
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, September 28, 1993                   TAG: 9309280066
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WARM SPRINGS                                LENGTH: Medium

BATH COUNTY COMMUNE'S LAND TO BE SOLD

The tangible remains of the Temple of Light Universalist Church - now alleged by some former members to have been a cult - are scheduled to go on the auction block Saturday.

More than 90 acres are to be sold at the order of Bath County Circuit Judge Duncan M. Byrd.

What some former church members are hoping for is compensation for what they have alleged were years of abuse and degradation at the hands of former church leaders Cyle and Eursula Van Alstine.

In April, former church members filed suit against the Van Alstines charging that they were manipulated by cult-like tactics into giving up their free will. The suits alleged the Van Alstines coerced the former church members into turning over most of their money to the cult and forced them into "degrading" group sexual acts.

The Van Alstines disappeared shortly after the suits - which sought millions of dollars in actual and punitive damages - were filed. Neither has appeared in court or been represented by a lawyer in any of the proceedings against them.

A hand-written letter delivered from Cyle Van Alstine to the Bath County clerk of Circuit Court shortly after the suits were filed asked the court to dissolve the trust that had held the church property and auction off the land. Byrd accepted the letter as authentic.

In the letter, Van Alstine denied the allegations against him and questioned the integrity of those suing him.

Earlier this month, Byrd ordered the Van Alstines to pay Michael J. Smith, a former church member, $250,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. It is now up to Smith to collect the civil judgment.

Smith and several other former church members - as well as three women who remained loyal to their former church leaders - don't know what if anything they will receive from Saturday's sale or a July sale of the Van Alstines' personal property.

That sale brought in $27,389, but almost $11,000 went to pay delinquent mortgage payments and the expenses of the auction. The proceeds included, according the court documents, $5.45 in change found in the Van Alstine's house and 10 silver dollars valued at $20.

Though the judge ordered the auction of the property to proceed Saturday, there has been no decision on how the proceeds are to be divided.

The sale will be held on the property in the Millboro Springs area.

by CNB