Fall Fourth Quarter Journal 1989 October-December

 

OCTOBER

2 October 1989 Third District Court fine $125

10 October $250   125 and 5 days of community service  

DECEMBER

1 December 1989 Friday

My oldest nephew James Edgar Clark was born 21 years ago this very night. I was seventeen years old, working at the Home Silk Shop on Harbor Blvd and Chapman Avenue in Garden Grove as a stock boy. I had not yet fallen in love with John Cunningham but I knew I was Gay or at least queer. I couldn’t have loved James  anymore if I had him myself. Indeed at times I was a more attentive mother. 

So glad it’s Friday and got paid today. I had an extra $56 in my check for career ladder day. That was a pleasant surprise so I made $950 this month. I put $150 into Valley Bank in savings. I have $925 in there now. It’s my little nest egg and the first time I’ve ever had any real savings.

I went to the Post Office to retrieve my mail. I had a letter from Mark Lamar which really made me smile. He’s gone and started a church. It’s great and I love it.

This partially deaf guy, Wayne Thompson came over this evening and bored the living shit out of me but I tried to be sweet and supportive.

 In the news President Bush is over in Malta to meet with Russian President Gorbachev. It’s pathetic that we don’t have some real leadership during this historic time. Where are our leaders?

Today is National AIDS Day

 

2 December 1989 Saturday-

Today was interesting. I straightened up the apartment in the morning then took a bus up to Smiths in the Avenues where I ran into Kevin McCloskey.  I went back with him to his house to visit for a while and we made plans to go home to California together for Christmas. His folks live in Riverside.

We discussed the Sacred Faeries and other metaphysical concepts.

After taking me home, I paid rent $380 and made out some bills. I only owe about $400 to Levitz Furniture. I sent them $75. Later in the afternoon I walked downtown and stopped in at a “tea-room” in the Eagle Gate Plaza. There was a hunky young fellow there and we got it on. That brought color to my cheeks.

On the way over to Radio City, to check to see if the Triangle was out, I ran into Jon Merrill on his bike. It made me want to get mine fixed. We talked a little about the nature of public sex and the raw power there.

Anyway I breezed through Radio City and on the way out this tall cute guy, with bad teeth, winked at me. I didn’t know about the bad teeth until later but it was fun being winked at.

I spent the rest of the evening home watching TV. I went to bed fairly early about ten thirty.

The hazy smoggy weather is choking me. I’ve never been this affected by the smog before in Salt Lake City Yuck!

 

3 December 1989 Sunday

I really didn’t do anything today. I feel like my body is trying to fight off something, so I’m just taking it easy. Late in the afternoon, I had a lot of company dropping by and phone calls all about the same time.

Steve Oldroyd came over to pick up the Color of Love Book  and he stayed to visit. Rod Shepard then came over and I handed over all my Beyond Stonewall information to him. I just took a deep breath and handed my records over to him. It was sort of like sending a child out on his own and placing him in the care of others. Oh Well. I think it will be fine. I still would like Beyond Stonewall to be a fundraiser for the Community Center.

Anyhow, Mark Lamar called about his new church and how he set me up as an ordained minister in his Gay ministry. It made me laugh. Good old Mark. I think his church concept is important. I can’t put my finger right on it but there’s a thought or vision behind this. Mark may have put it together and completed the paper work but if it’s to be meaningful he will have to put forth some major effort..

Dave Sharpton called and invited me to a party this Saturday. He may be leaving Salt Lake City too, for Washington DC.

I stayed home tonight and copied a colorized version of the Gable and McDonald’s San Francisco movie. "San Francisco Open Your Golden Gates"

 

4 December 1989 Monday

Back to school and I’m so drained. I must be fighting off something. In fact I was so tired; I went to bed at eight thirty. I’ve written out about twenty Xmas cards with more to send out. I’m sorry I don’t have more to write about today but I am pooped and going to bed.

Additional Material

·         JURY CHOSEN IN MURDER TRIAL  Millard County officials, following nearly two weeks of jury selection, hoped to begin calling witnesses Monday in the trial of Michael Anthony Archuleta. Jury selection began Nov. 21, a year to the day after the murder of Gordon Ray Church, 28. Church's body, wrapped in chains, was found in a shallow grave near Cove Fort a day after the murder. Archuleta, 26, is one of two men charged with the beating death of Church. A second defendant, Lance Conway Wood, 20, also faces a capital homicide charge. He will stand trial Feb. 20. Fourth District Judge George E. Ballif conducted jury-selection proceedings behind closed doors - something several potential jurors, as well as prosecution and defense attorneys, had requested.

 

5 December 1989 Tuesday

School is hectic! I had to sit on my class today because they were so hyper. I had them make paper poinsettias in art. I also bought five one pound boxes of See’s Candies for all my nephews and niece in California that was part of a school PTA fundraiser. I paid $28 for all of them and such a good deal.

After school I went to the Utah Idaho School supplies and bought an activity book for December to try and keep the kids busy, busy. I also bought a calendar for the Gay and Lesbian Community Council of Utah.

Bobbie Smith called me and said he’s been in touch with the leaders of the Lesbian and Gay Student Union and they want to do an activity with Unconditional Support.

Jim Hunsaker took me down to the Crossroads Urban Center for Unconditional Support where the discussion was on Holiday Depression. I’ve out grown Unconditional Support so much. What to do next?

