Flyer warns Rainier about new neighbor

JZ Knight files civil suit against woman

Nisqually Valley News/September 8, 2006
By Cindy Teixeira

A flyer mailed to Rainier residents recently warned them about a new neighbor. The subject wasn’t a sex offender, but the mailing made the target sound every bit as heinous.

Signed only by "Dr. B. and family," the flyer alleges acts of manipulation and brainwashing. It also compares Susan "Whitewind" Weaver to cult leader the Rev. Jim Jones, who led 912 followers to their deaths in Jonestown.

"I wanted to educate the community about what we think (Weaver) is," explained Dr. B., a dentist in Lafayette, California. "I (wanted) to warn the community of the potential risks associated with this person."

"Our family was not given the benefit of a warning and lost our son," he said. "Our son is the sweetest, smartest, nicest young man you’ll come across. He’s a great young man."

Dr. B. says that Weaver brainwashed and manipulated his son RB, 29, to the point that they have become estranged.

It’s a claim that Dr. B.’s son vehemently denies.

Weaver doesn’t deny some assertions on the flyer.

For instance, it states she calls herself a "shaman," "seer" and "channeler."

Because of her Native American heritage, and having grown up in the south and on the East Coast, who said, that she calls herself a "patchwork shaman."

She said she experiences things, has an additional awareness sometimes, and is not a channeler in the in the "Ramtha" sense of the word.

Certain things, theories, thoughts or sculptures she’s produced, she said, seem to have been channeled from elsewhere, but there’s no single entity that reveals itself using her body.

Regarding [RB], she said, he’s a friend of the family and is definitely not brainwashed.

RB holds a master’s degree in psychology and works in the mental health field in Olympia. He changed his last name to ******** in an attempt to escape what he claims is his father’s obsessive compulsive attention.

RB said he was a troubled child who lived with a dysfunctional family. He said he admitted himself to drug and alcohol treatment at age 16 without much support from his parents.

He later became a counselor to other teens. RB said he met Weaver at age 19, when he was a psychology student at the University of Oregon. He attended a "circle" hosted by her, called "The Universal Body Shield."

His father denies the family had any problems and said his was a close family strong ethical values. He said he taught his three sons about their Jewish heritage and history, but is not particularly religious.

At the time he met Weaver, RB said he was looking to enhance his studies and find ways to help people other than what he was learning at school.

"I was bored," he said, "and wanted to work with people" to support them in alternative ways. "It was right up my alley. Professionally, it was nice to meet someone with the confidence and tools to help me."

Dr. B. said his son called asking for $3,500 to pay for a spiritual training class. When he refused to send the money, Dr. B. claims Weaver became verbally abusive to him on the phone and told RB to get the money from friends and relatives.

"She was angry for not getting the money from us," Dr. B. said. "We had no idea it was a cult. We didn’t understand that whole thing. "It was then we knew he was in trouble."

Using tools and information learned from Weaver RB said he increased his grade point average. He said what he learned also opened him up to the possibility of a better relationship with his family.

During his senior year of college, RB said he finally made the dean’s list. His parents, however, tried to him to quit college to get him away from Weaver.

At about that time Dr. B. began putting up posters critical of Weaver and her company at the time, "Friend’s Landing," located in Eugene, Oregon.

The posters were similar to FBI wanted posters, Weaver said.

Weaver said Dr. B. picketed her home as her teenagers were leaving for school.

RB said his father also contacted television stations and newspapers to "harass" Whitewind.

Growing up, RB said he always thought his father was "off," and knew he was the reason friends never stuck around too long.

Though fearful that Dr. B. might be dangerous, RB said, "Whitewind and her family stuck by me."

What Dr. B. did to Weaver and her family in Oregon is the same things he’s trying to do in Rainier, RB claims – discredit and harass her by distributing inflammatory flyers.

"I was just trying to expose her so people know about her past," said Dr. B.. "Anyone interested in her business needs to know about her past. Parents need to know what her background is."

On the flyers, Dr. B. cites several aliases, including names Weaver said she took in different marriages. It also refers to the bankruptcy of "Friends Landing," and says she reneged on more than $1 million in debts to attorneys, accountants, as well as close friends and relatives.

Weaver explained the first bankruptcy was caused by her now ex-husband and the IRS exonerated her of all debt.

The recent bankruptcy she said, came about because her business was sabotaged and the building destroyed. Money she owed friends, for helping start Friends Landing, plus debts incurred from a mysterious illness she contracted, forced her to declare her own bankruptcy.

She is still recuperating, she said and "is on disability."

RB said his parents pressured each of his employers, and claims their actions have cost him dearly in his professional life.

"I always have to explain my situation to my employers," he said.

RB said he met with his parents and a variety of therapists to try and mend his family, but claims his father is obsessed with Weaver and won’t work on family problems without drawing her into it.

On one occasion, RB said he returned to California to meet with his parents and someone who he believed to be a therapist.

RB said he was essentially abducted and became the target of a brutal attempt by self-proclaimed cult expert Rick Ross to deprogram him.

Ross, RB said, charged his parents thousands of dollars to deprogram him.

"It was a voluntary intervention," countered Dr. B., who admitted deceiving his son to get him to California.

"Rick tried his best to talk to him."

RB said his family took his car and kept him in the house for three days, fed him different food than the rest of the family, and showed him horrible videos. He claims Ross told him thugs would beat him up if he went back to the "group."

"I think we were able to help RB to get through some analysis about what had happened to him," Dr. B. said. "When he left the house and he called and told Whitewind (that) he thought she was misleading him…she manipulated him and he went back to the group. It was a devastating period of time."

RB married and moved away from Weaver accepting a job in mental health. He said he wanted to protect Weaver from any more harassment.

"I thought if I separated myself from Whitewind, my father would leave her alone."

Dr. B., however, said RB married a woman from the group who was just as manipulated as his son.

RB eventually took his parents to court in Oregon for "stalking."

After a trying deposition period in which Ross was an expert witness, a settlement was reached and Dr. B. is not allowed to contact his son if RB feels the contact is unwanted.

Tucked away in the woods of Rainier, Weaver currently lives in an apartment with her daughter Nikki, 25.

She first came to Yelm last year so she and Nikki could attend an event at the Ramtha School of Enlightenment. She said she was interested in getting to know other people with differing perspectives.

Still recovering from a lengthy illness which struck her in Oregon, she decided to move to Rainier. In August, she helped launch a new business, "The Art of Life Coaching."

Soon after, she became a defendant in a lawsuit filed by J.Z. Knight’s corporation. The suit alleges Weaver stole from Ramtha teachings to conduct her workshop.

Weaver said she doesn’t understand what the similarities are, and claims that, when she first attended Knight’s Ramtha School of Enlightenment, she turned over copies of her own work, hoping to informally meet with Knight to discuss it.

"Maybe those people are so wrapped up in the (RSE teachings) they don’t realize other people are also doing similar work in the world," she said.

Attorneys for JZK, Inc., could not be reached for comment.