern religions to summon a supreme pow-' -See Page B5, col.

Zoo's accommodations for elephants were criticized as a 'concrete oasis'; a new and better Societv slams OaEdand zoo By Phil Bronstein Examiner staff writer The FBI has asked Bay Area law enforcement officials to keep an eye on a "religious cult" headed by a former freedom-rider, black activist and felon whose disciples believe he is "God, beyond God." Authorities say their interest in the commune stems from concern about possible child abuse in the group, the welfare of at least six cult children who have no birth certificates or identification, and the cult's possession of weapons. Law enforcement interest in the cult is also high because of its vague connections to radical groups, alleged threats against public officials, repeated criminal acts by group members involving fraud and phony identification and a "potential" for more serious problems. Members of the group, referred to as "Om" in law enforcement bulletins, believe they are the subject of religious persecution and are being harassed by the authorities. politicalsexual commune is led by Richard Thome, known to his followers simply as "Om." He is married to five of the woman members of the cult Born in the Bay Area where Thorne first recruited members, the cult has moved across the country and to Mexico. Most of the cult's eight hardcore members are "believed to be in the Bay Area," according to a June memo from San Francisco Police Chief Con Murphy.

In a January 1983 memo, San Francisco FBI bureau chief Robert Gast asks law enforcement agencies to forward "any information as to this group's activities and location of its members." "We don't know a lot about the group, but what we do know concerns us," said Sgt. Jerry Bellf ield of the San Francisco police intelligence unit, who has studied cults. "Whenever a cult leader feels himself threatened, he may consider himself at war with us. There is a potential for vio Holocaust 4 land's zoo for the accommodations a "concrete oasis," she calls them in which the elephants and Southeast Asian sun bears are displayed. "No prof essional zoological garden in the VS.

would exhibit animals in an environment so obviously inappropriate for the animal and devoid of information for the public," she In a telephone interview from her Washington office, Pressman said she did not mean to imply that the elephants, bears and 68 other species of birds and animals at the zoo are malnourished or deliberately mistreated. j. i "If there was a cruelty problem, they wouldn't be in a magazine mane By Lance Williams Examiner staff writer OAKLAND The Humane Society of the United States says conditions at Oakland's Knowland Park Zoo are so bad that the elephants might be better off "serving five to 10 years in Leavenworth." But the zoo's renowned director pointing to a recent infusion of $1 million to fix up outmoded displays and. make long-neglected repairs says the society is rattling the wrong cage with its criticism. ln the summer issue of the "Humane Society News," Sue Pressman, the society's director of captive wildlife, slams the Oakland zoo as one of the 10 worst in the country rank Demos vow war with Duke over remap vote By John Jacobs Examiner staff writer State Democratic leaders vowed yesterday to make the special Dec.

13 election on reappor- tionment a referendum on Gov. Deukmejian instead. Blasting the $14 million to $17 million cost of the single-issue Christmas, election, Senate President Pro Tern David Roberti, D-Los Angeles, said, "We have a weapon with which togotothepeopIeofCalifornia.Gov. Deukmejian has seen fit to show the whole world he is the most partisan of all partisan politicians." Roberti called the election "an egregiously, unconscionably partisan issue, when we dont have money for older people, for education, for coastal protection." At the same time he was vetoing most of the Democrats' pet projects from the state budget Deukmejian also called the special election to let voters approve or reject a Republican reapportionment plan. Written by GOP Assemblyman Don it has Democrats howling with protest They say the new plan wilt give Republicans a chance to control both houses of the Legislature for the rest, of the century; disenfranchise mostly Democratic voters for as long as eight years; pit Democrats against each oth- location has been promised they'd be in jail," she said.

Nevertheless, she said, she believes the Oakland zoo needs major reforms if it wants to be considered a zoological garden and not just a menagerie. 1 "They've got to admit there are severe problems," she said. The sledgehammer nature of Pressman's literary assault alternately pains and enrages William Penn Mott, 75, the institution's legendary executive director. "Sure, it hurts." said Mott, who devised the nation's first petting zoo Children's Fairyland when he was parks director here, and went on See Page B3, eol. 1- The City's A group is trying to stop erection find donors to contribute $450,000 for the balance of the artist's bill and a Holocaust educational fund.

The Board of Supervisors has ulti mate authority on whether to accept Worth, an unemployed native of Fort Wayne, Ind, who lived at a building in the 1800 block of Oak Street had been stabbed In the chest Homicide inspector Ed Erdlatz said Worth's apartment showed no signs of forced entry but was ransacked. The iron gate over the apartment door, which Worth always kept locked, had been open since Wednesday, Erdlatz said. Police were not sure how long Worth had been dead. ill tif ill memorial VI unlikely. If opponents of the memorial ap- pear before the Finance Committee See Page Bz, tot.