I made a list of Gay and Lesbian Community Officers beginning in December 1986 

1987-1988: John Sassaman moderator Dec 1986 to August 1987, John Bennett Chair Sept 1987 to March 1988, Lyle Bradley Vice Chair Sept 1987 to January 1988, Jim Hunsaker Secretary Sept 1987-March 1988 

1988-1989 John Bennett Chair Jan 1988 to March 1988, Satu Servigna Vice Chair January 1988 to March 1988, Jim Hunsaker Secretary Jan 1988 to March 1988; Chair April 1988 to January 1989, John Reeves Vice Chair March 1988 to August 1988, Reina Horton Vice Chair Sept 1988 to January 1989 Bruce Barton Secretary March 1988 to January 1989, 

1989-1990 Neil Hoyt Chair Feb 1989 to December 1989, Chuck Whyte Vice Chair Feb 1989 to December 1989, Ben Williams Secretary Feb 1989 to December 1989

Additional Material

·         ARCHULETA'S TRIAL BEGINS  Michael Anthony Archuleta and another man murdered a Southern Utah State College student in a "cruel and atrocious" manner, prosecutors told a 12-member jury Monday during the first day of Archuleta's capital murder trial. Prosecutors Warren Peterson and Carvel Harward said evidence will show that Archuleta, 26, and co-defendant Lance Conway Wood, 20, who faces trial on the same charge Feb. 20, were with Gordon Ray Church, 28, the night of the slaying and that they drove the victim's car later that night and early the next morning. Though admitting Archuleta was present during the homicide, defense attorney Michael Esplin indicated he will place blame upon Wood. Esplin reminded the jury that the state must prove that Archuleta committed murder, not that he was simply at the murder scene. Peterson said Church was kidnapped, terrorized, tortured and sexually assaulted before being beaten to death in the early morning hours of Nov. 22, 1988.

 

6 December 1989 Wednesday

It was really ugly today. It was kind of rainy and nasty out today.

Mrs. Day was out today and Mr. Unger was pissing me off with his cavalier take charge attitude not caring what I might want to do with the fifth graders. I really don’t like him. He’s a fucking passive aggressive Mormon.

I taught the kids about Hanukah today. I’m still feeling blah! Trying to fight off a bug I think. Kids are dropping left and right at school with the flu.

 Allan Peterson of all people sent me my first Christmas Card. Gawd.  This means now I am going to have to forgive him.

Mike Pipkin called me today. I’m probably crazy but I said he could stay here for a while and if he wants to pay me $100 he can stay through January. I guess he will.

Talking to Steve Oldroyd last Sunday when he dropped over to borrow The Color of Love, he said he saw Billy Bikowski at the Deerhunter.

I’m sending Terry Johnson a Christmas Card.

Jim Hunsaker is so in love with this Stuart Character, the poor sap. The guy is not ready for what Jim could give him. It’s funny I’m surrounded by people such as Jim Hunsaker and Mike Pipkin who have become my close friends through attrition since the ones who really loved me are gone.

I am pooped and so will go to bed. Darkness all around. Mother Goddess please bring the light of thy son back to nurture my life.

What a silly faggot I am to still  love sweet William after all these years. “They’re writing songs of love but not for me”

Additional Material

·         PROSECUTORS HOPE TO PROCEED IN ARCHULETA TRIAL  Following a day of legal deadlock, prosecutors said they hoped to resume calling witnesses Wednesday in the capital-homicide trial of Michael Anthony Archuleta. Archuleta, 26, is one of two men charged in the Nov. 22, 1988, torture slaying of 28-year-old Gordon Ray Church, whose badly beaten body was found a day after the murder off an I-15 exit near Kanosh. A second defendant, Lance Conway Wood, 20, will be tried Feb. 20. Testimony had been expected to continue for the second day Tuesday, but 4th District Judge George E. Ballif began the day by dismissing jurors until 1:30 p.m. After jurors reassembled, Ballif said he still had not resolved a legal question and dismissed jurors again until Wednesday morning. Attorneys in the case refused to comment on the nature of the legal question, but the issue likely deals with an objection raised Monday by defense attorney Michael Esplin. Witness Anna Marie Luce testified Monday that she saw Archuleta and Wood in Cedar City riding with Church in his car the night he was murdered. When questioned by Millard County Attorney Warren Peterson about how Archuleta was dressed, Luce testified that the defendant had a long, narrow knife in a black case strapped to his side.  Following Luce's statement about the knife, Esplin approached Ballif with an objection, after which the judge and attorneys held a 15-minute, closed-door discussion in Ballif's chambers.

·         Defense: Attorney will cast blame for SUSC student's death on co-defendant. PROSECUTORS IN ARCHULETA TRIAL LIKELY TO FOCUS ON SLAYING SITE Prosecutors in the trial of Michael Anthony Archuleta were expected Tuesday to present evidence and testimony about an area just off I-15 near Kanosh where they believe the defendant brutally murdered a Southern Utah State College student. Defense attorney Michael Esplin, during opening statements Monday in 4th District Court, admitted Archuleta was present when Gordon Ray Church, 28, was murdered early Nov. 22, 1988. According to his brief opening remarks, Esplin's defense strategy will apparently be to cast blame for the slaying upon co-defendant Lance Conway Wood, who also faces a capital-homicide charge in Church's death. Wood, 20, will face trial Feb. 20 before 4th District Judge Boyd L. Park. Archuleta, 26, is being tried before Judge George E. Ballif. If convicted, the defendants could receive the death penalty. "You're going to have to consider Lance Conway Wood's part in this case," Esplin told the jury of seven men and five women. He said evidence will have to show that Archuleta committed murder, not just that he was present at the murder scene. In his opening remarks, Millard County Attorney Warren Peterson said evidence will show that the defendant and Wood committed the "cruel and atrocious murder of Gordon Church" after they had kidnapped, terrorized, tortured and sexually abused and assaulted the victim. Wood led Millard County Sheriff's Office officials to Church's badly beaten and tortured body a day after the murder. The body - gagged, wrapped in tire chains and nude from the waste down - was buried in a shallow grave south of Dog Valley near an I-15 frontage road. Peterson and co-prosecutor Carvel Harward had little trouble Monday placing Archuleta and Wood with the victim the night of the murder and proving that they were driving the victim's car later that night and early the next morning.  Angela Robins and Anna Luce testified that they were dragging Main Street in Cedar City when they saw Archuleta and Wood riding with the victim in his 1978 white Ford Thunderbird about 10:15 p.m. Nov. 21. The witnesses said Archuleta and Wood tried to "pick them up" and that Archuleta introduced Church after the men followed Robins and Luce to a parking lot where they stopped to talk. About a half hour later, Robins and Luce testified, they saw Archuleta standing on a Main Street sidewalk and that Church's car had pulled into a nearby convenience store. Peggy Johnson, an employee at the Summit Truck Stop 10 miles north of Cedar City, testified that Archuleta bought gas for a white Ford Thunderbird sometime after 11 p.m. Nov. 21. She said she didn't notice whether Archuleta was driving alone, and she had trouble remembering what he was wearing. Robert Moffitt, who owns Bob's Conoco in northwest Spanish Fork, testified that Archuleta and Wood bought gas from his station at about 5:45 a.m. Nov. 22. Moffitt said he remembered Archuleta because he at first mistook the defendant for somebody else. Moffitt testified that Wood and Archuleta looked like they had "worked all night," that they were dirty and their clothes wrinkled and soiled. (Deseret News)

