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In Reply to: To Ed Priebe posted by Remembrance on March 09, 2005 at 17:10:22:
Hello, Remembrance, and thanks for taking the time to write. Some of what you say is difficult to understand and seems to have been translated somewhat literally from Spanish into English. But the parts that I do understand I will reply to. The first thought you raised was this:
“Even though, I am prepared to concede that your concerns for the SGAs and your comments about Ricky and Richard Dupuy are legitimate enough. What I am not prepared to accept is the extreme that their choices have been exclusively theirs and that no one else was responsibly for their dramatic decisions.”
If it had been possible to prevent Richard (Rick) Dupuy from taking his own life, I would have done so. But as several people can attest, Rick had been so damaged by the inhuman treatment he suffered at the hands of Josiah and other Family leaders in the Victor Camps in Japan, that Rick felt the damage was so deep and irreversible that he could no longer bear to live. I wish some of Rick’s tapes or communication on the subject can someday be made public, as Rick’s own voice could explain things much better and more convincingly than I can. I certainly would have attempted to talk Rick out of committing suicide if I’d been aware back then just how serious he was about it.
As for Ricky Rodriguez, are you saying that I’m somehow responsible for his suicide, or that I could have done something to prevent him from murdering Sue and taking his life, but didn’t? I have not been in contact with Ricky for over 3 years. The last contact I had with him was when he answered a question that I had about Berg’s alcoholism. I’m surprised you are not going on to direct your accusations at the SGs who knew him during the last two years of his life, as if they somehow were to blame as well. Ricky was deeply damaged by his childhood and though I think quite a number of people reached out to him to try to help him, he chose his own course. I would certainly have advised him against doing what he did, had I been in contact with him at the time.
Remembrance, you again mention Jon-A (whom I believe is Peter Amsterdam’s son), and say,
“Now, with regards to Jon-A, I do not think that he will ever reply with positive answers to my questions re the identification of all the COG/TF’s Homes, colonies, “training centers” or “boot camps”, their exact postal and geographical locations and telephone numbers. I would like to ask him not to be so critic of the system because it is in and from the system where he finally extracts his life resources. This is also true of TF, but they rather prefer to remain anonymous and hidden away.”
The only thing I can say to that is that you’d have to ask Jon.A. But I agree with your statement: he’s not likely to answer your questions if he’s still in the Family. And as Porceleindoll pointed out, Jon. A. was a young boy at the time and may not even know the exact answers to many of your questions, even if he were inclined to answer you.
Then you say,
“Ed, it is you and others like you who are in a position to stand up and forward concrete information to expose the COG/The Family/The Family of Love/The Family International and make those responsible/guilty of abuse and wrongdoings, to pay for their actions.”
I have spent years fighting the Family, appearing in newspapers, magazines, TV shows & documentaries, made depositions and have written lengthy articles exposing the Family’s involvement in military coups in the Philippines, as well as my own involvement in coverups in WS. I was so committed to the fight agaisnt the Family that I flew to Manila, took over a Family Home for a month and removed 16 trunks of incriminating Family videos from a storage unit. I’m not sure why you feel I must continue to fight them in the public arena or why you assume that I am not playing a supportive role right now. I have a family now and they are my first priority, and I’m not prepared to discuss publicly what I may or may not be doing, but those who need to know, do know. I almost wonder if you're a Family member trying to probe my involvement in anything happening at present, or to provoke me into divulging information. I may be wrong, but you will understand my suspicion.
Remembrance, you also say,
“You, Sam Ajemian and David Welsh have chosen to keep silence about FSM 227 (FN336) “Anti-Family Conspiracy Exposed & Foiled”. Please allow me to say it again: it is not my intention to help The Family.”
If you’re talking about the 4-page tract called “Anti-Family Conspiracy Exposed!” (also entitled “Beware of Dogs!”) then I know what you’re referring to and have a copy. I’ve just never heard that it had a FSM or FN number (FSM 227 FN336). This is the tract sent out to the Family (after I removed the trunks of Family videos) in which Sam Ajemian, Dan Welsh and myself were officially excommunicated. I’m not sure what your question is about this, however, but you have to be about the first person to accuse Sam Ajemian about “keeping silence” over something that needed to be exposed. While I do not agree with all of Sam’s methods, I salute the man for his outspokenness and bulldog-like tenacity at exposing the Family. I have a great deal of admiration for him.
Remembrance, you ask:
“I neither censor you nor those who assisted you while taking the video tapes and literature away from a COG Home in Manila but can’t help wondering ¿To what use did you put all that material? ¿Which was its final destination? It is my understanding that, with the exception of a few of the videos and a minimal portion of literature, that material was presented to several judicial cases but ¿What did you do with the rest?”
All I can say to that is that those who need to know the answers to those questions already know the answers. I’m not trying to be elusive here, and I know other people have the same questions, but the fact is, I do not have those videos in my possession and haven’t for over ten years. If I had them, that would be a different matter.
Finally you say,
“My reference to the FSM was meant to project your ambition for power, you propensity to deliriums of grandeur and your spiritual arrogance. Your endeavors, with no regards for the means, to lead The Family, become the star writer of their letters and feed up your personal ego.”
If you are referring to the “Anti-Family Conspiracy Exposed!” tract, then yes, I know what you are talking about. I took over a Home in the Philippines for a month, considered trying to bring the whole Family to repentance, but was finally arrested by the Family’s contacts in the NBI (Secret Police), ending things there. The odd thing is that World Services referred to me in pretty much exactly the words you use, which almost makes me wonder if you are a Family member.
You said I had “deliriums of grandeur and spiritual arrogance,” and a quote from WS’s tract says,
“They all still suffer from extreme delusions of grandeur & spiritual pride. Hart had concocted an insane plan whereby he thought he could ‘exit counsel’ (the new term for deprogramming) all the Family in the Philippines. The Family would be required to issue a ‘general call to repentance’ to take place on Yom Kippur (a Jewish holiday—the Day of Atonement). A new ‘provisional government’ of the Family would then be installed, with guess who at the top?—Hart himself ... An alternative plan was to simply find Dad & Maria, single-handedly take them& their staff hostage & ‘exit counsel’ Dad!”
Yes, I can almost agree that I was suffering from delusions of grandeur to think I could bring the Family to repentance. Looking back, yes, it was a crazy idea, and I know a lot better now—they’re simply NOT going to repent as a movement—but I didn’t know that back then and it did seem like a good idea at the time, considering my frame of mind at the time. I was never in any kind of leadership position, but I think you can agree that it would have been better if almost ANYone other than Berg and Zerby had been in charge, right? But anyway, I agree, it was a bad idea. I had some very wild ideas and half-hatched plans at the time. I would not do some of those same drastic things now that I did then.
