Future of Heavenly Mountain disputed

Watauga Democrat/May 19, 2004
By Jason Reagan

The man who, along with his twin brother, owns most of the land at Heavenly Mountain Resort, has disavowed the spiritual movement that helped establish the retreat.

David Kaplan, who owns the largest privately-owned land tract in Watauga County, publicly repudiated the Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement and its founder, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, in a letter released Tuesday to Heavenly Mountain residents and the public.

In the letter, Kaplan said he and his brother, Earl, investigated Maharishi and the TM movement closely, and subsequently could "no longer support or be associated with Maharishi, his ideas, his knowledge or any of his organizations in any way whatsoever."