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Corps Chalet


chockfull
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So I've thought a little about doing a thread on the Corps Chalet. I remember touring it once, and that someone said it is a $1 million plus home. I remember them building an annex onto it so that the Forehead could walk from his office across to some meeting places. I remember them building "Corps-Tel's" and telling us the idea was that Corps could be traveling through and stay there.

Does anyone have pictures of this monstrosity? How many bedrooms is it? Who lives there? What do they use all the extended facilities for?

I mean a $1M house - pretty wild. What types of things go on there?

Inquiring minds want to know.

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Well, the annex is used exclusively for director group meetings. That would = Howard + Donna + the board of dummies, pffft they call themselves the director group, anyways. The corps-tel is guest housing and/or possibly used for housing? I know it sat mostly vacant when I was there. The chalet itself housed a charming female couple, M3l1ss@ Ge0rge and M@rc1@ L0mb@rd1. Respectively, M3l is Rozilla's secretary and Donna's nanny / laundry doer and who knows what else. M@rc1@ is on the presidents cabinet and is Donna's sister. By the way Donna doles out all the housing assignments, which the directors approve. Looks like she takes good care of her nanny and sister, eh?

These two have all the appearances of a lesbian couple. They live together, shop together, eat together, do laundry together, take vacations together, etc. A good friend of mine walked in on them in the ermal owens building where they were snuggling on the couch. When he walked in they scurried away from each other, like two teenagers making out in the parlor.

When I was there there was another family of three living in the chalet with these two lovely ladies. I do not know who was in what bedroom or on what floor. Only that they were all there.

Annex = director group meetings

Corps Tel = probably still guest housing

Chalet = staff housing

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Interesting stuff, OldSkool. I split off a new thread to delve into the les couple stuff and policies. The Corps Annex seems to be where the Bored Dummies Group does all their little "teach with the fingers" stuff and makes decisions on who to burn and who to promote. Nice little out of the way place so as not to attract attention by meeting in their official conference room in the OSC.

Edited by chockfull
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Oh yeah, beautiful place. Not called the Corps Chalet anymore, though, just the Chalet, since it's not used to house visiting WC. It's also used as a guest housing place for VIP guests, such as sometimes for an STS teacher. Both floors have a full kitchen--and very beautiful as well. Both floors have fireplaces too. And the main floor has an office that apparently wasn't good enough for Loy since he had the Annex built, which also has a kitchen--but a small one. And I think Donna and Rosie still have offices in the Annex, as well as Donna's offices in the OSC and at Founders Hall and Rosie's offices in the auditorium and in the OSC. The Chalet also has a 3-car garage plus small parking lots on both sides. Donna lived there for 20 years before she moved to the Founders Hall apartment. Maybe she couldn't afford it anymore after the staff had to start paying rent at "fair market value" for their housing.

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Highlights from other threads:

On my interim year, 7th Corps, I remember working very, very hard side by side with several of my Corps brothers on the newest addition to our ministry called the "Way Corps Chalet". A lot of my sweat is in the plumbing and electrical portions. It was beautiful, everything hand made and custom fitted in great detail. These pictures do not do it justice.

But we did not mind .... after all....it was going to be the Corps Chalet, a place where we were promised by Dr. W. and others in leadership positions that we could come and stay anytime we were passing through the area and just wanted to hang out and fellowship with other Corps from around the country.

We would always be welcome ..... it was to be our own special place of spiritual refuge and solace as leaders in the ministry. Therefore we did not mind working hard and contributing even more financially to support this project.

Funny..... this log mansion became "The Presidents Home" after it was completed along with its own tight security. Have you been allowed to stay in "Your Corps Chalet" or has it been set aside for a privileged couple, one of whom reportedly still lives there in all its luxury?

This is not right and those still in and those on staff should be outraged. Will some ever get the courage and boldness to speak up about what is right and wrong? I think it is a good time in our in the history of country to do so.

John Richeson

Kicked out unjustly in 2000 by Rev's PG & BM

Tampa, FL

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John,

Yeah......this Corps Chalet was built with a large balcony for corps to gather and fellowship. On the west side, four corps-tels [motel rooms] were built for corps who were visiting twi's hq and needed overnight accommodations.

The corps had a vested interest in this project..... and so did the faithful believers who sponsored corps!!! Interim corps who worked on this project received $75 a month (?????) for those 180-250 hours/month.

Lying and stealing.....twi changed its tune after completion.

The Reahard home in the way woods met the same fate ONCE the reahards were sent on the field.

Same tactics, different day.