 

7 December 1989 Thursday-

I should  not write when I am so furious but I will.  Tonight was elections for Gay and Lesbian Community Council of Utah and Chuck Whyte was not elected Chair  Robert Austin was elected. While I have nothing against Robert and I think he'll do a good job, I am really furious with Rocky O’Donovan and upset with Liza Smart for not voting for Chuck. 

I made two major appeals for Chuck's election, based on his experience and even more so because he has earned it. The least I felt I could expect from Rocky was loyalty to me if not to Chuck.

Rocky is cut off and is not among the people I love anymore and Liza I am going to let go too. They are not in my family anymore. As far as I am concern, after all I've done for Rocky, with helping him start the Gay Historical Society, getting him recognized in the Gay community, promoting him at Beyond Stonewall and ending my relationship with the Quakers because of my sense of loyalty to him.

Robert Smith was about the only one at the council I could truly trust. 

As I said to Bruce Harmon, who did vote for Chuck, "Doesn't loyalty mean anything anymore?" and he replied "It's not 'in' this year." What do we have now in this community?  Individuals all with self serving interests? Aren't we a family anymore?

 Dale Sorenson said to me I voted for Robert just because I knew him more than Chuck even though I value your opinion. And I replied “Yes but evidently not enough.” Even if some in the council didn't know Chuck that well, they knew me. And that is what I cannot forgive.

Chuck was elected to be Vice Chair because the council cynically knew that he would do the grunt work.  Robert Smith, who I also nominated, was elected Secretary. 

I  got a motion passed that smoking is prohibited in the main meeting during our business hours. I tried to get a plaque motion going to honor past officers but Neal Hoyt the asshole said it was a Stonewall Center issue while Donald Steward the pig said “Let them pay for it.”

Additional Material

·         ARCHULETA'S CLOTHES WERE BLOODSTAINED ON MORNING AFTER SLAYING, WITNESSES SAY By Michael Morris, Staff Writer Testimony was to continue Thursday in the capital-homicide trial of Michael Anthony Archuleta, who was wearing blood-splattered pants the morning after the late-night murder of Gordon Ray Church, witnesses testified Wednesday. Christie Worsfold testified that Archuleta and Lance Conway Wood, who will be tried Feb. 20, smelled of sweat, alcohol and blood when they showed up at her West Valley City apartment the morning of Nov. 22, 1988. She said Archuleta's pants were blood-stained and that as the men entered her apartment, her cat and dog "almost attacked his (Archuleta's) legs. They (Archuleta's pants) were rolled up, and they had a lot of blood on them." Archuleta, 26, and Wood, 20, are charged in the torture slaying of Church, 28. A day after the murder, Wood led law officers to the victim's badly beaten body, which was covered with dirt and tree boughs near I-15 in an area south of Fillmore known as Dog Valley. Worsfold and Winston Jones, who manages Mountain View Condominiums in Murray, testified that the defendants said they had been rabbit hunting and hitchhiked to the Salt Lake area after their car broke down. Shortly after the men arrived, Worsfold said, she drove them to Jones' condominium complex, where Archuleta's brother lived. "He (Archuleta) kept saying he wanted to get out of his bloody clothing," Jones said. "It seemed urgent to him to get out of his clothes." Debra Wilson, a cashier at Deseret Industries at 4490 S. Main, testified that Archuleta bought a pair of pants around 9:30 that morning. She, Worsfold and Jones testified that the defendant carried a portable radio-stereo that witnesses said earlier came from the trunk of Church's 1978 white Ford Thunderbird. Amos Archuleta, the defendant's father, testified that his son and Wood came to his Salem home about 1 p.m. Nov. 22. Amos Archuleta said the defendant left a wristwatch at the home, which witnesses identified on Monday as belonging to the victim. Witnesses said the defendants hitchhiked back to Cedar City, after which Tony Siech, a neighbor to Archuleta and Wood, said he and Wood went to a convenience store at 11:30 p.m., where Wood called his parole officer, John Graff. Following a conversation with Wood, Graff said, he took Wood to the Iron County Utah State Correctional facility, and he and other officers arrested Archuleta about 3 a.m. Nov. 23. Millard County deputy sheriffs testified that later that morning Wood took investigators to Church's body. Deputy Robert Dekker, who said he knew the victim, didn't recognize Church's face because of injuries to the victim's head. He said Church was naked from the waste down and had been gagged, and tire chains were wrapped around his neck. Deputy James Masner testified that he found several bone fragments in a bloodstained area near where the body had been concealed.

 

8 December 1989 Friday

I had a disturbed peace this morning from the restless sleep I got last night. I am still reeling from the slap to Chuck Whyte’s dedication to the council.  I dreamed that I told the council off.  It’s a sad day when loyalty is replaced with politicking and self interest.  We now have a squeaky clean, all American boy image for the council again and a Gay Professional activist for the first time since he collects a pay check from the Utah AIDS Foundation. I think the era of Gay volunteerism is closing and the era of Gay professionalism is beginning. 

