{"id":28239,"date":"2013-06-16T00:18:42","date_gmt":"2013-06-16T00:18:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alternativejonestown.com\/?page_id=28239"},"modified":"2021-10-22T11:07:13","modified_gmt":"2021-10-22T18:07:13","slug":"678-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=28239","title":{"rendered":"Q678 Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary prepared by Fielding M. McGehee III. If you use this material, please credit The Jonestown Institute. Thank you.<\/strong><\/i><\/p>\n

To read the Tape Transcript, click here<\/a>. To listen to MP3, click here<\/a>.
\nTo return to the Tape Index, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

FBI Catalogue<\/b>: Identified Individuals Speaking<\/p>\n

FBI preliminary tape identification note: <\/strong>One Tracs 90\/”Sharon to Barba[gelleta] 5\/10\/77″<\/p>\n

Date cues on tape:<\/b> The date of May 10, 1977 on the FBI identification note is consistent with its contents<\/p>\n

People named:<\/b><\/p>\n

Public figures\/National and international names:<\/i>
\nAdolf Hitler
\nRosalynn Carter, wife of President Jimmy Carter
\nRuth Stapleton, sister of President Jimmy Carter
\nUnita May Blackwell Wright, mayor of Mayersville, Mississippi
\nS.F. Mayor George Moscone (by reference)
\nS.F. Commissioner John Barbagelata<\/div>\n
Other names:<\/i>
\nMelvin Charles, citizen involved in police shooting<\/div>\n
Temple adversaries; members of Concerned Relatives:<\/i>
\nGrace Stoen
\nTim Stoen
\nLester Kinsolving, newspaper columnist<\/div>\n
Peoples Temple members:<\/i>
\nPaula Adams
\nSharon Amos (speaks)<\/b>
\nBen Bowers, licensed ham radio operator of Temple radio (speaks)
\nChaikin, presumably Gene Chaikin
\nMike Prokes (speaks)<\/b>
\nAl Touchette<\/div>\n
Jonestown residents, full name unknown:<\/i>
\nDee (first name unknown) Johnson, \u201ctransvestite\u201d in Jonestown
\nKenny, \u201cchild molester\u201d in Jonestown
\nRuth<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bible verses cited:<\/b> None<\/p>\n

Summary:<\/b><\/p>\n

(Note<\/strong>: This tape was one of the 53 tapes initially withheld from disclosure. The reason may be that Jim Jones discussed how to get around Federal Communications Commission regulations on ham radio operations.)<\/em><\/p>\n

The tape consists of two phone calls, a snippet of conversation between Jones and an unidentified male which is too short for contextual reference, and a long meeting between Jim Jones, several Temple leaders, and Ben Bowers, the holder of the Temple\u2019s ham radio license.<\/p>\n

In the first phone conversation, a woman (likely Sharon Amos, even though she won\u2019t identify herself and says she\u2019s not a member of Peoples Temple, despite her use of Temple equipment to record her call) speaks to an unnamed aide to San Francisco Commissioner John Barbagelata. Sharon complains about a \u201cnegative reference\u201d which Barbagelata made about Jim Jones, and said the criticism could be embarrassing to the official. Jones had supported a ballot proposal made by Barbagelata, and stood by the commissioner when he was \u201cvictimized\u201d by terror. Later, Sharon reminds the aide that the Temple has 9000 members and \u201cthey\u2019re not the kind of people I think [Barbagelata] wants to take on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the heavy-handed nature of the message, Sharon doesn\u2019t seem to be able to back up any of her assertions with even the most basic information which the aide asks for in an effort to check things out. Even though low voices at Sharon\u2019s end give her more ammunition, she is periodically flustered, especially when the aide asks for her name.<\/p>\n

In the second call, Michael Prokes tries to arrange a meeting between Ruth Stapleton, the sister of President Jimmy Carter, and Jim Jones. It\u2019s a last-minute request \u2013\u00a0Mrs. Stapleton will be in San Francisco that night \u2013 and the receptionist says her boss is out of reach. The taped portion of the call ends before Prokes makes much progress.<\/p>\n