Fresh

I've only been in there twice... a special "tour" they set up each year for us HQ-in-rez-types. They told us VP had the place built for he and Dorothea to move into in their elder years but that once it was built, they really didn't want to leave the home they'd known for so long and had Craig and Donna move into it.

They did say that the original intent (with Vic living there) was to have the corps freely visit. But of course, since Craig and Donna had young kids, all that space was needed and they just couldn't have people "parading" through their HOME, now could they?? that this particular aspect of the place had changed.

No mention was ever made of the original focus being visiting corps. The implication was that it always was intended to be the home of the president. Were you corps who put your heart, and time and money into the thing ever told it was supposed to be a home for Vic and Dottie?

TheHighWay,

Throughout the construction phase, vpw continued to refer to it as The Corps Chalet.

Upon completion in 1978, vpw wanted Corps Night to be initiated from this location....... in honor of The Corps Chalet for the corps.

Shortly thereafter, vpw and mrs. moved into the corps chalet and r & b adams assisted them. Vpw didn't like this change of home and lifestyle .... and they soon moved back into the "presiden't home." Since lcm was corps director .... he took oversight of it.

Quickly, The Corps Chalet became the martindale residence...... the kids and dog and all. The true intent of this place quickly faded from view.

Faded into the sunset of time.

Fresh

Yes - it's true. Thank you for reminding me of our wages that year, Fresh Air. One third of our Corps, over a hundred, were sent to Headquarters on our interim year for an extreme work year. In addition to working on the log mansion, and helping build the OSC building, we had to prepare the grounds for the first ever Rock of Ages in 1978. Under those grounds lies a hidden network of wiring, plumbing, and sewage. The beautiful items above ground are just the tip of the iceberg. Therin lies the blood, sweat and tears of low, low, low paid workers as follows:

50 hours a week minimun (Many worked longer hours, up to 70 and even 80). This did not include the time we spent after hours doing things like setup, ushering, and serving at holiday banquets at the Mansion in Sidney.

$75. a month

$17.31 per week

35 cents per hour

Our living conditions? I was in the old Trailer 7 with 10 others as I recall. It would have rented on the open market at that time for maybe $300 a month.

It was difficult when us low paid worker types were told to go out and greet VPW and LCM when they flew into new Knoxville to their private hangar on their private, luxurious Ambassador One jet. We reluctantly cheered, applauded, rolled out the red carpet for them..... then went back to work.

Cathy - have a great day at work today. I am sure your boss is a fair employer.

John Richeson

Tampa Bay FL

<IMG SRC="http://www.bayareawindow.com/johnr/GreaseSpot/AmbassadorOne1984.jpg">

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Ever notice how constantly changing their word was never a problem for them?

I remember after being in the Corps, sponsership continued to come for our full 3 years with the intent that we would have the cash upon graduation to get started in the field. All of a sudden, late 70's, BOT comes out with edict that they are not going to give the money to graduating Corps, coupled with much ranting by Martindale that Way Corps shouldn't be sucking off mamma internationals tit(one of his favorite sayings) But it always bewildered me how they could do that after taking all those sponsors money, knowing that they expected their Corps person to receive $3600, or a years worth of sponsorship upon graduating. All of a sudden the cash evaporated, and no one said a thing.

Does anyone recalll what I'm talking about here?

On the subject, I designed my own log home to build after graduation, but could never afford one as expensive as the Corps Chalet, since TWI always used the best of everything, which is much easier when you have slave labor. But it's offensive that Martindale is even a part of the ministry he has ran into the ground with his ego maniacal BS. Why wasn't he marked and avoided while acting as TWI pope and ex cummunicating everyone who didn't kiss his butt?

By the way, if I was going to suck off a t#$, I'd make sure it at least gave milk.

I remember when it was called the Way Corps chalet. But mostly thought only WayTels in the back were for Corps. I thought that had something to do with the Way (heard they were very hot and uncomfortable to be in...no air conditioning or anything for those steamy, hot humid Summer months (if I'm wrong, someone say so).

Highway was right. All I knew was that the in-residence Corps got to spend a night there.

That's infuriating to think that once the building was up, it was decided it was only good enough for leadership...not the ones who built it. Whatever happened to the laborer being worthy of his hire or not muzzling the ox that threads out the corn?

And the pay...funny if it wasn't so horrid! Even more devastating was that TWI was racking in millions back in those days of 100,000+ (-) believers. Even with 3,000, they make millions a year. $75 doesn't cover not one lick of need.

A true testament to what TWI truly felt the believers were worth. All the hype of working next to top leaders, etc. was the only payoff they gave, because you would truly think that millions and millions were required to move the Word every year (with hardly any overhead for on the field projects).

It is incredible that we believed in this lie for so long!