Well I finally caught the cold that is going around. It’s probably why I am so bitchy. After lunch I started sneezing and my nose was runny so here it is.

I stayed home this evening. I stuffed myself silly with cornbread and pinto beans and Vitamin C pills. I wanted to see ERA Feminist Sonia Johnson, who is in town but just didn’t have the energy to go out into the cold.

Luci Malin left a message on the phone answering machine saying that Sonia Johnson has received death threats, with someone calling saying they will blow up the Mormon Queer. I wish I was feeling strong enough to be there and support Luci but I am tired. Worn out.

Additional Material

·         MORE TESTIMONY IN ARCHULETA TRIAL STATE EXPECTS TO REST CAPITAL-HOMICIDE CASE SOMETIME NEXT WEEK  By Michael Morris, Staff Writer Michael Anthony Archuleta's former live-in girlfriend was expected to take the witness stand Friday, following a day of testimony centering on evidence found where investigators believe Gordon Ray Church was murdered. The state expects to rest its capital-homicide case against Archuleta sometime next week. The defendant is one of two men charged in the Nov. 22, 1988, torture slaying of Church, whose body was found a day later north of Cove Fort in an area known as Dog Valley. On Thursday, Millard County Sheriff's Deputy James Masner testified that he found several bone fragments and hair samples within a large bloodstained area on a dirt frontage road about half a mile from I-15. Church's half-nude body was found nearby covered with dirt and tree limbs. Masner said the defendant's fingerprints were found on a small lamp in the trunk of the victim's car and that fingerprints of co-defendant Lance Conway Wood were located near the car's trunk area. In addition, hair was found on a bumper jack that had been in the car's trunk. No discernible fingerprints, however, were found on the jack. Testimony from Masner and other investigators seemed to indicate that the victim was beaten to death on the roadway, after which his body was hidden. Witnesses testified earlier this week that Archuleta, 26, and Wood, 21, were seen driving the victim's F Ford Thunderbird in Utah County the morning after the murder.  West Valley City patrolman Thomas McLachlan said police found the victim's abandoned car Nov. 23 at 1950 W. 3800 South. "I observed on the rear bumper . . . what appeared to me to be blood splatter," he said. McLachlan and other officers testified that they found hair samples on the car's rear bumper and that blood was discovered on the car. Detective Richard Judd of the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Department testified that investigators found Archuleta's bloodstained pants in a drainage ditch in Murray on Nov. 23. He said the pants were found four blocks from a thrift store where a witness Wednesday testified Archuleta had bought a new pair. Near an I-15 on-ramp in Draper, Capt. Robert Dekker of the Millard County Sheriff's Department testified, investigators found papers, a telephone calling card and pieces of a photograph belonging to the victim.

·         EX-GIRLFRIEND TO TAKE STAND AT ARCHULETA TRIAL By Michael Morris, Staff Writer Michael Anthony Archuleta's former live-in girlfriend was expected to take the witness stand Friday, following a day of testimony centering on evidence found where investigators believe Gordon Ray Church was murdered. The state expects to rest its capital-homicide case against Archuleta sometime next week. The defendant is one of two men charged in the Nov. 22, 1988, torture slaying of Church, whose body was found a day later north of Cove Fort in an area known as Dog Valley. On Thursday, Millard County Sheriff's Deputy James Masner testified that he found several bone fragments and hair samples within a large bloodstained area on a dirt frontage road about half a mile from I-15. Church's half-nude body was found nearby covered with dirt and tree limbs. Masner said the defendant's fingerprints were found on a small lamp in the trunk of the victim's car and that fingerprints of co-defendant Lance Conway Wood were located near the car's trunk area. In addition, hair was found on a bumper jack that had been in the car's trunk. No discernible fingerprints, however, were found on the jack. Testimony from Masner and other investigators seemed to indicate that the victim was beaten to death on the roadway, after which his body was hidden. Witnesses testified earlier this week that Archuleta, 26, and Wood, 21, were seen driving the victim's white Ford Thunderbird in Utah County the morning after the murder.  West Valley City patrolman Thomas McLachlan said police found the victim's abandoned car Nov. 23 at 1950 W. 3800 South. "I observed on the rear bumper . . . what appeared to me to be blood splatter," he said.  McLachlan and other officers testified that they found hair samples on the car's rear bumper and that blood was discovered on the car. Detective Richard Judd of the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Department testified that investigators found Archuleta's bloodstained pants in a drainage ditch in Murray on Nov. 23. He said the pants were found four blocks from a thrift store where a witness Wednesday testified Archuleta had bought a new pair. Near an I-15 on-ramp in Draper, Capt. Robert Dekker of the Millard County Sheriff's Department testified, investigators found papers, a telephone calling card and pieces of a photograph belonging to the victim.

 

9 December 1989 Saturday

I certainly do have a cold. I don’t have a runny nose or anything. I am just worn down. I would have liked to have gone to hear Sonia Johnson last night but it was quite impossible.

 I took the bus to 8^th and 9^th to get some groceries at Smith because I was all out. I bought a coffee maker today- a twelve cupper.

Mike Pipkin moved in with me today. It is probably a mistake but I don’t care right now. He needed help.

Mike Pipkin went with me  to David Sharpton’s “People With AIDS Coalition” Christmas Party. Lots of people there but just a few that I knew.  But I had a lot of fun talking with the women about social issues with being a Gay man. I think Mike enjoyed his self too.

I’ve been missing Terry Johnson a lot today and I almost broke down and called him but I didn’t. He has my number too.

