NEWS

HISTORY OF LDS FRAUDCHRONICLED

SINCE THE beginning of theirhistory, Mormons have been sus-ceptible to risky business specula-tion. Often Mormon leaders, orother prominent Church mem-bers, have headed or been con-nected to fraudulent or negligentmoney-losing ventures, and theyhave urged others to invest in orsupport such ventures.

A Church connection to afinancial enterprise assures manyMormons that their investmentswill be good. As history shows,however, investing because of apromoter’s religious position ordevotion is naive and, too often,financially disastrous.

Although Church membershave been advised repeatedly tosave their money and to be waryof get-rich-quick schemes, Mor-mons’ gullibility to fraudulentbusiness deals, especially whenpresented as Church-connected,seems to be deeply, culturallyembedded. Recently, journalistLynn Packer chronicled failed andcontroversial LDS ventures in thewidely discussed October 1990edition of Utah Holiday. Thefollowing highlights from Packer’sarticle characterize the nature andextent of the money-losing ven-tures Mormon leaders or Mor-mons who emphasize theirChurch connection have sup-ported and promoted to otherChurch members.

1836: In Kirtland, JosephSmith and other prominentleaders found the Kirtland SafetySociety Bank. The bank issues itsown money (which other banksdon’t accept) and refuses to re-deem its own notes for equal valuein silver or gold. The bank quicklyfails, and suits are filed against thebank. Joseph Smith and a cashierare accused of embezzlement.

1839: The Saints are driven outof Missouri and flee to Illinois.Reputed counterfeiter Isaac Gal-land sells land with dubious titles

to the Church leaders. The leadersdivide the land and sell it to emi-grating saints. In 1844, the NauvooExpositor accuses Joseph Smith ofselling the land at inflated prices.Lloseph Smith declares the Exposi-tor a public nuisance and has itdestroyed. This order leads direct-ly to his incarceration at Carthageand his murder.]

1847: Samuel Brannan, leadinga group of Mormons to the SaltLake Valley via San Francisco, col-lects tithes in gold from Churchmembers who have been prospec-ting near Sutter’s Fort. WhenBrigham Young sends a messengerfor the tithes, Brannan declares, "I’llgive up the Lord’s money when[Brigham Young] sends me areceipt signed by the Lord."

1849: In Salt Lake City, theChurch mints gold coins whichsoon acquire a reputation for con-taining less gold than their facevalue. The coins begin affecting theChurch’s credit. Brigham Youngorders the mint closed.

1890s: Apostle Abraham H.Cannon, director of the Utah Loanand Trust Company, dies. Apos-

tie Joseph F. Smith replaces ElderCannon as president, and FrancesM. Lyman, a member of the FirstCouncil of the Sevent% becomesdirector. Another Apostle, HeberJ. Grant, discovers the bank’sinsolvency and informs PresidentLorenzo Snow. Eider Grant ex-plains the bank’s dubious positionand the possibility that all boardmembers could be indicted onfelony charges. President Snowtells Elder Grant to do everythinghe can to save the bank. ElderGrant convinces Provo minermagnate Jesse Knight to put up$10,000 to rescue the bank fromits financial troubles.

1925: Charles S. Merrill, a SaltLake undertaker, devises a schemet6 sell burial plots at cost plus 10percent. Apostle George A. Smith’sbrother is a founding director andhis son-in-law sells certificates. By1932, the company is in receiver-ship and the company principalsare charged with fraud. Merrilladmits that salespeople were givena list of prominent men, includingmany high Church officials, toshow to prospective customers asan inducement to invest. ApostleSmith pulis strings in all arenas tohave the charges dropped. Even-tually the men are acquitted, butthe court determines thatfraudulent representations weremade although there is no proofthat directors schemed to make

FROH CHA MPA GNE,

sales using deception.1960s: Another burial estate

venture emerges. Elder Bruce R.McConkie, four stake presidents,three stake high councilmen, abishop, and a member of theChurch welfare committee formthe Memorial Estates SecurityCorp. In November 1964, thecompany files for bankruptcy. Aclass-action suit is brought againstElder McConkie and other direc-tors. The suit alleges misstate-ments and withholding informa-tion on the prospectus. Daysbefore the trial begins, the partiessettle out of court.

