AN OPEN LETTER

1977

Susan Alamo made statements to the press and on TV on numerous occasions that the parents are welcome at all times to visit with their children. We’ll admit there are a few “select” parents who are permitted to visit their children (select because they do not question) once in a while, and there are those parents who pretend to understand and hide their true feeling in order to maintain a simple communication with their children. Ask those “select” parents how long his child has been a member and when, if ever, was the last time he or she was allowed to visit them or anybody else in the family. How do they justify this? Even a prisoner eventually gets probation. On Friday, July 8, 1977, several parents who had not seen their children or heard from them for several years decided to call the Alamo bluff. We went down to the restaurant in an orderly manner and in good faith. From past experiences and knowing that there is little or no credibility in Alamo statements, we informed the press as to what we intended to do. They said they would like to be there. We came without bodyguards (can the Alamo’s make a like statement?)—Just families, some with their young children. Does it make sense we would bring youngsters and subject them to violence? However, the Alamos had their stage set (Alamo is their name and show biz is their game). The Alamo robots were ready and waiting, their elite force. We arrived one at a time: a mother by herself, a family with their young daughters. All were refused entry, were mimicked and jeered at and insulted by these “good Christians”. And there standing by, witnessing all this and giving orders to “Get Them!” was their “Good Pastor, Tony Alamo.” We stood there and watched while some of the male members physically abused, hit and pushed a father and mother of one of the members of the Foundation, while their young ten-year old ran in fright toward the other onlookers. Can anyone honestly say that acts of violence against any parents or people is a “Christian Act”? Is it too much for a parent to ask for a visit with his child on neutral grounds, away from the control and patrol of his leaders?
Is this the freedoms the Alamos keep preaching about? Part of the Alamo indoctrination is “Sever all ties with your parents and families. They are your worst enemies. They will harm you, institutionalize you.” They are no longer to be considered your parents. They are only your flesh parents. Those who do not believe as you do are of Satan. This fear has given the Alamos the total control over our children’s lives. This is totally substantiated by ex-members. The Alamos cannot afford to lose even one member since this is their slave labor force. If they start to lose members their empire falls and they have waited too many years to obtain the power and wealth they now enjoy. Susan Alamo is not fighting to defend the “rights” of our children, as she tries to lead you all to believe. She’s fighting for her own preservation. She has finally made it and she is not about to give it up without a fight. While she’s deceiving our children and the public, she is laughing all the way to the bank. The fear and guilt Susan Alamo has imposed upon our young adults is so great that the lies and accusations they spout (usually when you’ve heard one testimony you have heard them all) have become the truth to them. Our children are victims, and parents who love their children realize this and can only forgive them and are only asking for a chance to enlighten them.. It is sad for parents to see the radical changes in their children’s personality and behavior, not only towards them, but also to their brothers and sisters, grandparents and others they once loved. For those of you who have talked adversely against the parents, we can understand this reaction. Unless those of you, who doubt, have been personally confronted with a similar situation involving your own children, it is difficult to believe that such a situation could exist between young adults and their parents. However, does it seem logical that parents would subject themselves to ridicule from the Alamos as well as their own children, exhaust their funds, and impair their health if they did not feel justified and did not in fact love their children? We fully realize they are grown adults and have a right to choose whatever religion and lifestyle they desire.
We do not question religion. We do however question their freedom to be able to think and make a rational decision. The Alamos use the First Amendment, Freedom of Religion. On what other grounds can they fight? They would further like you to believe that upsetting their apple-cart will destroy all religions. Another ploy used by them. How does she answer to the Thirteenth Amendment, “Involuntary Servitude”? She laughs that one off or changes the subject. Contrary to what the Alamos would like you all to believe, we are all good Americans, we believe in one’s constitutional rights and uphold the First Amendment. If in fact the Alamos were practicing “True Christian Doctrine”, would they tell their members to disown their parents, sever all relationships with the outside world, that they are the only true religion, and that only they will be saved? Is not one of the Ten Commandments “Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother”, or does it say “Mock, Harass and Intimidate Thy Father and Mother”, which is exactly what Tony and Susan Alamo led their followers to do on Friday evening, July 8, 1977, when they came in cars and vans, led by Tony & Susan Alamo and their Attorney, Sam Sexton, and paraded with signs mocking and Jeering in front of our windows at the motel where the parents were staying. Do you know any Pastors who would become a party to such a disrespectful display? If the people of Arkansas would like to become more aware of the inner workings of the Alamos, we urge you to read “Youth, Brainwashing and Extremist Cults” by Ronald Enroth. Mr. Enroth has done some extensive research into cult groups and in this book is a chapter on the Alamos.

