| |
As
in previous years, the Alternative Considerations website has expanded
to add new features and develop existing ones within the last twelve
months. We are most grateful that many of these improvements have
been made by people other than the website managers and researchers.
The
biggest change in 2006 was the addition of the Jonestown
Research page, which presents
original research that has been developed from primary source documents
and federal government records, principally from the FBI. The page
includes links to a number of maps,
to Jonestown censuses,
and of course to the Edith
Roller Journals. Most of
the research in this new section has been created and presented
by Don Beck, with assistance from Michael Bellefountaine. Don’s
article about current resources and future plans appears here.
Among
the other changes in the last year:
•
The Tapes
section of the site achieved two significant developments in recent
months. First, we launched a section
for tapes which come from private individuals and non-governmental
sources. The first two entries in it are the sermon
delivered by Rev. John V Moore on November 26, 1978 – a week
after the deaths in Jonestown – and Allegory,
a prophetic work by Laurie Efrein Kahalas. We are aware of the existence
of other tapes and hope to expand this section in the near future.
The second milestone is the completion of the 200th transcript from
the FBI’s collection of 900 tapes.
•
The Primary
Source page has added a small collection of Jonestown letters
written by Pat Grunnet to her family in the U.S. in 1978. Copies
of the letters themselves have been donated to the California Historical
Society. In addition, we have uploaded a column
by Jack Anderson from
1981 which explores the role of the press – and specifically
the NBC news crew that accompanied Leo Ryan to Jonestown – in
the tragic events of November 18.
•
The death
list has a new feature: we
have indicated if someone on the list has had a remembrance written
for him or her. The flowerette on Sharon
Amos, for example, invites
you to scroll down past her biographical data and read what a loved
one has written. We mention this in part to remind you, we are always
interested in receiving new remembrances.
•
The list
of people who have died since Jonestown has been divided into sections
of former Temple members, relatives, government officials – both
US and Guyanese – and others.
•
We have added several new FAQs addressing such issues as: how many
people died on November 18 and how many survived (here);
was the shooting death of Jim Jones murder or suicide, and if it was
murder, who shot him (here);
and what is the explanation for the wide discrepancies in the body
count from Jonestown (here).
In coming weeks, we will transfer the forum
on murder vs. suicide to this section as well.
•
We recognize that a site this size will have errors, and we do our
best to correct them, which is why we invite you to contact
us if you come across a mistake,
especially as it relates to the people on the death list. In addition,
we invite you to write us with any contextual information you
might have, whether it’s about an uncaptioned photograph or an
incomplete tape summary. For example, Mike Cartmell added firsthand information
known to no one else – especially not to the managers of the
site – to several tape summaries, including Q
688 and Q
1058 (Part 2). These notes
add details found nowhere else, and we are eager to accept additional
input from you.
Thank
you.
Rebecca
Moore & Fielding M. McGehee III
|
|
