CHAPTER 6

Wierwille finally decided he had swallowed enough insubordination from his top subordinates. Heefner's name was one of three on the papers of incorporation under which The Way East was organized, and Wierwille called the other two to the farm. He made them see that Heefner had to go, and he drew up new papers of incorporation replacing the name Steve Heefner with the name Victor Paul Wierwille. He did the same with The Way West, replacing Jim Doop's name with his own. In New York, Heefner got wind of these intrigues and was able to soften their impact, though by then he wanted out as much as Wierwille wanted him out.

In California, Doop was holding a Sunday night meeting for 500 people or so in an auditorium. He was backstage with Judy, playing a music tape for the audience before stepping out to teach. "And Howard Allen walked in the room and said I had been replaced," Doop recalled. "I was no longer the president of The Way West, Dr. Wierwille was."

"That was a big coup," said Del Duncan. "I helped design that one. I'm not too proud of it, but I helped design that, the walk-in by Wierwille, right in the middle of a meeting. He wanted to know, 'What's the best way?' and I said, 'Well, what we're going to have here is a coup. ... We're going to walk right in and take over right in the middle of the meeting.' And I planned the whole thing for him, and he carried through with it."

Dr. Wierwille walked into the auditorium with Duncan and another man and went straight to the stage. Somebody later told Doop that he almost expected Del and the other guy to pull Tommy guns out from under their coats.

"V.P. just walked up and said he was the president of The Way West now," said Doop. "He said, 'Rev. Doop and Judy ... have made the decision to do something else.'

"At which point," Doop said, "one of our old friends stood up in the back of the auditorium and hollered, 'Wierwille, you're a fucking liar!' " -- and stalked out of the auditorium, slamming the door.

© Karl Kahler 1999