Also in the early 1960s: Mor-mon leaders, including ElderMarion D. Hanks and Utah legis-lator E. LaMar Buchner, organizethe Guaranty Trust Deed Corp. Itfails within two years. Civil actionis taken against the directors,Church-owned KSL, and ElderHanks. Criminal charges are leviedagainst other top principals in thecompany. The court decides thatall principals are "negligent andcareless in their management ofGuaranty."

1970s: Snellen M. Johnsonfounds American Ranch andRecreation, Inc. Salespeople en-courage Mormons to invest infamily-oriented vacation sites. Vic-tor L. Brown is a board vice chair-man, and J. Thomas Fyans isdirector. The resorts never mater-

DECEMBER 1990PAGE 59

ialize. In 1974, Johnson and hisbrother plead guilty to sellingsecurities ~vithout a license andselling unregistered securities inAmerican Ranch. The Judge ordersrestitution of $700,000 to 250stockholders.

1968-78: Snellen Johnson alsofounds Navsat, a firm which sup-posedly develops satellite guid-ance systems for ships. Johnsonraises 7 million dollars by exploit-ing close Church connections.Thomas Fyans is president ofNavsat, and investors include N.Eldon Tanner and Victor L.Brown. Johnson claims that ElderTanner endorses Navsat to poten-tial investors. In 1978, Johnson isconvicted of thirty counts of mail,wire, and securities fraud.

1970s-80s: Former BYUfaculty member Einar Encksonsells silver mining claims toinvestors and then shows themhow to donate the claims to BYUand declare the value of the claims(often at ten times their face valueaccording to the IRS) as charitablecontributions on their incometaxes. Erickson is indicted ontwenty-four counts of preparingfraudulent tax returns and mailfrauds.

1980s: AFCO chairman GrantAffleck, a former bishop, andCarvel Shaffer, a former high-councilman, entice hundreds ofMormons to invest in various landand real estate ventures. Eachemphasizes his personal devotionto the Mormon church in attrac-ting investors. Elder Paul H. Dunnsits on the board of directors, andpotential investors are shown aprospectus with Elder Dunn’sname and picture in order to in-spire confidence. Affleck and Shaf-fer are both convicted of securitiesfraud.

1985: Mark Hofmann bilkshundreds of thousands of dollarsfrom prominent Mormons whoare anxious to acquire documentsrelating to Mormon history. ElderHugh Pinnock helps Hofmannsecure a $185,000 signature loanin order to buy the non-existentMcClellin Collection.

Also in the 1980s: CFS Finan-cial Corporation headed by formerbishop J. Gary Sheets fails. In-

PAGE 60

vestors lose millions of dollars.Sheets is later acquitted of thirty.-four fraud charges. A year later, C.Dean Larsen, a high priest groupleader, is convicted of eighteenfelony counts of securities fraud.Through his company, Granada,Larsen lost tens of millions ofinvestors’ dollars in various realestate projects.

1990s: Penny stocks areemerging as the scam for the1990s. Carl W. Martin andMichael D. Wright, both promi-nent Mormons, have pleadedguilty to non-related penny stockswindles in the past severalmonths. One stock broker whospecializes in identifying and ex-ploiting bogus penny stockschemes says the Utah market isthe "slimiest financial market inthe U.S., bar none."

Packer offers the following sug-gestions which the LDS churchcould adopt to help reduce manyof the dishonest or questionableethical practices many Churchmembers and leaders havesupported.

1. Prohibit paid Church leadersfrom sitting on any private boaMsor engaging in outside businessactivities. Substantial investmentsshould be put in blind trusts.

2. Adopt a conflict-of-interestpolicy for lay Church leaders.Leaders should not create newfinancial relationships withanyone under their authority orsphere of influence.

3. A higher percentage of non-businessmen (teachers, farmers,laborers, clerks, technicians, etc.)should be called to both lay andpaid positions.

4. The Church should diw:stitself of all properties andbusinesses that do not have adirect and substantial humani-tarian purpose. No tithing-in-kindfrom high speculation sourcesshould be accepted.