The most extended portion of the tape \u2013 lasting for all but the first five minutes of the second side \u2013 is a meeting between Jones and Ben Bowers. Even though the meeting apparently takes place in Bowers\u2019 radio room, several Temple leaders have accompanied Jones. There is much movement of furniture and equipment throughout the tape, and much conversation is lost.<\/p>\n

The reason for the meeting is to discuss what the Federal Communications Commission wants from the Temple, and what they should do to resolve the violations which the FCC has cited them for. There is a subtext of disagreement that becomes immediately obvious: Jones wants Bowers to go to Guyana to set up the radio equipment; Bowers not only refuses to go to Guyana, he wants to leave the church. The positions of the two men are clear, unyielding, and diametrically opposed.<\/p>\n

As the meeting begins, the unidentified Temple leaders urge Bowers to do what he can to fudge the record (although the nature of the alleged violations is never specified). One suggestion is to make some of the entries in the log book less clear and more ambiguous; another is to lose the log book, or to pretend that kids broke into the radio room while it was unlocked and stole the book.<\/p>\n

Bowers opposes the ideas as self-defeating, among other things. If the room was left unlocked, he says, \u201cthen that\u2019s my responsibility. I mean, I\u2019m the control operator. Whatever happens \u2026 I\u2019m responsible for.\u201d He also says that his meeting with the FCC had gone well, because he had admitted the violations right away. When the discussion of fudging the violations resumes later in the meeting, Bowers \u2013 and others \u2013 rejoin that many of the violations are already on record, since the FCC has been monitoring transmissions, and likely recording them as evidence of violation.<\/p>\n

Jones grudgingly accepts this. \u201cI question why we shouldn\u2019t lose [the book]. It was my idea to lose it. But you say not to. And I trust your judgment.\u201d But the truth is, Bowers\u2019 words wouldn\u2019t mean much if there weren\u2019t also a written record. \u201cThings in writing can damage you,\u201d he says, the adds later, \u201c[T]hey\u2019ve got something in writing. That\u2019s why I don\u2019t want for you people to keep things in writing.\u201d<\/p>\n

By that time, the more fundamental problem is on the table. Jones says he can\u2019t understand why Bowers would be so cooperative with the FCC, and so resistant about working with the Temple radio operators in Guyana. At first, Bowers says he had decided not to go to Guyana. Even with the promise of a round trip ticket, he says he thought that, once he arrived, they wouldn\u2019t allow him to return. \u201cDid you think you were going to stay?\u201d Jones asks. \u201cI assumed that,\u201d Bowers replies. \u201cI mean\u2026 I don\u2019t care what you told me, that\u2019s what I figured.\u201d As long as he remains in the States, he says, he has some independence, and if it comes down to being forced into a decision, he says he\u2019ll quit the church.<\/p>\n

As the conversation continues, however, it is apparent he has already decided to leave, and he resists every effort \u2013 through shame, through logic, through emotion \u2013\u00a0to try to get him to change his mind. When Jones asks Bowers if he realized what legal danger Jones was putting himself in by returning from Guyana, Bowers says, he assumed that\u2019s why Jones went down in the first place. When Jones says they are facing a situation of whether to live or die, Bowers calmly replies, \u201cWell, check that on the \u2018live and die.\u2019 \u2018Cause that\u2019s true.\u201d When Jones accuses him of enjoying the \u201cfruits of\u2026 fascism,\u201d and reminds him of all the work that the Temple is doing to help the farmers in Zaire and to save the refugees from Chile, Bowers replies, all he could do anyway is just supply a radio system.<\/p>\n

