Post by Poor Richard on Mar 3, 2021 14:31:41 GMT -7
A Church Universal and Triumphant Timeline 1981 to 2002
In June of 2002 the Billings Gazette reported:
"Highlights from of the Church Universal and Triumphant in Montana:
1981: The Church Universal and Triumphant buys billionaire Malcolm Forbes' 12,000-acre ranch in the Montana high country.
Church leader Elizabeth Clare Prophet marries Edward L. Francis, who becomes the church's business manager.
1982: The church begins to subdivide its land into 20-acre plots. While Francis had said that would not happen, it was necessary to preserve property values, according to CUT spokesman Chris Kelley.
The church buys an additional 4,500 acres near the town of Emigrant, 20 miles north of Corwin Springs, and announces it will divide 300 acres into tracts for sale to church members. It will be called Glastonbury.
CUT sponsors the first of its annual retreats at the ranch; the gathering draws more than 1,000 church members.
1983: The church buys the 13,000-acre Lazy W Ranch, nine miles south of Livingston.
1985: A series of articles by the Los Angeles Herald Examiner looks at CUT. It states the church owns a guarded California estate, called Camelot, worth $5.6 million. "CUT Inc. owns a publishing house, several mansions, a small gold mine and the greater part of a Montana county. It receives income - either directly or by substantial tithes - from a crystal import business, two restaurants, a color processing lab, a video studio and a direct marketing company," according to the articles.
1986: The church moves to Montana, establishing its headquarters at the property it has named the Royal Teton Ranch.
The church buys the famed OTO Ranch, the oldest in Montana.
1989: About 600 CUT members are in Montana, a core group that staffs the headquarters and living quarters at the Royal Teton Ranch. The mission of the church is to establish a self-sustained community. The church is busy building bomb shelters in preparation for a cataclysm prophesied by spiritual leader Elizabeth Clare Prophet. One shelter is designed to hold 800 people.
Ed Francis pleads guilty to federal conspiracy charges for an illegal scheme to buy .50-caliber sniper rifles; he serves a brief stint in federal prison.
Prophet predicts the end of world, but later says the world is reprieved.
1990: Thousands of church members enter the shelters for an overnight "drill" on March 15. From her post at the Royal Teton Ranch, guru Elizabeth Clare Prophet dictates the message of Armageddon.
The state sues the church over fuel leaks from underground storage tanks built to provide fuel for the bomb shelter. The church faults the company that sold them the storage tanks. Eventually the church wins its court case against the company and cleans up the spill. The state lauds the cleanup as "exemplary."
1991: Park County sues the church and Glastonbury residents in 1991, maintaining illegal subdivisions were created. The suit is settled a year later with the church promising not to sell any more undivided interests to unrelated people.
IRS revokes church's tax exempt status for two years. The church claims it is cleared of misdoing and the revocation is related to misdeeds involving the illegal weapon purchases.
The church completes a land deal with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, selling the OTO Ranch so it can be used to provide protected habitat for elk.
1994: Prophet, 54, has her fifth child, a boy she names Seth.
1995: Gilbert Cleirbaut comes to help Prophet restructure the church after serious financial setbacks from the "shelter cycle."
1996: Cleirbaut is named president and announces a "second life cycle" for the church. In interviews he acknowledges mistakes were made that contributed to the church being perceived as a cult. He states membership contributions dropped drastically after Prophet's apocalyptic proclamations failed to happen.
1998: Erin Prophet, who left the church in 1993, reveals she is writing a book.
She says it is not an expose, but is about her mother and other members. "Who are they, why did they come to Montana," will be a major theme of the book, she says. Erin is one of four children who have all severed ties with the church.
Prophet's marriage to Francis ends. The 58-year-old leader is in a custody dispute over her fifth child, 4-year-old Seth.
Francis, second in command in the church, will resign as executive vice president, the church announces.
Prophet is no longer mentally capable of taking care of her own financial, legal and medical affairs. A trusted aide and church spokesman Murray Steinman says she has asked him to be her legal guardian. Her daughter Erin contests the guardianship.
1999: Stricken by Alzheimer's disease, Prophet announces she will retire from her ministry. As Prophet retires, the church is run by a presidential "triumvirate" of three people: Kenneth Frazier, Kate Gordon and Neroli Duffy.
The church completes a second land deal, selling to the government about 8,000 acres of prime wildlife habitat along the northern border of Yellowstone National Park. There are other parts of the deal which will be completed later. The price is $13 million.
Six months after a battle began over who should serve as guardian of Prophet a settlement is reached. Both Steinman and Erin Prophet will be co-guardians.
2001: The church sells another of its large parcels of land. The 9,300-acre north ranch is sold to Austen Cargill, a vice president of Cargill Inc.