5. Teach that God is not afinancial partner who pays backtithes and offerings with interest.

6. Leaders at all levels shouldemphasize thrift, savings, anddebt-avoidance by precept andexample.

ONE FOLD

DECLINE IN CHURCH DONATIONSFORECASTED

BASED ON giving trends in more than two dozen U.S. denominations, EmptyTomb, Inc., an Illinois-based research group, projects that by 2002, dona-tions by church members will average 1.94 percent of their annual income,compared with 3.05 percent in 1968. (Ecumenical Press Service)

~.RELIGIOUS KIBBUTZIM PROSPERWHILE THE kibbutz movement in Israel continues to lose many ofits members and suffer financial losses, the religious kibbutzes are show-ing a surprising resiliency, according to Reason, a libertarian magazine.The declining state of the kibbutz movement has been acceleratedbecause the idea that a socialist system will dominate the world doesn’texist any more. The religious kibbutzim are more successful becausereligion gives them the ideology the secular kibbutzim have lost. (ReligionWatch)

VENEZUELANS DEBATE PROSELYTING BAN

U.S.-BASED NEWS Network International reports that the VenezuelanSenate is considering a law which would make it illegal for Protestantmissions to evangelize among indigenous tribal groups, especially inthe Amazon area. Governments in both Venezuela and Brazil are tryingto protect the culture and health of these stone-age cultures. (EcumenicalPress Service)

BAPTISTS PROPOSE TO PREACH GOSPELTO WORLD

AT THEIR sixteenth Baptist World Congress in August in Seoul, Bap-tists from around the world passed a series of resolutions which indudesa pledge to try to present the gospel of Jesus Christ to every personin the world by the end of the century. Throughout the meeting, con-gress leaders and speakers prayed repeatedly for God to prepare theway for the Christian message in places such as North Korea, China,and parts of the Soviet Union. (Ecumenical Press Service)

CHINA 5TRESSES CONFUCIANISMTO COMBAT WEST

THE RECENT revival of Confucianism in China has gained strengthsince the Tiananmen Square massacres of 1989, according toAreopagus, a Hong Kong-based Christian magazine. This is adramatic change from only 20 years ago when Confucianism wasopenly reviled by the government as counter-revolutionau. EricBosell writes that the government interest in Confucian teachingsstems partly from the drive to create moral values for the young andbolster Chinese national pride. However, one Chinese scholar ofConfucianism, whose views have been suppressed by theCommunist Party, says the "government...has never emphasizedConfucianism more than now .... In the past the Party has opposedboth traditional culture and Western culture. But since [TiananmenSquare] the Party is using Confucianism to oppose Western culture."(Religion Watch)

DECEMBER 1990

NEW PAPERS PICK UP PIECESAFTER SENTINEL’S FAILURE

IN THE early and mid 1980sthe number of independent re-gional LDS newspapers continuedto grow, particularly when theLatter-day Sentinel instituted edi-tions throughout the westernUnited States. Today, however,only a few regional papers exist.Since the collapse of the Latter-daySentinel in September 1989,several papers have struggled topublish Mormon-oriented news inthe Arizona market. This Septem-ber, Marsha Ward began a month-ly publication called The ArizonaLatter-day Journal. The Journal willnow compete with the twice-monthly Arizona Latter-day Sunwhich former employees of theSentinel, including Ward, beganpublishing in October 1989.

Ward says she decided tobegin the Journal because .,;hewanted to publish news featuresthe Sun does not cover. The Sundeals with "hard news that ha[s]to do with the Church," she said.The Journal will focus on featurearticles, a food section, teen advicecolumn, and items that childrenwill enjoy.

Unlike the late Latter-day Sen-tinel, which published editions inCalifornia, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho,and Utah, the Sun and the Journalare exclusively Arizona papers,and they are competing in amarket that was unable or unwill-ing to support the Sentinel.

The Sentinel folded after theDeseret Bookstore, one of the Sen-tinel’s major advertisers, stoppedcarrying the publication in itsbookstores and began phasing outadvertising in the paper as .its con-tracts expired. Although there wasno official reason given, many feltDeseret Book withdrew its supportbecause of the Sentinel’s defense offormer governor Evan Mechamwhen impeachment proceedingsagainst him began.There are about 250,000 Mor-mons in the Arizona market, andthe Sun currently claims 2,500paid subscribers. Ward hopes toamass a circulation of 5,000. BotihWard and Jim Olsen, Sun editor,

are optimistic that their papers willflourish even though the Sentinelfailed with a much larger circula-tion. "We’re farther ahead thanmost people thought we would be,though you can never live up toyour expectations," Olsen said.

