Iraq on the Delta

In honor of this shitheap and boat anchor in Bethel Island, CA being on the market for a year and counting, here is another classic article on "The Blue Sky Ranch".

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Iraq in 1992

I'd put a picture of the Blue Sky Ranch in Bethel Island here
but it's pretty much the same thing.

OK, so it's actually called "The Blue Sky Ranch" or "the farm". And it's not really in Iraq, it's in Bethel Island, California.

It is a fine example of a big idea poorly formed, poorly executed, badly planned and based on faulty assumptions and reckless disregard for good sense - just like us in Iraq!

The Blue Sky Ranch was conceived by Bill Duby as a peaceful country estate where animals and crops may be raised and the congregation could assemble for religious retreats or recreation. It would be "the people's farm" were we could come to release the pressures and stress of the city and our daily lives. We could indulge in the calm of the country while releasing the cares of the world.

Well not really, I guess, but that's how the dead bastard presented it to us.

We soon learned the Blue Sky Ranch was anything but the people's place for relaxation. Instead, we worked our collective ass off to prepare the ranch to raise livestock that died, crops that never sprouted and to build structures for pampered animals - Robin Dumolin and Angela Silva.

We actually did construct buildings for animals. Some of them had beds and a shower - for the two-legged variety of animal.

In any event, we worked and worked and worked on that farm. Bill Duby made it clear: Angela Silva wanted no one there unless the people were working or paying.

Sometimes it seemed like we were working and paying at the same time.

Regularly, the envelope was passed around. "Donations" were demanded from the congregation (especially and very forcefully from the ministers) to give money for construction, animal food, animal purchases, animal care, animal transportation, bullets to kill the damn animals when they got sick...

Not even the trash got a free ride. As there was frequently more debris from the various construction projects than could fit in the single household trash can we had available, the guys with trucks were usually pressed into service to haul away garbage. Where that garbage went was of no concern to the leaders. Just as long as it was hauled away somewhere. I saw where some of that garbage went - it didn't go to the landfill. And if you needed at least some reimbursement for gas, disposal fees and whatever other expenses incurred from dumping the leader's trash, you'd be told to pass an envelope of your own (which sometimes came back empty) or usually, you'd just get a foul look and a curt remark like: "that's your problem".

Anyway, we were made to pay and pay big. After we paid our money, we paid with our sweat. We were constantly cajoled, threatened and embarrassed into "contributing" our labor to the Blue Sky Ranch.

After all, it was for the church of the people. The Blue Sky Ranch was the place by the Spiritual Rights Foundation created at Bethel Island, CA for the people of the Spiritual Rights Foundation.

So we thought.

Over time, Bill made more and more crazy modifications to the property. His first foray was to build a 12-foot high fence - much higher than necessary. Not only was the fence that tall vulnerable to the strong winds of the Sacramento River Delta, it was totally illegal. Only shorter fence would be allowed.

So after we spent the money to buy the materials and sweat in the blazing sun to construct it, the county building inspectors arrived and ordered the fence taken down.

Later, out buildings were constructed. Fund raising drives were held to purchase building kits, trees, equipment, farm animals and just about anything else you would find on a farm.

That infamous envelope was passed around and a psychic club waved above our heads ready to crash down on the guy who hesitated to dig deep and give, give, give his hard earned wages to the spiritual farm of the people.

We paid for a lot of things on that farm. Our donations were made in cash, or check mostly. Some took advances on their credit cards or just charged it. But those donations were all made to the Spiritual Rights Foundation - we all thought the "SRF" farm was indeed owned by the Spiritual Rights Foundation.

Nope.

That farm which Bill Duby called "The People's Farm" while screaming at us to work at it, then "The Blue Sky Ranch" when he tried to lure people to visit, is actually a property owned by Robin Dumolin and Angela Silva. I know. I looked it up in the Contra Costa County Recorder's Office. They have the deed recorded there. The previous owner sold it to Robin and Angela, not SRF.

Click to Enlarge

So if that property is owned by two individuals and not the "church", why is it that SRF-ies are giving their time, money and whatever else to build and maintain that property? No one is being paid - at least none of the cult members are. And one cringes when he thinks of the money spent there.

That money was paid out for at least until September of 2010, when no other than Angela Silva and Robin Dumolin transferred the Blue Sky Ranch to the Spiritual Rights Foundation - a non-profit corporation where they serve as President and Vice President, respectively.  While for anyone else, transferring property to a non-profit would be seen as charitable.  For those two, transferring a property they own to a non-profit they control looks a little less than on the up-and-up.  Especially now as the property is up for sale.

That the farm has outlived its usefulness to the Witches of Ellsworth Street is pretty obvious.  Because of their current reversal of fortune, they are pretty much unconcerned about the money spent there (since most of it came from the followers) and are more concerned about getting out of it all they can.

But a lot of money was spent there. There were outbuildings for animals, equipment, supplies constantly being erected on the farm. So many outbuildings were constructed and so many vehicles were parked on the farm property the neighbors thought there were illegal immigrants living there.

The main residence was a mobile home, still on its trailer wheels and all.  Before the purchase, a law requiring buildings to be raised above flood level was passed. The previous owners were able to keep the home flat on the ground as they owned the farm prior to the law.