Additional Material

·         STATE LAB SAYS DRIED HUMAN BLOOD WAS ALL OVER ARCHULETA'S CLOTHES  By Michael Morris, Staff Writer Dried human blood was found all over Michael Anthony Archuleta's clothes the day after Gordon Ray Church was murdered, state criminologists testified Friday in the defendant's capital-homicide trial. Investigators were unable to type dried blood samples taken from Archuleta's boots and leather jacket, but bloodstains found on the defendant's shirt and pants were determined to be consistent with that of the victim, said Pilar Shortsleeve, a serologist with the state crime lab. Testimony Friday indicated that Church was beaten to death with a tire jack taken from his white Ford Thunderbird. Investigators found what they believe to be the victim's blood on the jack's leg, ratchet and tire iron. Archuleta, 27, is one of two men charged in the Nov. 22, 1988, torture slaying of Church, whose body was found a day later north of Cove Fort in an area known as Dog Valley. Co-defendant Lance Conway Wood will be tried for the murder Feb. 20. Testimony in Archuleta's trial will resume Monday before 4th District Judge George E. Ballif. Shortsleeve and former crime lab criminologist Martha Kerr said human blood consistent with Church's blood type was found  on Wood's pants and on Archuleta's pants. Investigators found Archuleta's pants stashed in a Murray drainage ditch Nov. 23, 1988. Kerr testified that more evidence of blood was found on Archuleta's pants than on Wood's pants, even though Archuleta's pants had been submerged for a day in the drainage ditch. Tests revealed bloodstains on the back and all over the front of Archuleta's pants. Human blood also was found on Archuleta's boots and on Wood's shoes and shirt. The victim's wristwatch, which witnesses earlier testified had been left in Salem by Archuleta following the murder, also had human blood on it. Kerr testified that blood and hair consistent with the victim's type were found on the jack. She said human blood and hair alsowere found on the jack's ratchet, primarily in an area that had been bent in. Blood was found on the tire iron as well. Kerr and Shortsleeve identified as human the blood-covered bone fragments found within a large blood-stained area on a dirt frontage road about half a mile from I-15. Church's body, nude from the waist down, was found nearby covered with dirt and tree limbs. Witnesses also testified that they found human blood on a cord and on battery jumper-cable clamps recovered at the murder scene. Criminologist Robert Brinkman of the state crime lab said human hair wrapped around the shoestrings of Wood's shoes matched Church's hair. "It's possible they (the hairs) belong to someone else, but they appear to be Church's," he said.

 

10 December 1989 Sunday

It was supposed to have stormed and snowed this weekend but it’s been chilly and clear instead.

I stayed home almost all day nursing my cold except going out in the afternoon to walk over to the Post Office. Nothing exciting there. Just a bill from Sears. I got an Christmas card from Allan Peterson. That was strange. I suppose he is trying to build some of the bridges he burned last summer. I’m willing to let bygones be bygones but not with Rocky O’Donovan. He betrayed a trust and does not deserve my loyalty anymore.

I walked over to talk to Bobbie Smith while I was out but he had a “friend” over so he couldn’t visit. Mike Pipkin had a date with a guy named Brandon Burt in the afternoon so I was home alone most of the evening. I didn’t want to do a show with Jim Rieger so I just said I was sick. Which I am.

I wrote out some Christmas cards today. I am sending Fran $50. She probably can use it. 

What are my thoughts? I don’t know. I’m kind of letting time swirl around me without anything really special going on in my life. I really can’t think about much more to write about. Funny I don’t seem to care about much of anything or anyone right now. There’s no music in my soul, no joy in my feet and no happiness in my heart; with all that I have “I am contented least”.

The Gordon Church- Michael Archuletta murder trial is in the news and I’ve been trying to follow that in the paper.

Communism is coming apart at the seams in Eastern Europe and events are happening much too fast to be absorbed properly. What is going on? God’s inscrutable will is poured out upon the people of Europe this holiday season.