Several other papers continueto be published in the Arizona-Utah-Nevada region which theSentinel served. Charlene andRichard Taylor continue topublish the Beehive in the LasVegas area. Originally started in1975, the Beehive was later boughtby the 5entinel, but unlike otherSentinel publications, it continuedto use its original name. TheBeehive, a monthly, covers localissues in the Las Vegas valley, butit also concentrates on national orChurch-wide stories that wouldinterest the Las Vegas Mormonpopulation.

The Latter-day Family Journal,

published by Val and TerriBuhecker, competes with theBeehive in Las Vegas. The FamilyJournal also covers only the LasVegas area instead of circulating tothe larger Arizona-Nevada-Utaharea. Its news orientation is local.Another Las Vegas Sentinel spinoff,although not a newspaper, is theLD5 Guide, published by EdKanet. The Guide is a yearly direc-tory of local Church information.It lists Church officials, maps, andhistories of stakes and wards, anda calendar of events.

Several regional papers, such asthe Latter-day Trumpet in IdahoFalls and the Latter-day Sentinel inCerritos, California, which hadbeen purchased by the Sentinel,ceased publishing when theArizona paper failed. Among thepapers no longer in publication in-clude the California IntermountainNews in Los Angeles and the Mor-mon Trail in Denver. Of the otherindependent Mormon regionalnewspapers being published inthe mid-1980s in California, Col-

orado, Washington, and Canada,only the San Diego Seagull is stillproduced on a regular basis.

In some regions, the Churchseems to be filling the void forMormon-oriented news throughits Area Public CommunicationsCouncil. The council in SouthernCalifornia publishes a quarterlynewsletter called the LDS Updatewhich tracks Church membersand their activities. In Hawaii, theChurch sponsors a monthlynewspaper called the LDS HawaiiNews which is free to Hawaiiresidents. Jerry Pond, of the LDSChurch Public CommunicationsDepartment, says that there is noset format, audience, or publica-tion schedule for these Church-sponsored newsletters. They maybe published at the ward, stake, orregional levels, and may betargeted for Church members, thecommunity at large, or intendedjust for Church public com-munications members, g~

INDEPENDENT GIONAL MORMON-ORIENTED PUBLICATIONSTHE ARIZONA LATTER-DAY SUN625 East Main StreetMesa, AZ 85203(602) 464-2122Twice-monthly publication $12.00, one-year

THE ARIZONA LATTER-DAY JOUNALP.O. Box 8124Mesa, AZ 85214-8124(602) 835-5653Monthly $7.00, one-year subscription

THE BEEHIVEBeehive Press1916 Maryland ParkwayLas Vegas, NV 89104-3106(702) 878-1752Monthly $7.00, one-year subscription

LD5 HAWAII NEWS1500 So. Beretania Street, 24th FloorHonolulu, HI 96826(808) 923-2911Monthly $5.00, one-year to mainlandersFree to Hawaii residents

LDS Community Newsletter LK Publications12714 NE 13th AvenueVancouver, WA 98685$10.00, one-year subscription

SAN DIEGO SEAGULL5628 Del Cerro AvenueSan Diego, CA 92120(619) 286-9711Monthly$6.50, one-year subscription

LATTER-DAY FAMILY JOURNALP.O. Box 27350Las Vegas, NV 89126(702) 648-7724MonthlyFree to Las Vegas residents$10.00, one-year subscription

LDS GUIDEc/o Ed Kanet217 N. Beechgate AvenueLas Vegas, NV 89110(702) 438-7776Free to Las Vegas residents$2.00 postage and handling toresidents outside of Las Vegas

MORMON JOURNALc/o Wayne PickerellDenver, COpublished irregularlyFree to Denver residents

DECEMBER 1990

PAGE 61

UPDATE

NORTHWEST SYMPOSIUM MEETSTHE SECOND Sunstone Northwest Symposium was held November9-10 at the Mountaineers Building in Seattle. Keynote scholars BYUEnglish Professor Elouise Bell, author of OnI_y When I Laugh, spokeon "Juggling the Claims of Creativity and Correlation," and Mormonhistorian Richard Poll spoke on "Our Dynamic Church." After theclosing banquet Richard Poll and his wife, Gene, (center) posed withthe organizing committee members (from left): Diana Nielson, SteveWhitlock, Kathleen Barrett (program chair), Patrick McKenzie, MollyBennion (symposium chair), March Oiese, Tamara Burdick, MarkThomas, Anne Breckon. There will be a third Pacific NorthwestSymposium next November in Seattle.

