Q611 Transcript

Transcript prepared by Fielding M. McGehee III. If you use this material, please credit The Jonestown Institute. Thank you.

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Theme music

Announcer: This is KLIL (fade out) Western California’s great music station.

Tom Holmes: It’s 12 o’clock, fifty degrees in Ukiah, time for a complete summary of news of Ukiah and the Redwood Empire, California, world and national news, as well as a look at sports and weather, brought to you this noon by the Prescription Center.

(two unrelated stories)

Holmes: An attempt was made to blow up a bus yesterday, in which Reverend Jim Jones of the Peoples Temple Christian Church of Redwood Valley was riding. The incident took place in San Francisco. Details now from Associate Pastor Michael Prokes.

Prokes: The bomb, discovered yesterday morning by a security guard, was planted strategically underneath the fuel tank of the bus Reverend Jim Jones was on with his wife Marceline and a staff worker. The bus was parked with eleven other of the Temple’s former Greyhound buses in the lot of the Benjamin Franklin Junior High School, where Peoples Temple was holding services this weekend. About eight police units in all came to the school, including officers, investigators, and a bomb squad. One detective, after discovering that the bomb fuse had burned down to a small fraction of an inch, and then went out, said to Reverend Jones, quote “I don’t know what kept the bomb from going off. It’s really a miracle.” Unquote.  A number of individuals who had been involved with militant groups and activities of both the extreme left and the extreme right have been reformed by Peoples Temple and are now members of the church. This caused the same investigator to speculate that it may have been Reverend Jones’ opposition to militancy and the church’s nonviolent stance that prompted the attempted bombing.

Holmes: Michael Prokes for the Peoples Temple Church.

(20 minutes of newscast with unrelated stories)

Newscaster: An attempted bombing, and the strike continues. That’s what’s happening close to home, brought to you by the Mendocino Van and Storage, Agents for Allied Van Lines, and by Chick’s House of Spirits, featuring wine by wire, it’s a California first.

Attempts have been made to blow up the bus carrying the Reverend Jim Jones of the Peoples Temple church in Redwood Valley. Associate Pastor of the church Michael Prokes tells what happened in San Francisco.

Prokes: The bomb, discovered yesterday morning by a security guard, was planted strategically underneath the fuel tank of the bus Reverend Jim Jones was on with his wife Marceline and a staff worker. The bus was parked with eleven other of the Temple’s former Greyhound buses in the lot of the Benjamin Franklin Junior High School, where Peoples Temple was holding services this weekend. About eight police units in all came to the school, including officers, investigators, and a bomb squad. One detective, after discovering that the bomb fuse had burned down to a small fraction of an inch, and then went out, said to Reverend Jones, quote “I don’t know what kept the bomb from going off. It’s really a miracle.” Unquote.  A number of individuals who had been involved with militant groups and activities of both the extreme left and the extreme right have been reformed by Peoples Temple and are now members of the church. This caused the same investigator to speculate that it may have been Reverend Jones’ opposition to militancy and the church’s nonviolent stance that prompted the attempted bombing.

Newscaster: Michael Prokes of the Peoples Temple Christian Church in Redwood Valley.

(unrelated news story begins, tape ends)

Tape originally posted June 2006