Additional Material

·         Unsolved mysteries: Law enforcers have been frustrated by 73 homicides and 8 disappearances in Utah since 1980. A fear is that killers may still be walking free. - Editor's note: Because there is no central agency for unsolved cases in Utah, the Deseret News contacted law enforcement officials from each county for these articles. GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER Marty James Shook, a 22-year-old hitchhiker, was killed execution-style seven years ago. A fisherman found Shook's nude body beside U.S. 40 in Daniels Canyon. He had been shot in the back of the head and was sexually mutilated - an ugly crime with absolutely no leads. Until last month. Wasatch County Sheriff's Detective Stevan Ridge was notified that the homicide was positively linked to a similar killing in Pennsylvania in 1981. The new information was the first major break in the Shook case and has detectives looking for the path of a serial killer who may also be responsible for similar deaths in Wyoming, Connecticut and Georgia.  Ridge was lucky. Most homicides that aren't cleared within a few months remain inactive indefinitely. And until Ridge gets a suspect, the Shook case will continue to be listed with the other unsolved homicides and mysterious disappearances of the 1980s. Those cases - 73 homicides and eight mysterious disappearances, to be exact - are part of what plagues a society looking forward to a new decade. They represent its unfinished business and inability to keep people safe from violence, said Kay Gillespie, a Weber State College professor who specializes in criminology. "Society needs to see an offender apprehended almost immediately or in a short period of time," Gillespie said. "Unsolved cases bring a lack of confidence and frustration in the justice system . . . There's always the fear that the person is still out there." In addition to puzzling investigators and causing untold grief for the families of the victims, the cases provide grim reminders that Utah is no stranger to the macabre. Of the 73 unsolved homicides, 31 involve shootings, 20 beatings, 17 stabbings and six are strangulations. Four victims died of unknown causes. Several victims died of a combination of assaults. Four bodies were found mutilated, two of them sexually. Four victims remain unidentified.  At least four of the homicides were the work of two serial killers. Thirty-seven of the unsolved homicides and disappearances involve an unknown motive. According to detectives, 16 are probably sex-related, 10 are drug-related, nine are robbery-motivated, four were committed during fights and six were the result of domestic disputes.  (ADDITIONAL INFORMATION) 34 cases outside of S.L. County continue to perplex Utah authorities Emery County James Pickering, 23, was last seen in Albuquerque, N.M., on Sept. 16; found Nov. 11, 1986, beside I-70 one mile west of the Hanksville interchange; suffered blunt trauma to the head; dead about two months. Grand County A "John Doe" victim, was found Feb. 12, 1983, in Arches National Park; shot once in the back of the head with a .22-caliber gun; shoes were missing; dead about 6 months. Kane County Randy Woodard, 25, who had been living in Emery County, was reported missing in December 1982; his partially charred body was found March 18, 1983, in his pickup truck, which had been rolled into Clear Creek Canyon near the EscAllante River and set afire with gasoline; cause of death undetermined but ruled a probable homicide; firm motive never established. Tooele County John Dennis Novak, 36, was found on the Bonneville Salt Flats on Christmas Day, 1980; shot in the head; arms had been folded; had been living in Salt Lake City, working security for Trolley Square. Gary L. Stein, 30, was found stabbed to death Jan. 5, 1982, inside the camper of his pickup truck, which was impounded a day earlier from the side of I-80 45 miles east of Wendover; had left Henderson, Nev., Dec. 28 to work the oil fields of Wyoming; probably picked up a hitchhiker, who robbed him; wallet found in Summit County a few days Wasatch County Marty James Shook, 22, hitchhiked out of Sparks, Nev., on June 12, 1982; his nude body was found beside U.S. 40 in Daniel's Canyon two days later; shot in the back of head and his genitals were removed; the slaying has recently been linked to a similar one in Pennsylvania and may berelated to several in other states. Joseph W. Sheets, 28, a gold seeker, was found shot to death execution-style three miles from the summit of Daniels Canyon on Sept. 16, 1987; his car, a green 1975 Ford LTD, Utah license plate RCK-487, has not been found. Weber County Bryan Picker, 22, a Weber County Jailer was shot once in the head on Feb. 9, 1980, while in his vehicle on an Ogden road. Gabriel Distefano, 14, was reported missing by her mother on Aug. 25, 1982; body, wrapped in plastic, was found Sept. 16 in a ditch near a construction site in Harrisville; shot once in the head. **** Puzzling crimes in S.L. County 1980. 1981 Frank Clinton Hancock was found shot in the head in his apartment at 155 Canyon Road, on June 29; had been dead three days; death believed to be over a domestic dispute. Jerry Hansen, 25, was found Dec. 15 in house at 2029 Richards St.; had been shot in the head; possibly drug-related. 1982 Trent Olsen, 22, was stabbed to death in Cottonwood Park, 4222 S. 1100 East, on Feb. 14; had been in a fight earlier at a bar at 1140 E. 3900 South. An unknown "John Doe" victim, described as Caucasian, about 25 to 35 years old, was found floating in surplus canal near 1800 North and 4900 West on March 12; had been in the water for several months; cause of death unknown. Dennis Piernick, 39, was found stabbed to death in his apartment, 927 E. South Temple, on May 16; signs of a struggle. James William Skeel, 50, was found Sept. 25 on a bed in his apartment, 4137 S. 570 East. Skeel, known to bring other men to his apartment, had died at least two days earlier of blunt force injuries to the head. 1983 Ronald Vincent Maurath, 24, was found May 8 on Garfield Road between Magna and the Great Salt Lake beaches; stabbed repeatedly; police believe killing may have been result of a fight in a bar a few hours earlier. Carrie Wayne, 28, was found floating in a surplus canal near Kennecott smelter on July 28; dead three to five days; had been stabbed twice in the chest, suffered a skull fracture and had been sexually mutilated. Michael Howard Johnson, 25, was stabbed to death beneath the 400 South viaduct near 700 West on Nov. 19.. Michael Paul Nazarrio, 35, was knocked off a retaining wall near 800 S. State after making sarcastic remarks to some passers-by on Sept. 24; died of a head injury a short time later. Terry Bakker, 25, was shot in head and chest outside his home, 2049 E. Atkin Ave. (2810 South); drug equipment, bales of marijuana and a piranha found inside.. Jose Gaitan, 35, was shot during fight in bar at 826 S. Main; Dean Steiner, 68, was beaten to death in a house at 733 E. 800 South, on Dec. 21; robbery may have been motive. 1987 Billy Lee Buss, 40, was shot outside a friend's house, 948 W. 300 South, on July 15; probably drug related. 1988 Robert Roy Rowland, 47, was found nude in his apartment, 1263 E. South Temple, on April 18; had been shot in the head; police found drug paraphernalia and a small amount of cocaine. Douglas Lee, 36, a transient, was shot to death June 15 near the railroad tracks, 450 S. 650 West. Kirk Pitcher, 34, was found dead in a home, 4212 S. 1300 West, on Sept. 11; massive gunshot wound to head, but no weapon or bullet recovered; no motive. 1989 Vincent A. Thomas, 28, was shot to death Feb. 8 near the intersection of Pueblo Street (1440 West) and 900 South; police believe drugs were involved. David P. Uckerman, 36, was shot in his home, 337 S. Post St. (940 West), on Feb. 20. Randall Louis Fitch, 30, a transient, was found floating in Jordan River between North Temple and South Temple on March 14; died of head wounds.

 

11 December 1989 Monday

I’m feeling better but damn its cold outside. I didn’t do much at school all day except practice the 5^th grade Christmas play.

At home I didn’t do anything but work on midterm progress reports.

Mike Pipkin had his friend Brandon Burt over.

I watched a tremendous “Designing Women” episode called “They Shoot Fat Women don’t they?"  Truly it doesn’t matter how much we have or how we look, but how we feel about ourselves and how we treat each other.

Tomorrow is the last full moon of the 1980’s.

 

12 December 1989 Tuesday-

It was a cold, Cold day again. Yuck! I finished up mid-terms today. The kids are doing a whole lot better. I had a crisis meeting after school concerning a possible teacher’s strike in January. I donated $10 to the Union as well as my regular dues.

In the evening Mike Pipkin and I walked down to Unconditional Support tonight to be with Bobbie Smith who is leading the group now.  He led a meeting on dating and it was a pretty good meeting but small. Only  Mike, Bobbie, John Goodman, Rick Eden, Jerry Lars, Willie Goodman, another Mike, and a guy named Wayne attended tonight.  There were three men at the meeting including myself who were school teachers. That was fun.