BYU CANCELS ISRAEL STUDY ABROADBYU HAS canceled the 1991 winter study abroad program inJerusalem because of the U.N. Security Council’s decision to use forceagainst Saddam Hussein after 15 January. Students who werescheduled to attend BYU in Jerusalem will be allowed to enroll at theProvo campus instead.

Students who enrolled for the fall 1990 semester were initiallyrerouted to Greece for two weeks and spent another week in Turkeybefore going to Jerusalem while the Board of Trustees waited to seewhat would happen in the gulf.

Only a maintenance staff will remain at the center.(Dail.y Universe)

MORMON CRITIC DIESREVEREND WESLEY WALTERS died 9 November 1990 afterundergoing gall bladder surgery For 30 years Waiters was pastor ofthe Marissa Presbyterian Church, Marissa, Illinois. Waitersconducted primary research and wrote articles challenging Mormonscholars’ conclusions regarding early Mormon history which stronglyimpacted historical scholarship.

Responding to Walters’s writings in a 1969 Dialogue article,Richard L. Bushman said, "While Mr. Waiters has put us on the spotfor the moment, in the long run Mormon scholarship will benefitfrom his attack .... Mormon historians asked themselves how manyother questions about our early history remain unasked as well asunanswered .... Without wholly intending it, Mr. Waiters may havedone as much to advance the cause of Mormon history within theChurch as anyone in recent years."

ECCLESIASTICAL COUNSELINGU.S. MAGISTRATE Ronald Boyce has ruled that the Mormon churchand a man accused of abusing his adoptive daughter do not have todisclose conversations between the man and his ecclesiastical leadersor information involving his Church excommunication. MagistrateBoyce said conversations between a church member and anecclesiastical leader are privileged when it is understood theconversation is to be confidential, even when there is no confession."The rnodern trend of cases construing the scope of the clergyprivilege is to read it more broadly than merely being applicable to’confessions’ in the penitential sense, but to apply it tocommunication for religious counseling," Boyce wrote.

Records and conversations involving excommunication or otherchurch disciplinary actions are also privileged, according to theorder. (Salt Lake Tribune)

GHANA LIFTS BAN ON LDS ACTIVITY

IN DECEMBER the government of Ghana ended a 17-month ban onmost LDS church activities in the West African nation. Bruce L.Olsen, managing director of the LDS Public CommunicationsDepartment, said sacrament meetings were to be conductedbeginning 9 December, and the full schedule of Sundaymeetings--priesthood, Relief Society, Primary, Young Men andYoung Women, and Sunday School would resume 16 December.

The announcement, which came in an official governmentbroadcast in Accra, Ghana, expressed satisfaction that the Churchteaches members to honor the flag and promotes racial harmony.Olsen said, "We are grateful for the faithful members who conductedthemselves honorably and patiently during these months whilequestions concerning the Church and its work in Ghana werediscussed and resolved to the satisfaction of government officials andthe Church."

Missionary work: and public meetings of the Church had beenbanned in Ghana since 14 June 1989, but members were permittedto conduct worship services in their homes.

Y POLIC-T KILLS HOUSING FUNDSUTAH’S FAIR housing law has failed to receive federal certificationbecause of a BYU requirement that privately owned apartment buildingsmust be segregated by gender if students live in them. This means Utahcannot receive Federal reimbursement for anti-discrimination housingcases.

A state law in 1989 includes a section requested by BYU which allowshousing to be segregated "for reasons of personal modesty or pnvacy~’The Depam’nent for Housing and Urban Development (HUD) concludesthat the separation of persons by gender is permitted for personalmodesty or privacy i.f limited to dormitories with sleeping rooms thatuse common bathing rooms. Because there are no common bathingrooms in private apartment complexes, HUD sees no infringement ofprivacy or modesty.

"Utah already must abide by the federal law so removing a portionof the state law really won’t change anything,’ said Frances Farley, Utahsenatoc and co-sponsor of the Fair Housing Act. "Changing ours justmeans a person wofft have to go out of state for helpS’ she said. Untilthe Utah law is certified, individuals who feel they’ve faced housingdiscrimination must complain to the HUD regional office in Denver.

