Montana Sect Tries To Mend Its Image -- Church Universal And Triumphant Courting Local Folks After Fuel Spill

LIVINGSTON, Mont. - From dinner theater to ``Donahue,'' a Montana-based religious sect is working to mend an image tattered by a fuel spill at its underground fallout shelter near Yellowstone National Park.

Four months ago 31,000 gallons of diesel and gasoline leaked from tanks buried near the Church Universal and Triumphant's giant shelter complex. A barrage of criticism and news coverage followed.

Since then, church members have staged weekly dinner-theater productions at a church-owned restaurant, and church leaders invited locals to a Fourth of July hoedown with an outdoor barbecue and square dance.

Church leader Elizabeth Clare Prophet and several members also pleaded their case on the ``Donahue'' television talk show.

``It's been the best forum for us to talk to the nation about what we really think,'' church spokesman Murray Steinman says. ``People were just astonished when they saw us, to see that we were happy, competent, normal people.''

Some local officials still view the church with a wary eye, citing its sometimes secretive nature and pre-emptive style of development.

``They've kind of done a 360-degree turnaround . . . trying to be nice,'' says Park County Commissioner Carlo Cieri, a frequent critic. ``At this point, I don't think they're sincere about anything. They'll have to prove it to me. I hope they do.''

Earlier this year, state officials accused the church of concealing plans to build its fallout shelter and reopened an environmental review of church developments in southern Park County. Church officials said they had no obligation to reveal the plans.

Cieri says the church's long-range impact on this county of rolling prairie and 11,000-foot-high mountain peaks is anyone's guess. He estimates that 3,000 people associated with the church have moved into the remote area, straining public-service budgets and forcing residents to re-examine their frontier antipathy toward government regulation.

``This county used to be, `Just leave 'em alone, let 'em do what they want,' '' Cieri says. But the church has ``built a whole town above ground and below ground without any permits, with no public planning whatsoever.''

The church - a mixture of Christianity, New Age philosophy and right-wing politics - came here in 1981, when it bought a 12,500-acre ranch owned by the late publishing magnate Malcolm Forbes.

It since has purchased an additional 18,000 acres and moved its international headquarters from California to Corwin Springs, a tiny community a few miles north of the northern boundary of Yellowstone Park.

Over the years, church members slowly moved into the area. But a large influx occurred this year when Prophet said a 12-year cycle of ``bad karma'' was beginning April 23, presaging a possible global catastrophe.

Members built private underground shelters or stocked completed ones at two church-sponsored housing developments near Emigrant, while church engineers worked to complete the large complex in a cloistered meadow 2 1/2 miles north of Yellowstone Park.

The fuel leaks discovered the second week of April halted most work. Prophet promised a thorough cleanup.

Meanwhile, the Church Universal and Triumphant began to show a less insular aspect to its neighbors.

In June, church members opened the ``Paradise Players Revue.'' Three nights a week, revue players sing Broadway tunes at the Ranch Kitchen, a church-owned restaurant at Corwin Springs. Tourists and locals can even buy a combination show-dinner ticket.

``It's really top-quality entertainment,'' says Steinman. ``A lot of people have told us it's the best show in Montana.''

Regardless of its image, the church faces an uncertain future. State officials say cleanup of the fuel spill - paid for by the church - will continue for months and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

John Arrigo of the state Water Quality Bureau says that as of mid-July, only 6,000 gallons of the spilled fuel has been recovered. Additional fuel has evaporated and some was contained in 6,600 cubic yards of contaminated soil that is being treated in a nearby field.

A state lawsuit halted construction at the 750-person fallout shelter, and Park County officials placed a moratorium on sewage permits for most underground shelters at the Emigrant housing developments.

Two Billings lawyers hired by the state are pondering the next legal move to enforce the cleanup.

Steinman says the church is willing to negotiate with the state over the cleanup and future environmental concessions.

As for their current life without bomb shelters, Steinman says church members aren't overly concerned: ``I think everyone here recognizes that our faith in God is first and foremost, and I think everything will work out. . . . We believe he will see us through to the end.''