If anything, Jones\u2019 arguments seem to strengthen Bowers\u2019 resolve. As Jones repeats his willingness to die for the movement, two things become apparent: Bowers can\u2019t put enough distance between himself and that kind of talk; and Jones can\u2019t figure that out. Jones has sold himself on his own rhetoric \u2013 especially the rhetoric that he uses before large gatherings \u2013\u00a0and can\u2019t understand why it isn\u2019t working in a one-on-one conversation.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Jones sounds genuinely perplexed why anyone would want to abandon Peoples Temple and join the system. Even when he asks questions for information about what Bowers wants, and Bowers replies with the information, Jones treats the answer as an invitation to argue against him, to show him where he\u2019s wrong. In one exchange, for example, Jones asks Bowers what he wants. \u201cI guess I want independence. I guess that\u2019s what I want,\u201d Bowers replies. \u201cWhoever\u2019s freed anybody, son?\u201d Jones returns. \u201cWhoever freed anyone by hedonistic indifference? Who, with anarchy, ever did a damn thing for a soul?\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of Jones\u2019 replies lead down long and winding pathways which show some of his thought processes. At one point, Bowers observes simply, \u201cI just burn out.\u201d Jones\u2019 initial response is, they don\u2019t have the right to burn out. Then he modifies that to say, he doesn\u2019t have the opportunity to burn out. In the very next breath, he says, \u201cI may burn<\/i> out, but I\u2019m not going to give<\/i> out. Because that\u2019s a terrible feeling, to feel that you let people down.\u201d That leads to his beliefs about the need to organize, then to the influence that the Temple organization has, then to the risks that come along with that influence, and finally, to the pain that comes with the risk. \u201cSo what\u2019s the difference?\u201d he concludes. \u201cPain is pain. Why not be painfully loyal, rather than painfully dissident?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones also expresses a reluctance to let anybody like Ben Bowers leave the group. Even though Bowers says he hasn\u2019t tried to take anyone else out with him, that he hasn\u2019t talked to people on the outside, that he\u2019ll just walk away, Jones says he has the experience to distrust that. Everyone else who says they\u2019ll leave without incident, he says, turns around two weeks later and hits them with a lawsuit.<\/p>\n

But Bowers represents a special problem. Jones is worried about communications. He wants Jonestown to be able to remain in instant contact with San Francisco, and to do that, he thinks he needs to hold on to Bowers, he needs to do whatever it takes to keep the FCC off their backs, and he needs to be figure out a way to conduct business on what is designed \u2013 and policed \u2013\u00a0as an amateur radio network. \u201cWe have to have communications,\u201d he says more than once.<\/p>\n

What happened after this conversation? Although Ben Bowers did not leave the Temple immediately, he never went to Guyana, as far as we know, and certainly did not die in Jonestown on 18 November. The radio communication between Guyana and the U.S. was more or less reliable, and the radio room was extensively used. Peoples Temple continued to conduct business over the ham radio frequencies, principally through the use of coded words and phrases. And, with the help of ham radio operators across the US who provided tapes of the Temple\u2019s violations, the FCC continued to monitor the group. The threat of suspended service always hung over Jonestown, and contributed to Jones\u2019 increasing sense of isolation and paranoia in the final weeks.<\/p>\n

FBI Summary:<\/b><\/p>\n

Date of transcription: 3\/29\/79<\/p>\n

In connection with the Federal Bureau of Investigation\u2019s investigation into the assassination of U.S. Congressman LEO J. RYAN at Port Kaituma, Guyana, South America, on November 18, 1978, a tape recording was obtained. This tape recording was located in Jonestown, Guyana, South America, and was turned over to U.S. Officials in Guyana and subsequently transported to the United States.<\/p>\n

On March 1, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B62-2. This tape was found to contain the following:<\/p>\n

A telephone call from an unknown female to the office of Mr. BARBAGALATTA. A telephone call to Mrs. STAPLETON\u2019S office from MICHAEL PROBST [PROKES], a minister at Rev. JONES\u2019 office. Two males and one female discussing radio links between the Temple and Guyana.<\/p>\n

Nothing was contained thereon which was considered to be of evidentiary nature or beneficial to the investigation of Congressman RYAN.<\/p>\n

Differences with FBI Summary:<\/b><\/p>\n

The summary is accurate and meets the FBI\u2019s purposes.<\/p>\n

Tape originally posted April 2002<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary prepared by Fielding M. McGehee III. If you use this material, please credit The Jonestown Institute. Thank you. To read the Tape Transcript, click here. To listen to MP3, click here. To return to the Tape Index, click here. FBI Catalogue: Identified Individuals Speaking FBI preliminary tape identification note: One Tracs 90\/”Sharon to Barba[gelleta] […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":27996,"menu_order":449,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-28239","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28239"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111870,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28239\/revisions\/111870"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}