European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 16, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Flat agon show a int the i the potted to a Kali fifty eur. Hit commune was disbanded Toon after his departure and a now Tor me fortl$,5 million. For Sale abandoned commune asking Price for Rancho Rajneesha slashed to $28.5 million by Sally Carpenter Hale associated press he signs that Point the Way to Rancho Rajneesha have been stolen but tourists still Lind the place enduring mites of tortuous gravel Road to see the former world Headquarters of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesha the White bearded Rajneesha who Calls himself the Rich Man s Guiu was deported to his native India last november after spending 4vs years presiding Over a commune that was Home to As Many As 4,000 red Clad disciples some 15,000 jammed Rajnes Puram during the sect s annual summer festivals. The commune was disbanded soon after Rajneesha departed. Now Only a maintenance Crew of followers remains the rest have dispersed around the world. Gone Are the Marble signs at the Entrance to the ranch in the rugged desolate mountains of Central Oregon. Souvenir Hunters have chipped away Al a Maible Marker that welcomes visitors. Gone too is the Fleet of More than 90 Rolls Royce automobiles from which the bejewelled guru chose for his daily drive by a ritual in which singing and chanting disciples tossed Lowers on the Hood As Rajneesha slowly drove past. The four Roadside guard stations once staffed by armed disciples who screened visitors stand empty now. At the first a hand drawn sign is posted closed. No hotel no restaurant no Tours no  grat Lili scrawled on he buildings make obscene references to Bhagwan and his followers the hijnwrtm1 Symbol two Birds in a Circle was visible of Miles when it was painted on a Hill above an earthen dam. Now Only the Circle is visible. Weeds sprout in a soccer Field on a Footpath in Flower Beds. Only the county Road is accessible private roads Are blocked by boulders or chains. The Road winds past the deserted Airport and downtown where the shopping mall once bustled with disciples. Now posters of Rajneesha stare irom a window of the closed Bookstore at an empty parking lot. Two Raj Neeshee working on a tractor leave quickly abandoning their tools when a car pulls up. Other members of the maintenance Crew Are working in the farmhouse left Over from the property s first incarnation As the big Muddy ranch. We really Don t want to talk says a disciple Bitting Barefoot at a computer terminal. How Many people remain at the ranch we Don t want to talk about  the properly is for Sale with the original asking Price of to million lowered to $28.5 million. The 64,000-acre ranch includes Orchards a Vineyard a 65-acre vegetable farm two lakes stocked with fish and six Miles of frontage on the John Day River. Residential building according to advertisements include a 140-room hotel. 95 town houses 42 quadruples Cabins 200 a Frame Cabins and 52 double wide Mobile Homes. Also included is the House in which Rajneesha lived billed As one of two luxury housing  thirty nine commercial and Industrial buildings Are listed with Overall space of 470,000 Square feel. The structures include a shopping mall boutiques warehouses and repair garages. The Airport has a 4,500-foot paved runway. Tha Raj Neeshee bought the arid Over grazed property Lor $6 million. They said they pumped More than $100 million into the ranch. An Independent audit set the property s value at $60 million said Joe Dejager vice president of the realty company Cushman & Wakefield of Oregon inc. The land is zoned Lor agricultural use. But Wasco county officials have said they would be willing to discuss other uses with any potential buyer. Up to $5 million of the sate Revenue will go to the state and to victims of crimes committed by Raj Neeshee As part of the settlement of a racketeering lawsuit against sect organizations. If the ranch in t sold it and other Rajneesha assets could end up in bankruptcy proceedings says Oregon attorney general Dave Frohnmayer. Dejager says. We have i feel several interested parties that we be developed. I m pleased Wilh the activity we  some Public official have proposed turning the property into a Park or recreation area. Private groups have looked at the ranch As a possible corporate training Center religious Retreat drug rehabilitation Center or University Dejager said. He says that although Many of the modular houses and double wide trailers have been sold. Rajnes Puram still has about t ,500 bedrooms. Dejager classified the vandalism As minor. Most of the sightseers Are elderly people in campers and motor Homes who Are not the Type to vandalize he , 54, pleaded guilty to two immigration charges and returned to India under an agreement Wilh Federal officials. He since has visited and been evicted from a series of other countries and at last report was Back in India. The pistol packing and acid tongued a Anand Sheela who ran the commune s business affairs As Rajneesha s lop lieutenant is serving a 4-year term in a Federal prison. Sheela 36, pleaded guilty in july to charges that included the attempted murder of flan mesh a physician with a Poison filled syringe. She is to be deported to her native India when she gets out of prison. Sheela also pleaded guilty to poisoning several county officials and to masterminding food poisonings that sickened More than 750 diners Al restaurants in the county seat As part of a plot to gain political control. Of the county. She admitted to creating an electronic eavesdropping system in which telephones and hotel rooms Ware bugged and to Selling fire to the county planning office. A guilty plea to immigration fraud stemmed from charges that she helped arrange More than 400 Sham marriages to allow the guru s foreign disciples to remain in the United slates. Sunday november 16, 1986 the stars and stripes Pas 13