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decided to challenge the individual sureties presented to the court on
March 16th and accepted by Judge Title. In ordering a second receiver to
be put over the Church, Title said that a $1 million money bond would stay
(neutralize) the receivership pending appeal. When the membership in
California unexpectedly came up with more than double the needed bond in
the form of sureties ($2,374,307 worth of sureties were presented to
the court), the Attorney General said his office was "stymied." However,
at the last moment the state-exercised its option to contest the indivi
dual pledges, which now total in excess of $3,800,000.
The Church's attorneys welcome this opportunity to have the member's heard
from in court to verify the value of their signed pledges. In the ensuing
hearings (which could take weeks), many members may be called upon to
show proof of personal wealth pledged on their signed declarations. It
is expected that this forum will give members opportunity to express them
selves about
how
they feel concerning the
actions
of state officials
who
actually said that "church members don't matter"!
(As we go to press we
have learned that hearings on this matter will begin tomorrow, Tuesday
the 3rd.)
--Pastor's Report Staff
TAXPAYER'S LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST THE STATE
A taxpayer's lawsuit has been filed in the state of California contesting
the use of taxpayer's mon�y to persecute the Church of God. In the suit
several California merr�ers are asking the courts to prohibit the Attorney
General from using tax monies to interfere in church affairs contrary to
constitutional mandate which guarantees separation of church and state.
The suit also questions the application of a section of the California
Corporations Code to churches. The Attorney General is trying to say the
Church of God is a "charitable trust" on a par with any secular organiza
tion such as the March of Dimes. The Church is a legal entity in the
state of California organized as a "non-profit corporation." It
is
not
a charitable trust (which solicits money from the public) and has never
been viewed as such in the past. However, as an excuse to exercise
excessive controls over a church, the Attorney General contends that a
church can be examined and regulated to the same extent and in the same
manner as
any
other charitable organization.
--Pastor's Report Staff
SECOND FULL-PAGE AD APPEARS IN L.A. TIMES
On the opposite page is the second full-page advertisement to appear
in one of the Western United States' most prominent and largest cir
culation newspapers. This particular ad was paid for by the E�erqency
Committee for the Defense of Religious Freedom which is composed of
members of God's Church.
PUBLISHING SERVICES UPDATE
Our new typesetting system, that we use to set all five languages of
the PT, is now beginning to pay off. Complete typeset pages are now
coming off our new equipment. This is proving to be a big time saver in
our paste-up and film assembly areas.
Just this week a problem has re-occurred in our PT newsstand distribu
tion system. Some areas are not sticking to the official policy for news
stand distribution. This was referred to in my statement in the Pastor's