I went to HQ from Emporia the first block of my first year in residence in the 12th Corps (Sept 1981) to help clean up the Chalet because it hadn't been lived in and was covered with black mold. We were told it was due to our (the Corps) unbelief that the structure had begun to decay. This was one of the reasons (we were told) that LCM would be allowed to move in so it would be spiritually taken care of. (I just remember the trip came at a great time for me -- I was fed up with the hooha at Emporia and needed a break. There was one staff person M*** G****** that worked with audio tapes that took us all out for pizza one night. He felt sorry for us after we had worked a 12 hour day and had only a dinner salad for our dinner.)

I also spent my interim year (Aug 82-Aug 83) at HQ and during that year the interim Corps allowance was increased from $50 to $75.

So in actuality your figures for slave labor for building the place is way too high.

The main point of how absurd the whole affair is shouldn't be overlooked!

MTGal...

I know I shouldn't be shocked anymore by the crap I hear about twi but you got me this time!!!

They actually told you it was the corps' fault for the building getting moldy???????? And that Craig's spirituality was going to keep the chalet in good shape????? Oh my GAWWWWD!!!!!

At least by the time I got in-rez Craig was telling some form of the truth... they had all misjudged the huge effect the difference in climate would make on both the logs and the finish. The stuff that made for a nice, solid sealant in Colorado turned to goo and practically invited the bugs in as it sat in the Ohio humidity.

By the time I graduated they had cleaned and refinished that stupid thing at least three times. (nothing like proper stewardship of the believers' money!!)

I mentioned this stuff on Waydale but I think maybe this will be new to some.

The Chalet has been in need of constant maintenance ever since it was built and left out in the weather for a couple of years without a roof. The logs are from Colorado and don't appreciate the gawdawful humidity in Ohio.

I reroofed the Chalet in 1988 and at that time several logs needed to be replaced due to rot (not an easy task). I was told that this was the third major rebuild of a building that at that time was only about ten years old.

The corner of the Corpstel previously had rotted clear to the foundation which required tearing out the entire corner of the building and "weaving" new logs into place (again, NOT an easy task). The railings are an almost perrenial replacement item. The entire deck is hopelessly warped and uneven (I think due to the building being left exposed to the elements) and has been subject to repeated repairs for rot and leaks.

Even the "Corps Chalet" entryway logs are in their second or third incarnation. While I was working on the building the logs (which again were severely rotted) simply fell over in the driveway.

So yeah, it may be beautiful, but it's an abysmal money-pit of a building.

geo.

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Hope,

IIRC the replacement logs were from a "maintenance stock" of logs kept in one of the TWI barns. Seems they knew the building would have such problems (or quickly learned) and put up a good stock of similar logs to keep for future repairs.

The actual guys who worked on the logs were people who had worked for Grand Lake but were currently in res. corps and assigned to Way Builders temporarily.

I think the overhangs of the purlin logs (those running parallel to the length of the roof that support the rafter logs) were also cut back to limit the amount of exposure of unprotected log to the weather. Then copious amounts of all sorts of wood filler and sealer/stain were applied.

I haven't heard a word about the Chalet since I left staff (in '89), but I would imagine the maintenance regimen has only increased since then.

It really was a misguided notion from the git-go.

Re: clay tiles and humidity.

I spend a good portion of my time as a roof inspector and consultant so I know a little of where I speak, but I can't imagine mildew being a major design criterion with regards to clay tile.

If the tile is unglazed I could see where it may get a black, dirty look from mildew, but if my experience is anywhere near the norm, the vast majority of people would never notice (or care if they did) what- if anything - is on their roof, so long as it keeps the rain out. And if the tile is heavily glazed the mildew problem would disappear entirely.

You need only look to Japan for confirmation of that. Here's a country every bit as hot and humid as anywhere in the deep south and yet the hands down favorite material for roofing is glazed ceramic tile (often in a "barrel" shape no less, though somewhat smaller than traditional "mission" tile commonly used in the U.S.). Many of these roofs are centuries old with no trace of mildew evident.

The real problem I would worry about with traditional "mission" tile roofs in the South would be wind uplift. What with the possibility of hurricanes and tropical storms and the like the probability of severe damage to the roof due to storm winds would be my first concern. And while I would certainly mention the likelihood of mildew growth on unglazed tile roofs, I would be far more concerned with the seviceability of such a material first. Cosmetics always take a back seat to function.

geo.

The four rooms at the back of the chalet were called the "Corpstel". I guess it was supposed to be for the use of "corps" who were traveling through or somesuch, but I never knew of anyone who actually used it.

I've told this story before, but maybe it's worth repeating.

