PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

This was a headline the other day: “New Netflix documentary revisits the still-shocking story of the Rajneeshees in Oregon.”

With that headline – not to mention a number of other stories — memories of the strange episode in Oregon’s history, as well my role in it in the 1980s, came flooding back to me. Not just my role, but the role of the Administration of Governor Victor Atiyeh, for whom I worked and which faced incredibly difficult challenges from a rogue band of international cult followers.

When you reach the end of this blog, you’ll see how something so threatening for Oregon turned into something incredibly positive.

Oregonian newspaper reporter Kristi Turnquist wrote this about the upcoming Netflix documentary:

“Oregonians who were here when the amazing-but-true story of what happened when Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh came to Wasco County can still remember the shocking twists, turns and revelations about what the Rajneeshees and their leaders were up to.

“Those who weren’t here then can revisit this still-shocking saga in ‘Wild Wild Country,’ a new, six-part documentary series that begins streaming on Netflix on Friday, March 16.

“’Wild Wild Country’ goes back to the early 1980s, when a philosophy professor-turned guru from India called Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his followers bought land in Oregon’s Wasco County. Rajneesh’s chief of staff, Ma Anand Sheela, was the organizer, and thousands of crimson-clad followers showed up to live and work on the commune.

“The headlines flowed like water from Rajneesh’s compound, where the Bhagwan was amassing a collection of Rolls-Royces, and Sheela was clashing with Oregon land-use officials and planning criminal schemes, including poisoning salad bars at restaurants in The Dalles.”

At the time, Governor Atiyeh, even with his long and credible record in state government, could not believe what was happening to “his state.” Neither could I.

It’s one thing for out-of-towners to camp in the Eastern Oregon wilderness. It’s another for thousands of them to flood into a state from around the world, intending to stay seemingly forever, taxing local resources, and planning destructive criminal enterprises while riding around in Rolls Royces.

As I worked with the governor’s chief of staff, Gerry Thompson, and others in the office, we tried to keep track of developments in Wasco County so we would know how best to respond, as well as help local officials respond.

We also had another huge benefit – Governor Atiyeh’s calmness and seasoned demeanor that helped to prevent a full-out battle with what clearly was a group of intruders with no understanding of the state they were invading.

It was the Governor who was able to bring all federal and state agencies together to deal with the Rajneesh threat. His steadfast posture also conveyed to Ma Anand Sheela (the Rejneesh leader named above) that she would not get what she wanted from the Atiyeh Administration, nor from the State Oregon.

The Governor did not get much credit for dealing with the Rajneesh emergency, but that was his style – credit wasn’t the issue; handling the problem with skill and dispatch was the priority. Without the Governor’s steady hand, the threat would have escalated far more broadly.

I wish various recent documentaries on the Rajneesh episode in Oregon would have included summaries of what the Atiyeh Administration did to control the problem. The Administration deserves far more credit than it is getting. And, in some cases, the documentaries have painted a far-too-positive picture of the invaders, suggesting that the episode was more fun than threatening.

Another articular piece of good news was that the governor’s chief of staff, Gerry Thompson, followed the governor’s lead by demonstrating a cool, but firm, hand in aligning all of the state’s resources to stop damage from the Rejneeshees. For one thing, she, with the State Police, had cultivated a source within the Rajneesh camp who alerted us privately to at least some of what was to come, including the crime of poisoning salad bars in The Dalles.

I remember standing in my Salem home late one evening on the phone with Gerry and her source as we endeavored to learn more about the Rajneesh plans, including the prospect of criminal action by commune leaders.

Another tactic employed by Rajneesh leaders was to go around the country and recruit homeless persons to come to Oregon to become part of the commune. Those persons, most of whom came to Oregon by bus, landed first in Portland where they taxed a variety of local charitable resources.

Many of the homeless persons didn’t make it to Wasco County. So, at one point, I was dispatched to Portland to help local charitable organizations respond to the influx of homeless persons who needed services. There were so many of them that we eventually decided to buy bus tickets to get the homeless persons back “home” where, at least, the demand for services could be spread out around a number of cities.

This story doesn’t end with just the fact that a strange and threatening commune invaded Oregon, though the foreboding reality episode has receded over the years.

Incredibly, the site of the former Rajneesh invasion has become a Young Life camp where the worth of knowing Jesus has been described literally to hundreds of young people in the last few years.

A fitting end to the Rajneesh story, I say!