3 Inside ing it right down there with the Zoo and Petting Farm" in Welford, S.C.,.and the "Space Games Farm" in Sussex, NJ. Pressman rails against Oakland as "a random collection of animals maintained in an amateurish fashion," and charges that the 30-year-old institution ailte) to meet even one criterion of an acceptable zoological garden." She also charges that the Oakland zoo and the nine other institutions on her "substandard zoos" list suffer from sanitation problems; provide "inadequate" shelter, food and water, and make no attempt to give "a learning experience for visitors." She particularly pillories Oak SEN. DAVID ROBERTI 'We have a weapon' er in some districts and blacks against Jews in others; and reduce the number of female legislators. They already have petitioned the state Supreme Court to overturn the Sebasti-aiii plan as unconstitutional. Proponents say the new plan would ensure greater competition in more districts.

For example, Sebasti-ani's plan would increase from 28 to 39 (two short of a majority in a house of 80) the number of Assembly districts in which the percentage of Democratic voters falls below 51. Another 10 Assembly districts would have less than 55 percent Democratic registration. "In a 47 percent Democratic district," Roberti said at a meeting here of the California Democratic Party, "any country yo-yo with a million See Page B4, col. 3 Two actions were filed Friday, a $10 million claim against The City, and a $20 million punitive damages suit against driver Chuck Wong "and a whole flock of John Does," Belli said. He said that the claim is the necessary implement for suit against a government Claims are routinely denied, after which a case goes to court Concord city workers approve strike vote CONCORD City workers have voted to strike after rejecting the city's offer to pay higher employee health and dental premiums in place of the 7.7 percent pay raise union members are seeking.

The 1604 strike vote by members of the Public Employees Union Local 1 roust be sanctioned by the union's general board of directors. If the board 11 if Threat to By Jennifer Foote Examiner staff writer Sometime before the end of the year, visitors to San Francisco's Lincoln Park are likely to be drawn to a spit of land overlooking the Golden Gate by the eerie vision of a man peering from behind barbed wire. They will find a white-bronze nightmare: The man in tattered pajamas, his sunken eyes cast downward, is gripping a strand of wire. Behind him, a heap of 10 twisted corpses. "The Survivor," a $500,000 sculpture by artist George Segal, may soon be San Francisco's memorial to the Holocaust.

Proponents are calling it "a legacy of art for everyone in the Bay Area." But their efforts could be hampered or even halted if a handful of artists and philanthropists are successful in their attempt to block it, ostensibly over the issue of whether the public has had enough opportunity to comment in open hearings on Segal's Holocaust memorial. The debate has not reached the level of controversy that greeted Robert Aroeson's statue of the late Mayor George Moscone in 1981, mainly because few people know of it The memorial has already been approved by the San Francisco Art Commission, and its site across from the California Palace of the Legion of Honor has been cleared by the Recreation and Parks Commission. A 41-member committee appointed by the mayor to select an artist and design for the memorial has raised $300,000 to pay Segal. The committee, one-third of whose members are Holocaust survivors, expects to approves a strike at its Aug. 2 session, the union will set a strike date at a meeting the next day.

The local represents about 240 Concord administrative, clerical, technical and maintenance workers. They turned down the city's offer to pay a L7 percent increase in their health and dental plans before taking the strike vote on Friday. No suspects in case of stabbing victim SAN FRANCISCO police said yesterday they have no suspects in the murder of a man who was found stabbed to death in his apartment Friday night The body of Patrick Worth, 35, was found by his landlord after a neighbor noticed that a gate in front of Worth's apartment door had been left open. of sculpture, 'The already OK'd by two city commissions Bay Area report or reject the gift but Supervisor John Molinart, a member of the Finance Committee that will consider it be- fore the matter goes to the full board, said rejection by the supervisors is No strike deadline was set Talks continued yesterday under the direction of state mediator John Caraway. No details of the negotiations were revealed.

On Tuesday, the union rejected ACs "final" offer, reported to contain an 18-month wage freeze, health benefits and other cuts, by a vote of 1277 to 14a The contract expired June 30. Local 192 president Johnson said Friday that he was prepared to submit a new proposal calling for continuation of the current contract including cost-of-living escalators. "There have been no deadlines set there have been no ultimatums," said AC spokesman Mike Curry. The bus line serves Alameda and Contra Costa counties, with connections to San Francisco. Belli files suits for victim of Muni bus SAN FRANCISCO attorney Melvin Belli has filed suits totaling a potential $30 million on behalf of Agate Roth, a 64-year old woman whose legs were crushed when a Muni bus jumped a sidewalk at Fisherman's Wharf last Sunday and slammed into a crowd of people.

The suits were filed against the Municipal Railway and the driver. M-Jhe woman was pinned under the bus for a half hour before it could be lifted from her. Both tegs were amputated above the knee at San Francisco General Hospital "She's lucky she's alive," Belli said yesterday. "Shell have to have about $300,000 in medical care before she can go home, and shell have to get around in a motorized wheelchair for the rest of her life" Avenal, unlike most towns, would like to be home to state I -ly prison. VJ)Lm Local and national I weather reports.

LzJ Jr The House will regret vote to cut off U.S. 1 aid to anti-Sandinista 1 rebels. Editorial. LsJ (0) Working women may be driving force to rebuild central cities. Neal Peirce.

Op-Ed. Ls AC Transit, union negotiations continue OAKLAND Contract talks between the AC Transit District and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192 were scheduled to continue today..