The chalet is built of Colorado logs - trees that grew and were aclimated to an arid environment, consequently being located in humid Ohio (and due in no small part to Mr. Wierwille's decision to leave the chalet unfinished out in the weather - without a roof - for a year or so) the logs are constantly rotting away.

There was a major rebuild on the corpstel section where an entire corner had to be replaced (no small feat with a real log building). Then there were numerous repairs to replace a log or two, or trim the exposed ends, or inject epoxy and slather on gallons of "Sikkens" wood preservative. In '88 the entire top of the building was torn off, many logs replaced, and an entirely new roof system was installed (the original shake roof having been done improperly).

I guess there's been yet again many major remodels performed on it to the tune of who-knows-how-many thousands of dollars.

When I last saw the place I was stunned to see how horribly out of level the decks were surrounding it. I was told this was due to the time the building sat out in the open and the logs got soaked and bent and twisted any way they wanted, and the "Waybuilders" were never quite able to cover up the damage.

Anyway, my take on the situation is that it's a bad concept from the gitgo. A wrong type of structure for Ohio to begin with, and given to a bugwit that didn't deserve damned thing, yet was given the "keys to the kingdom" by the all-knowing MOGFODAT.

A real joke all the way around...

Nicely symbolic, too.

Stolen,

Made of rotting materials

Off-balance

Continually being propped-up

I was at Rome City when VP came through with a slide show of the cabin they were planning to build in the Way Woods.

Wierwille specifically said the cabin was for Way Corps who were traveling through the area, and that when he and Dotsie retired, they would live in the lower level, while the upper level and loft would be for traveling Corps and assorted Corps get-togethers.

Imagine my surprise when the next year they flew a bunch of us Corps from Illinois in to "see the Chalet" and I discovered that not the Way Corps, but Craig and Donna had moved in.

We were allowed to "sleep over" on the floor upstairs, but all the bedrooms were reserved for the Martindale family.

Years later, my husband and I stayed in one of the four little motel type rooms off the back of the main cabin, several times. And it was in fact nice. But the majority of Way Corps have never, EVER gotten to stay in that huge cabin that was built with our money, for our purposes, and then given to someone else.

Same old TWI concept of bait and switch.

JT,

VPW and his wife spent EXACTLY one night in the Corps Chalet and he HATED it. He didn't like the "loft" aspect among other things.

LCM and Donna were living in one of the small units on grounds <I think> trailer 4,5, or 6 and VPW decided that was not grand enough for the corps director/president elect of twi.

ROR

I "had the privilage" of sleeping in the Corps chalet once during my interim year in Il. we had some kind of advance or something at HQ and where invited to sleep on the floor in the loft. I remember when king Craig came in we had to be quiet, couldn't use the bathroom because it was for the LCM family, yet we endured with full bladders and sore backs becasue we had the privilage of sleeping in such a beautiful and spiritual place - what a crock that was.

I never "had the privilage" though of working on the chalet. some of my other Corps brothers and sisters did though - cheap and good labor. I just wasn't "good Enough".

My last year in residence, VP called us all into the chapel and gave us a slide show of the building of this Corps Chalet. He told us that it was being built FOR THE WAY CORPS, and that he and Dotsie would live in the bottom floor after retirement, while the rest of the Chalet was FOR THE WAY CORPS. Specifically, it was for Corps travelling through the area who needed to overnight, or for Corps meetings, get togethers, etc. Specifically for WAY CORPS USE.

The next year, Ambassador One flew a bunch of us from Illinois out for a weekend at the CORPS CHALET. Imagine my surprise, when I found that not only did VP and Dotsie NOT live in the bottom floor. That was occupied by houselhold help for the Martindales, who were living in the upstairs rooms.

I was totally confused as to why it suddenly turned into the "President's Home." I did later hear the explanation that VP had changed his mind and not wanted to live in the thing. Fine, then keep it open for just THE WAY CORPS as originally intended. Instead, he handed it over to the Martindales. BunchaBullshirt.

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If it really requires all that much maintenance (still), best thing to do would be to tear it down and leave it to the critters. Sell any particularly good fitting (the gold-plated taps, LOL!), not that the s/hand value would be great. That's better stewardship than throwing good money after bad.

But they won't, will they?

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Twinky, that would imply that a mistake had been made... That TWI is not infallible.

We can't have that, can we? It would tear a hole on the fabric of the universe if twi admitted they weren't perfect!

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I was in that corps group that spent the night there when it was done. We got the usual, it was for us and whatever else they said. I always felt it was a shame it was never used for the corps like they told us.