The church advertises for a new president. In September, it announces it had decided to have a joint presidency. Lois Drake and Kate Gordon will share the title."
"Highlights from of the Church Universal and Triumphant in Montana:
1981: The Church Universal and Triumphant buys billionaire Malcolm Forbes' 12,000-acre ranch in the Montana high country.
Church leader Elizabeth Clare Prophet marries Edward L. Francis, who becomes the church's business manager.
1982: The church begins to subdivide its land into 20-acre plots. While Francis had said that would not happen, it was necessary to preserve property values, according to CUT spokesman Chris Kelley.
The church buys an additional 4,500 acres near the town of Emigrant, 20 miles north of Corwin Springs, and announces it will divide 300 acres into tracts for sale to church members. It will be called Glastonbury.
CUT sponsors the first of its annual retreats at the ranch; the gathering draws more than 1,000 church members.
1983: The church buys the 13,000-acre Lazy W Ranch, nine miles south of Livingston.
1985: A series of articles by the Los Angeles Herald Examiner looks at CUT. It states the church owns a guarded California estate, called Camelot, worth $5.6 million. "CUT Inc. owns a publishing house, several mansions, a small gold mine and the greater part of a Montana county. It receives income - either directly or by substantial tithes - from a crystal import business, two restaurants, a color processing lab, a video studio and a direct marketing company," according to the articles.
1986: The church moves to Montana, establishing its headquarters at the property it has named the Royal Teton Ranch.
The church buys the famed OTO Ranch, the oldest in Montana.
1989: About 600 CUT members are in Montana, a core group that staffs the headquarters and living quarters at the Royal Teton Ranch. The mission of the church is to establish a self-sustained community. The church is busy building bomb shelters in preparation for a cataclysm prophesied by spiritual leader Elizabeth Clare Prophet. One shelter is designed to hold 800 people.
Ed Francis pleads guilty to federal conspiracy charges for an illegal scheme to buy .50-caliber sniper rifles; he serves a brief stint in federal prison.
Prophet predicts the end of world, but later says the world is reprieved.
1990: Thousands of church members enter the shelters for an overnight "drill" on March 15. From her post at the Royal Teton Ranch, guru Elizabeth Clare Prophet dictates the message of Armageddon.
The state sues the church over fuel leaks from underground storage tanks built to provide fuel for the bomb shelter. The church faults the company that sold them the storage tanks. Eventually the church wins its court case against the company and cleans up the spill. The state lauds the cleanup as "exemplary."
1991: Park County sues the church and Glastonbury residents in 1991, maintaining illegal subdivisions were created. The suit is settled a year later with the church promising not to sell any more undivided interests to unrelated people.
IRS revokes church's tax exempt status for two years. The church claims it is cleared of misdoing and the revocation is related to misdeeds involving the illegal weapon purchases.
The church completes a land deal with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, selling the OTO Ranch so it can be used to provide protected habitat for elk.
1994: Prophet, 54, has her fifth child, a boy she names Seth.
1995: Gilbert Cleirbaut comes to help Prophet restructure the church after serious financial setbacks from the "shelter cycle."
1996: Cleirbaut is named president and announces a "second life cycle" for the church. In interviews he acknowledges mistakes were made that contributed to the church being perceived as a cult. He states membership contributions dropped drastically after Prophet's apocalyptic proclamations failed to happen.
1998: Erin Prophet, who left the church in 1993, reveals she is writing a book.
She says it is not an expose, but is about her mother and other members. "Who are they, why did they come to Montana," will be a major theme of the book, she says. Erin is one of four children who have all severed ties with the church.
Prophet's marriage to Francis ends. The 58-year-old leader is in a custody dispute over her fifth child, 4-year-old Seth.
Francis, second in command in the church, will resign as executive vice president, the church announces.
Prophet is no longer mentally capable of taking care of her own financial, legal and medical affairs. A trusted aide and church spokesman Murray Steinman says she has asked him to be her legal guardian. Her daughter Erin contests the guardianship.
1999: Stricken by Alzheimer's disease, Prophet announces she will retire from her ministry. As Prophet retires, the church is run by a presidential "triumvirate" of three people: Kenneth Frazier, Kate Gordon and Neroli Duffy.
The church completes a second land deal, selling to the government about 8,000 acres of prime wildlife habitat along the northern border of Yellowstone National Park. There are other parts of the deal which will be completed later. The price is $13 million.
Six months after a battle began over who should serve as guardian of Prophet a settlement is reached. Both Steinman and Erin Prophet will be co-guardians.
2001: The church sells another of its large parcels of land. The 9,300-acre north ranch is sold to Austen Cargill, a vice president of Cargill Inc.
The church advertises for a new president. In September, it announces it had decided to have a joint presidency. Lois Drake and Kate Gordon will share the title."