Concerned Parents,

Mrs. H. Wizol
Mrs. Grace Gonzalez
Mrs. Selma Seps

Los Angeles, California

Flushing, New York July 31, 1977

To Whom It May Concern:

I am the mother of a young man, who has been in a religious cult (The Tony and Susan Alamo Foundation) for nearly eight years, and whom I have been prevented from seeing during all this time.

Being Jewish, my son, Bob, had Hebrew religious training and was bar-mitzvahed at thirteen years of age.

At the age of eighteen he joined the Alamo Foundation in Los Angeles, California, in February, 1969, after involvement in New York with drugs like “pot” and LSD. He obtained the drugs when he was a high school senior, and then as a freshman at Stony Brook State College on Long Island, in the fall of 1968. He had intended taking a leave from college for only one semester, but he has never returned.

Before going on drugs and joining the cult he was an excellent student, a musical talent, and a compassionate human being. Since joining the Alamo Foundation, however, he has been taught to hate everyone in his past, especially his immediate family.

During his first year in California he wouldn’t telephone me collect, urging me to convert to his kind of religion. He was very fearful that the world was coming to an end so why should he go back to school or strive for anything? He kept quoting the scriptures as though he were a religious machine, where one would merely push a button to hear all sorts of irrelevant and irrational talk. He also told me he worked very hard on Sunset Strip, witnessing for the organization, writing music for them, and leading a very austere life. This so alarmed me that I telephoned Susan Alamo herself, and asked her to please release my son, since I was & single, working parent and had a younger daughter who needed care and guidance. My children and I had always been a close-knit, loving family. Mrs. Alamo replied, “He’s mine now and he will never return to you.”

At the beginning, Bob would write very long, rambling letters that were completely irrational.

Soon after, the letters stopped, and Bob called less and less frequently. When I asked to see him, he replied that a meeting would have to take place on the Foundation grounds, so I could view the “good” life he was leading. This I refused to do, but offered to meet with him on neutral ground, which he refused. (I did not know at the time that he was not permitted to leave the Foundation, except with another cult member or two, and under the strictest supervision.) Several of my relatives and friends in California visited Bob over the years, reporting to me that he seemed to be brainwashed and completely alienated and unreasonable.

By this time the cult had moved to Saugus, California, and the phone calls stopped altogether. This necessitated my calling the cult person to person for about two or three weeks periodically, and harassing the other cult members until they relayed the message for Bob to call me.

In the meantime, Bob and the other young people in the cult were working very hard for the Alamos for no pay, while the Alamos were piling in thousands of dollars for their own personal use.

About three years ago, when Ted Patrick and others were successful in rehabilitating some cult members who were “captured” by them, Bob asked me over the phone if I intended to kidnap him. I replied that after all he was an adult, doing what he believed in so what right did I have to force him out of there? All this time I believed that my son was there of his own free will, but now I know he has been brainwashed all these years, and has turned into a robot that is constantly programmed to do the Alamos’ bidding, for their own personal gain.

Most of the cult members, including Bob, moved to Arkansas and Tennessee about three years ago, and Rob stopped phoning me collect, so that he could keep his whereabouts secret. On the very rare occasions that he called he would never tell me where he was, and he was uncommunicative. It was not until I read the New York Post article of July 1st and the Newsday article of July 2nd of this year that I learned of the change of the cult’s location.

After reading about the June action in court by other parents, I wanted desperately to see my son. Since the Foundation is not listed with the Telephone Company, I called the police department of Fort Smith, Arkansas, telling them about the immense difficulty I had in locating him, since the cult would not give me any information about him. A police captain there told me the cult operated out of restaurant in Alma, fifteen miles away and that I was to call him back if the cult was uncooperative. When I called the restaurant on July 3rd, the man who answered denied knowing my son, and further denied the existence even of the Foundation. I replied that in that case I would ask the police to help me locate him.

Within ten minutes Bob called me, full of venom and rage. He had never spoken to me this way before. He became very abusive because he was certain that I was trying to hurt the Foundation and nothing I said could abate his anger. When I told him that I only wanted to see him he replied that if I came to Arkansas he would have me destroyed, and that I was never to write or speak to him again. After speaking to other parents, I am convinced that Bob was programmed to say these terrible things.

Since all contact with Bob has been temporarily halted, and I know that he has been brainwashed, I am now free to publicize the terror and abuse that exists at the Foundation, so that it can be exposed for the money-making, unchristian, maniacal cult that it is. The cult breaks the Ten Commandments repeatedly, especially the one “Honor thy father and thy mother.” Hopefully, other parents will be alerted to the location of their children and the evil things being done to them.

There is a special trust fund set up for needy parents who cannot afford legal fees and traveling expenses. It is called: “Save Our Children Trust Account,” First National Bank, Sixth and Garrison, Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Please help us by publicizing what is going on at the Alamo Foundation.

Sincerely,

Ida K