BIOTERRORISM: Judge shares bench secrets

December 29, 2010 :  RaeLynn Ricarte

With only days left on the bench, Wasco County Circuit Judge John Kelly reflected back on the 25 years spent overseeing trials that ranged from murder to custody disputes. He remembers the 1984 bioterrorism attack on The Dalles by followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, later known as Osho, an Indian mystic, as the most interesting time of his years in the elected office. In 1981, the cult set up headquarters at the Big Muddy Ranch in south Wasco County, which was renamed Rajneeshpuram and inhabited by about 7,000 people. Acrimony quickly developed between Rajneeshees and local authorities over the use of agricultural land for urban purposes. After taking over the government of Antelope, a town with about 50 residents, by sheer voting numbers, some Rajneesh officials decided that the best way to change the land use rules in their favor was to gain control of two county commission seats in an upcoming election.

To incapacitate local voters, they sprayed salmonella into salad bars at 10 restaurants in The Dalles and sickened 710 individuals, with 45 of these patients hospitalized. No one died during the attacks and two leading Rajneeshpuram officials ended up serving time in prison for the crimes
“That was a hugely fascinating time in our history,” said Kelly, a native of The Dalles.
He had been in office only two months before being faced with a lawsuit to seize the assets of the Rajneesh to pay for the judgments against them. He was spared ruling on the issue when the Oregon Attorney General intervened and determined that the assets could not be transferred. The Bhagwan was later found guilty of immigration violations and deported.
http://www.thedalleschronicle.com/news/2010/12/12-29-10-01.shtml