I have to wonder now, looking back, if the whole - its for the corps routine - was a lie, they knew it was going to be for VP, but because of IRS regs or something, they came up with a cover story - that it was for the corps.

I think now, that it was never intended to be for the corps.

Edited by Sunesis
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strange, the Southeast had log cabin builders(Eastern TN/Western NC/KY/VA/WV). what was so special about Colorado evergreen logs?

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I think it had to do with what part of the country the logs were grown in.

Just like some plants can only live in some areas, the same with logs. If they had used logs native to a hot, humid area, the Chalet probably would have been ok.

But I was told, transporting colorado logs from that climate - which is cool and dry, to Ohio climate, was not a smart thing to do.

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strange, the Southeast had log cabin builders(Eastern TN/Western NC/KY/VA/WV). what was so special about Colorado evergreen logs?

Probably had more to do with Ed H0bbs being a way international supporter than anything else. Who know what type of price breaks VeePee got from him.

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I was in that corps group that spent the night there when it was done. We got the usual, it was for us and whatever else they said. I always felt it was a shame it was never used for the corps like they told us.

I have to wonder now, looking back, if the whole - its for the corps routine - was a lie, they knew it was going to be for VP, but because of IRS regs or something, they came up with a cover story - that it was for the corps.

I think now, that it was never intended to be for the corps.

This sounds very plausible. I would bet my bottom dollar that it's something along these lines.

Here is a modern day example of this sort of spin.

Staff pay and housing. Several years ago the way international had to have the housing reappraised to determine "fair market value" for their area of the country. At the 2006/2007 staff and way corps meeting the staff were told the board of dummies were giving them a raise and of course did a dramatic pause so the staff could applaud their generosity. Then RosaLIE, literally in the next breath, announced rent was increasing. Kind of stupid of her because a lot of the staff were extremely p1$$ed!

Here's the intriguing part:

source: http://www.aflcio.org/issues/jobseconomy/livingwages/americaneedsaraise_ohio.cfm

On Nov. 7, 2006, voters in Ohio raised the state minimum wage to $6.85, and approved indexing the wage to inflation.

This was the same time frame the raise was announced. See how they make themselves sound generous when they were simply giving a raise to stay up with minimum wage and inflation adjustments for those few above minimum wage?

Oh, but the spin was - "the board of dummies have decided to give the staff a a raise." and they waited for applause... <_<

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I remember a few times while on Staff that many people were recruited from several departments to help do a thorough cleaning of the Chalet while LCM and his family lived there. It was a huge job because the logs had to be cleaned. It was also considered a privilege to get chosen to help. :rolleyes:

I'm so glad I have a REAL life now. Good God! Slave labor isn't fun!

That information about M*rc1a L and M3l1$$a G don't surprise me. I worked with ML in Printing Services. She was always very nice, but she seemed jaded to anything which didn't seem to line up with the ministry thought. It's almost like she didn't want to make DM look bad. I thought it odd she wasn't looking to get married. Maybe the answer has been revealed.

More power to them. Too bad they can't live authentic lives. It must suck to live a lie.

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I remember a few times while on Staff that many people were recruited from several departments to help do a thorough cleaning of the Chalet while LCM and his family lived there. It was a huge job because the logs had to be cleaned. It was also considered a privilege to get chosen to help. :rolleyes:

I had the "privilege" of helping to spring-clean the Chalet--only one or two days after we listened to LCM's taped confession / lawsuit announcement: Yes, he had been boinking a married woman, but it was a "mutually consensual" relationship. I was still in disbelief. I kept thinking "Did he really say he was f***ing another man's woman??" And nobody would talk about it that day of spring-cleaning, either. Everyone was there, headed up by Donna herself (just to give her speech, not to clean, mind you), with their denial-of-reality plastic smiles, in their alter-reality mental state of "everything is good." I had the "privilege" of cleaning Princess Leah's suite--yes, each of the kids's rooms had their own bathroom also. I couldn't help but think about those kids all day long -- I was so hurt and deceived, but they had to be even more hurt and deceived than me.

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Staff pay and housing. Several years ago the way international had to have the housing reappraised to determine "fair market value" for their area of the country. At the 2006/2007 staff and way corps meeting the staff were told the board of dummies were giving them a raise and of course did a dramatic pause so the staff could applaud their generosity. Then RosaLIE, literally in the next breath, announced rent was increasing. Kind of stupid of her because a lot of the staff were extremely p1$$ed!

With this kind of crap going on, you would think some of the staff would smarten up and get out of that place!!

Murmuring and complaining was not new to TWI Staff. It's pretty crazy when you think about people who stay in a crappy situation. It's almost as bad as the victim refusing to leave the abuser.

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