Willie Goodman is holding a Christmas dance and dinner at Affirmation. That should be fun. I’ll be in California.

Additional Material

·         DID ARCHULETA ALTER STORY ON MURDER ROLE?  Prosecutors hope to rest their case Tuesday in the murder trial of Michael Anthony Archuleta, who, according to witnesses Monday, both denied and admitted to participating in the murder of Gordon Ray Church. Witnesses said Archuleta, 27, made several self-incriminating statements following his arrest a day after the bludgeoning murder of Church, who was killed during the early morning hours of Nov. 22, 1988. The victim's badly beaten body, gagged and draped in chains, was found under dirt and tree limbs north of Cove Fort in an area known as Dog Valley. Paula Sue Jones, Archuleta's live-in girlfriend at the time of the murder, said the defendant gave her conflicting accounts of how Church was murdered. She said Archuleta called her repeatedly from the Millard County Jail following his arrest and that he at first blamed the murder on co-defendant Lance Conway Wood, 21, who will be tried in February. According to testimony from Jones and officers to whom Archuleta spoke following his arrest, the defendant, in separate conversations, said he and Wood met the victim late Nov. 21 in Cedar City and paid him to take them driving. After being denied entrance to a Cedar City bar, the men drove east up Cedar Canyon where their talk turned to homosexuality.  Sgt. Charles E. Stewart, Millard County Sheriff's deputy, testified that Archuleta told him that Wood pulled a knife on Church.

 

13 December 1989 Wednesday

I made plans to have a substitute tomorrow since I am so worn down from the play rehearsals and the kids being so wild as Christmas approaches. Brandon’s mother came in this morning all hot under the collar because of the F I gave him at mid-term. She said, “I don’t understand how he can go from being an A student to failing. I am taking him out of your class.” So when I left school I took all of Brandon’s grades home to figure them out for a confrontation on Friday. Oh Well.

 Mike Pipkin went to the beer bust at Radio City tonight and I went up to Orson Spenser Hall to cruise but nothing was going on. 

When I got home Jeff Wood had called and wanted to know if I wanted to go to the show with him. It was late but since I knew I wasn’t going to work tomorrow, we went to the ten o’clock showing of "Steel Magnolias". I loved it and laughed and cried. Jeff liked it too. I just held him in the theater because we were basically alone.

It was after midnight by the time I got home and Mike had just gotten home himself so I stayed until one talking about life in general. I hope it works out between Mike and me. As long as he keeps working I think it will.

Additional Material

·         ARCHULETA MIGHT TESTIFY ON HIS OWN BEHALF BEFOREJURY BEGINS DELIBERATIONS By Michael Morris, Staff Writer Jurors in the capital-homicide trial of Michael Anthony Archuleta might hear the defendant testify on his own behalf Wednesday before they begin deliberating his guilt or innocence. Defense attorney Michael Esplin said Tuesday he was considering putting Archuleta on the stand. Esplin said he and co-counsel Brent Bullock probably will need less than a day to present Archuleta's defense, depending on the admissibility of certain evidence. Archuleta is being tried for the slaying Nov. 22, 1988, of Gordon Ray Church, 28. The victim's badly beaten body was found a day later in Dog Valley, north of Cove Fort, Millard County. The prosecution rested its case Tuesday afternoon, following an autopsy report by Sharon I. Schnittker, assistant director of the state medical examiner's office. She said the victim had abrasions and lacerations all over his body but he probably died of severe blows to the head most likely administered by a ratchet and jack leg found at the scene. "I thought there were a minimum of eight to nine blows to the head," Schnittker testified. Injuries to Church's skull were so severe, she said, "This would be like your head being run over by a large car or truck. That's the kind of magnitude of force we're talking about."Schnittker said Church "died fairly quickly from the head injuries," but he suffered another injury that could have proved fatal. She said Church had two stab wounds to the liver, most likely caused by a tire iron found in the trunk of the victim's car a day after the slaying. Archuleta and co-defendant Lance Conway Wood, 21, left Church's white Ford Thunderbird in West Valley City.In addition, Church's neck had been cut, he had abrasions and lacerations on his back, he suffered injuries to his genitals, and he had multiple abrasions on his legs, hips, thighs and knees. His left arm and lower left jaw had been broken. Schnittker testified that the jaw injury likely was caused by a kick or punch. Earlier Tuesday, Millard Sheriff's Sgt. Charles E. Stewart testified that Archuleta admitted slugging Church in the face, but the defendant said the punch was not a hard one. "I hit him with my hand," Stewart said, quoting Archuleta. "I just tagged him one time. "In an interview with Archuleta on Dec. 2, 1988, Stewart testified, Archuleta told him: "I should be punished for taking another man's life." When questioned about why Church was killed, Archuleta said there was no real motive except that he and Wood feared Church would tell authorities the two men had roughed up the victim. "I do not know why he was killed. He just kept saying he wouldn't rat on us," Stewart said, quoting Archuleta. "There was no motive at all. A little alcohol and you go off the deep end. We just got scared, you know. We didn't know what to do. We didn't start out planning on killing the dude."

·         TRIAL IN SLAYING POSTPONED TO FEB. 6  A trial for Marty Ray Withers, accused of murdering a West Valley man, has been postponed until Feb. 6, a court clerk said Wednesday. Withers, 28, Salt Lake City, originally was scheduled for trial this week before 3rd District Judge Timothy Hanson on a charge of second-degree murder. Withers is accused of killing Darrell N. Webber, 38, who was stabbed in the leg and chest during an altercation in a parking lot at 4070 S. State on April 7. Witnesses said Webber had given a ride to Withers, who had been hitchhiking on State Street. (Deseret New)

 

14 December 1989 Thursday

I was up at six this morning  to call work and tell them I wasn’t coming in and that they needed a sub for me. It’s the first time I’ve called in sick this year and I needed the break.