PAGE 62 DECEMBER 1990

SUNSTONE OCALENDAR

THE JORDAN SCHOOL DISTRICT is sponsoring "Celebrat-ing Women’s History" on 1-2 March at the Mount Jordan MiddleSchool, 9360 So. 300 E., Sandy, UT 84070-2998. Funded in part bythe Utah Humanities Council, some of the fifteen presentationsinclude: Jessie Embry, "Life Cycles of Utah Women at the Turn ofthe Twentieth Century"; Maureen Beecher, "Everyday Lives: UtahMormon Women"; Carol Madsen, "Nineteenth Century Utah Pro-fessional Women"; and Elizabeth Cunningham, "Changing Role ofWomen in Religion." Admission is free; however, prior refftstration isrequired. Contact: Jean Wollam at the Jordan School District, 9360So. 300 E., Sandy, UT 84070-2998 (801/565-7100).

THE MOUNTAIN WEST CENTER FOR REGIONAL STUD-IES at Utah State University announces the 1990 David Wooley andBeatrice Cannon Evans Biography Award. A prize of $10,000 isawarded for a biography or autobiography on a person playing a rolein "Mormon Country," as defined by Wallace Stegner. Eligibility:publication must have 1990 copyrights; no reeditions or new edi-tions; manuscripts are accepted. Deadline: March 1991. Send sixcopies to MWCRS, USU, Logan, UT 84322-0735 (801/750-3630).

THE NATIONAL HISTORIC COMMUNAL SOCIETIES AS-SOCIATION is having its eighteenth annual National Historic Com-munal Societies Association conference at the 19th century Keilitevillage of Aurora, Oregon on October 10-12, 1991. The theme is"Community as Family: Family as Community." Send brief perso-nal resume and one hundred-word abstract by April i to the programchair, Mr. Patrick Harris, Director, Old Aurora Colony Museum, P.O.Box 202, Aurora, Oregon 97002 (503-678-5754).

THE 1991 NEW TESTAMENT LECTURE SERIES, sponsoredby the Sunstone Foundation and the Student Religious Forum,features a monthly lecture on the second Tuesday of each month. On12 March Ph.D. candidate in Hebrew Margaret Toscano will ad-dress "Is Jesus God in the New Testament?" On 9 April BYU philo-sophy department chair James E. Faulconer will speak on "Paul’sLetters to the Romans."

Lectures will be held in room 101 of the James Fletcher PhysicsBuilding at the University of Utah, $2 donation. To receive a noticeeach month of the upcoming lecture, send your name and $5 toSunstone, 331 Rio Grande Street, Suite 30, Salt Lake City, UT84101-1136 (801/355-5926).

PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY, with funding from the Pew Char-itable Trusts, will host a conference 6-9 June 1991 on "ChristianPrimitivism and Modernization: Coming to Terms with OurAge." The conference will focus on American religious bodies whosehistoric identity is bound up with restorationist or primitivist ideals.Conferees will ask how modernizauon has impacted these traditionsand especially their restorationist ideals. The session on Mormonismwill be on 8 June at 9 A.M and feature Grant Underwood on"Primitivism in Pentecostal Traditions: Historic Strengths andWeaknesses," Thomas Alexander on "Mormon Primitivism andModernization," and James Allen on "Toward A Responsible Fu-ture "

Other sessions include "Primitivism as an Aspect ofFundamentalism" as well as sessions on the Stone-Campbell Move-ment~ the Holiness and Pentecostal Traditions, and the RadicalReformation (Mennonites). Mart~ E. Marty will speak in the closingsession as a respondent to the conference.

Registration is $25 and on and off campus housing is available.

Contact: Lori Glenn, Conference Coordinator, c/o Religion Division,Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA 90263.

THE SUNSTONE SYMPOSIUM XlII will be held earlier thanusual, on 7-10 August at the University Park Hotel. Proposals forpapers or panel discussions are now being accepted. Send to CindyDahle, Sunstone, 331 Rio Grande Street, Suite 30, Salt Lake City, UT84101-1136 (801/355-5926).

SUNSTONE SYMPOSIUM WEST will be held at the OaklandAirport Hilton on 1-2 March. Speakers include Ed Ashment andPaul and Margaret Toscano on the historical origins of the temple;Bonner Ritchie and Kate Kirkham on the individual and theChurch; Todd Compton on the spiritual outcast in the Book ofMormon; and Erin Silva on the ecclesiastical implications of graceand unrighteous dominion. Registration is $25 in advance and $30at the door. Contact: Bonnie Bobet at 415/843-0296. Send registra-tion to: Sunstone West, 158 Paseo del Rio, Moraga, CA 94556.

UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY will hold its 1991 an-nual meeting on 12 July and will focus on the theme of recreationand leisure in Utah. The program committee hopes to have paperson a broad range of categories including, but not limited to, sports,travel and tourism, entertainment, skiing, river running, fishing,boating, hunting, movies and movie-making, living history andhistorical reenactments, and the development of recreational facili-ties. Individuals or groups interested in presenting a paper or sessionat the meeting should send a one-page proposal by 1 March to KentPowelt, Utah State Historical Society, 300 Rio Grande, Salt Lake City,UT 84101.

THE WASHINGTON, D.C., SUNSTONE SYMPOSIUM will beheld on 19-20 April at the American University Campus. Guestscholars include Jan Shipps and Maureen Ursenbach Beecher.Carol Lynn Pearson will perform her one-woman play, "MotherWove the Morning." Proposals for papers and panel discussions arenow being accepted. Contact: Donald Gustavson, 413 ClearviewAvenue, Torrington, CT 06790 (203/496-7090).

M6r.monktlstorv¯ ¯ ASSOCIATION J

was organized in 1965 as a scholarly organization dedicatedto the understanding, research, and publication of Mormon his-tory. Membership is $10 a year and is open to any personinterested in Mormon History. The Mormon History Associationhas no official ties with any church. Members receive:

¯ The Journal of Morrno~ History¯ A quarterly Newsletter¯ Announcements of the annual meeting and

other activities.As a special introductory offer, new MHA members will receive

one free back issue of the Jouma/. Other back issues (Vol 7-16)are available at a reduced rate.

For information, contact Jessie L. Embry, P.O. Box 7010,University Station, Provo, UT 84602.

DECEMBER 1990PAGE 63

seoss

THE STUDENT (MIS)PRINT5

IN A recent letter to the IdahoStatesman. Jim Weiser wrote:"Lest we be concerned that theyounger generation in Idaho is notexposed (now, now) to theclassics, I offer the following from

the newspaper published by thestudents at Ricks College in Rex.-burg: ’Hafen is an enthusiasticreader and claims "Lame is Rob,"by Victor Hugo as her favoritebook.’ "

THE GIFTS OF TONGUESTHE CHURCH is creating reprint editions of the first fifteen foreignlanguages that the Book of Mormon was published in---comprisingall languages it was translated into in the nineteenth century Thecollections will be distributed only to general authorities and otherhigh Church officials. The project is being carried out jointly by thetranslation department, the historical department, and the displaydepartment. One hundred copies of each language first edition willbe printed and hardbound at a prestigious bindeu in Boston.5ources within the publishing community estimate the cost of theproject to be around $100,000. Reportedl> the project arose from arequest by President Benson to have a representative copy of eachlanguage in which the Book of Mormon has been published.

LUTHER GETSCREDIT

A LUTHERAN parish in Wash-ington has received a form letterfrom Che~T Chase credit-cardcompany addressed to the16th-century reformer MartinLuther. The letters says Lutheris "in a unique and distin-guished group" with "excep-tional financial credentials" andan "outstanding credit back-ground." The signer of the let-ter, a Chevy Chase vicepresident, looks forward toLuther’s reply "at your earliestpossible convenience," and pro-mises to "recognize and respectyour expectations" and to "meetand exceed them all." (Ecumeni-cal Press 5~’rvice)

PASTORSUSPENDED FORBAPTIZING CATS

THE GERMAN Lutheran pro-vincial church of Thuringia has;suspended Pastor Matthias Poh--land for baptizing cats at therequest of their mostly elderlyowners. Church officials calledthe cat baptisms "theologically

,,highly suspect.

RESEARCHREQUEST

JOYCE HOGGAN is writing agraduate paper on "Prostitutionand Its Place in the AmericanWest" and would appreciate in-dividuals sharing informationabout any primary sources suchas diaries, newspapers, letters orbibliographies listing secondarysources such as books, journals,essays, manuscripts, disserta-tions. Joyce Hoggan, 4928 Cart-wright Ave., North Hollywood,CA 91601.

PAGE 64

OXYMORMONS

DECEMBER 1990

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