After he purchased the farm, Bill learned he had to raise his cheap mobile home trailer up on three-story high stilts if he wanted to keep it. The county insisted and insisted and Bill kept putting them off more and more. Bill sent person after person to speak with the county building officials trying to get an exemption. In the end, after years of wrangling, SRF could not keep bamboozling the county officials and finally had to raise the cheap mobile home up above the flood level. Why they didn't just get rid of the mobile home and find alternate ways to stay there was never said.

I imagine that Robin and Angela were not willing to drive in Bill's luxury RV and spend their time in there if there was a perfectly crap mobile home to stay in. If it had to be lifted in the air, then we will just get the followers to pay for it, just like they paid for everything else.

At any rate, the building was raised in the air. There was two stories of empty space between the ground floor (basically, just a concrete slab) and the mobile home on the top floor. Not being one to miss an opportunity, Robin and Angela started thinking and asking themselves what to do with the new space created underneath the now-raised building.

The solution: construct a dormitory, a kitchen and meeting space.

You can debate the wisdom or reasonableness of that concept forever. But the leaders made it clear to their followers: a dormitory in that area was quite illegal.  So SRF members were sworn to secrecy and construction was conducted quietly behind closed doors and tightly closed blinds.

Illegality was never an issue for SRF. They just went ahead and built out the sleeping quarters and kitchen. I know. I installed the floor coverings there.

So, if you were so unfortunate as to be trapped at the Blue Sky Ranch in Bethel Island during a flood you would find yourself housed in a dormitory that would eventually be underwater. I'd wear a life jacket if I were there in winter.

Worse yet, if you were caught in that dormitory in an emergency (like a guy going postal, fire or earthquake) you would find no way to escape. Why? Because in their infinite wisdom, SRF installed the small, narrow windows you would find in a maximum security prison throughout the sleeping quarters of the dormitory. The windows aren't just too small to bring in any real light, they are simply too narrow to climb through in an emergency. You can stick your arm out of them and wave for help, though. In an emergency, the leaders will gladly answer your call by holding out a last will and testament for you to sign (with the hand you are sticking out the window) leaving everything you have to them. Hey, you didn't think they would rescue your ass, did you?

Maybe the tiny widows were intended. After all, the leaders say you would suffer a spiritual death if you leave SRF. Installing windows far to small to use in an emergency would certainly keep you from leaving the holy confines of SRF to escape into the evil world. You should be happy they are keeping you from an untimely worldly death.

Instead, you'll suffer a spiritually enlightening death by drowning, fire, earthquake or at the hands of a madman with a gun because you can't escape the illegal dormitory through the stupidly small windows. And when the building collapses because the shifting, settling concrete slab it sits on finally gives way, you can rest in peace in the dormitory underneath the blessed and holy mobile home that smashed you into a human pancake.

Sounds good to me. Feeling suicidal? How about a trip to the next Blue Sky Ranch retreat? It'll work better than a rope.

The farm was built with a vision - maybe not a clear and well-formed one but a vision nonetheless. Bill wanted to build a spiritual paradise where his flock can live, work, retreat and work, attend life-affirming self-development classes and work, raise livestock and a few crops and work, and celebrate their leader and the Spiritual Rights Foundation while working.

Bill envisioned a community of spiritually aware people thriving and developing the farm - a collection of buildings and other support sheds strategically placed throughout the property with meeting halls and other building for special computer and internet work available.

The only problem: he couldn't do any of that. The land wasn't zoned for it, so all of that was illegal.  Bill famously complained about the law not allowing him to do what he wanted, so he did it anyway.

Besides, the farm was built on swampland. It is right next to the Sacramento River Delta and sits on loose, sandy soil. The main building on the farm is placed on a concrete slab and raised three stories in the air. Unfortunately, that slab is sinking and shifting - exactly what you would expect from an un-stabilized concrete slab poured on swampland.

The neighbors are not happy with it either. What with all the cars and traffic that appeared, the nutty, almost haphazard construction of outbuildings, the groups of too-giddy people congregating and making odd noises in this quiet place, the long-time residents were leery and suspicious of the people and the things that happen there.

At first the farm was a hub of activity with livestock being trucked in from animal auctions and their dead bodies being buried not long after. The death rate among the livestock was said to be about 90%. Trees were planted then pulled up dead. The muddy fields were filled with dirt to dry them but equipment got stuck anyway.

Horses were brought in then quickly sold when they discovered horses need to be fed, watered and exercised every day. Other animals lived at the SRF farm. Just not for long.

And that meeting hall? There is a dormitory in the illegal second floor, but for the most part it is unfinished with an unfinished stairway smack in the middle of it and unpainted, poorly built walls standing around the unfinished floor.

How about the other buildings? Apart from a few sheds still in use - most are empty.

The enthusiasm for the farm waned faster than Congress' interest in health care.

Now, the farm sits mostly idle. There are a few die-hards who remain, but only a very few of the dozen or so remaining at SRF have interest in the farm. The rest go there because they have to.

Whatever the vision of the Blue Sky Ranch was in the beginning, it has turned into a nightmare with unfinished projects, neglected opportunities for productive activities and illegal, unsafe and potentially lethal dormitories and facilities.

Or maybe that vision was a hallucination. That might explain the whole mess.