Jim Rieger’s friend Kent is up from California to help Jim move out this weekend. I’m not certain what his last day is.

I went and had my beard timed and hair cut and then went to the grocery store. I really didn’t do a whole lot.

I had a phone call from the phone company this morning saying that if I didn’t pay my phone bill from last July that my bill would be turned over to collections. I really thought I had paid that bill and the strangest part is that they said that they had sent several statements to my P.O Box which is weird because while they had the correct address, I  have never received a single notice. It was only $40 and I didn’t mind paying it off, which I did right away, but I do think it’s kind of strange.

Willie Marshall picked Mike and me up about seven to take us to the Metropolitan Community Church’s spaghetti dinner. I didn’t eat the spaghetti but I did donate $3 anyway.

Chuck Whyte wanted me to sign off the signature card for the bank account of the Gay and Lesbian Community Council which I did. He also told me that I had accidently tape recorded the whole election from last Thursday and he heard all the mean things that Donald Steward said about him. He was rather upset.

Lennie Fisher was at the dinner. It was fun seeing him again. He was the first person I really got to know in the Gay Community before I was even a part of it.

 It was a nice evening and we were home by nine.

Beck Moss was over at the apartment  to see Jim Rieger before he leaves to move back to California. They were visiting and I was sitting in the front room, when Jim started in on the Stonewall Center Committee again. I had had it with his negativity and I lambasted him and we got into a shouting match. He accused me of not supporting him in the community and I said you don’t even know how often I defended you against criticism in this community.

Anyhow,  rather than fight anymore I went to bed.

Additional Material

·         WEEPING ARCHULETA MINIMIZES HIS ROLE IN DOG VALLEY SLAYING  The capital homicide trial of Michael Anthony Archuleta was expected to go to a 4th District Court jury Thursday. Archuleta, charged with killing Gordon Ray Church on Nov. 22, 1988, took the stand in his own defense Wednesday and downplayed his involvement in the slaying. He said co-defendant Lance Conway Wood, who will be tried Feb. 20, was the real perpetrator. Archuleta wept through part of his testimony as he recounted how the victim was beaten to death with a tire jack. Millard County investigators found Church's badly beaten and half-nude body, covered with dirt and tree limbs, a day after the killing in an area north of Cove Fort known as Dog Valley. Portions of Archuleta's testimony conflicted with statements from six witnesses, and he denied several statements investigators had attributed to him. He also admitted intentionally misleading investigators. Archuleta said Wood had been drinking heavily the evening prior to the slaying and that he was angry over a spat with his live-in girlfriend, Brenda Stapley. "I feel that this happened because of Lance wanting blood," Archuleta said. "He didn't care whose blood it was. He wanted revenge because Brenda went to Arizona to see another guy." Archuleta admitted, however, that he also had been drinking and that he had an argument that evening with his live-in girlfriend. Archuleta said he and Wood left their apartment and walked to Main Street in Cedar City, where they met the victim. After "cruising" for a while, Church drove the men up Cedar Canyon and stopped after pulling onto a dirt road. "I asked him (Church) if he was gay. He said he was," Archuleta said. "That's when everything started to happen." At different points in his testimony, Archuleta both admitted and denied that he had sex with the victim. A short while later while Church was talking to Wood, he said Wood pulled a knife on Church. Wood tackled Church when he fled, breaking the victim's arm. Wood then cut his neck, Archuleta said. "I do believe I said, "We're in trouble,' " Archuleta said. "We chained Gordon up, tied him up and put him in the trunk. I don't know why we did that." Archuleta said he wanted to drop Church off and take his car. After he and Wood pulled off I-15 about 70 miles north of Cedar City, "I thought maybe he (Wood) was thinking the same thing I was . . . that we were going to leave him up there." "Did Gordon deserve to die?" asked defense attorney Michael Esplin. "No, he didn't," replied Archuleta. The defendant said he and Wood pulled Church from the car trunk and tried to shock him using jumper cables hooked to the car battery. Witnesses testified earlier that Archuleta admitted hooking the cables to the battery, but on Wednesday he denied doing so. "What were you thinking then?" Esplin asked. Archuleta replied, "At the time, I thought Gordon wasn't going to leave the canyon. I was up to my neck already. It was one event after another." He said Wood then twisted Church's neck, and that the victim fell to the ground. "I heard like a smack, something hitting something else," Archuleta said. "He (Wood) had his foot on Gordon's face and was swinging the jack like a golf club . . . or like a mallet when you play croquet." After being struck several times by the jack, Church appeared dead. Archuleta said Wood then stabbed him with a tire iron. Archuleta said he has been plagued by continued flashbacks of Church's killing. While in a jail cell after being arrested, Archuleta said, he needed to talk to someone about his hallucinations. "I was seeing Gordon. He was right there. I could see Gordon saying, "Why are you doing this to me?' I could see Gordon laying on the ground. I could see the shallow grave Gordon was in. I could see myself standing right next to Gordon, looking at him. I still see him." Esplin asked Archuleta, "You wanted to talk to someone so it would go away?" Replied Archuleta, "It'll never go away." (Deseret News)

 

15 December 1989 Friday

I told Brandon’s mother today that the reason he doesn’t do well in my class is because he only turns in about half his work and that I wanted her to monitor his daily assignments. I threw the responsibility back on her. Mr. Stanger said he thought I handled the whole thing excellently. Oh well.

At home Mike Pipkin said that he was invited to a party out in Riverton and asked if I wanted to go. I thought “why not meet new people” so we went out with Willy Marshall and his boyfriend Lars. I brought a bottle of rum that Steve Barker gave me from his trip to Haiti. I was getting drunk on rum and coca cola. Since I didn’t know any of the people there I just decided to be my old gregarious self.

 However when Willie and Lars left at ten, I left with them rather than stay at the party with Mike. I was not sure how I’d get home. It was probably just as well I went home and it felt good to be safe and snug in my own bed and in from being out in the cold.

Additional Material

·         - JURY DELIBERATING FATE OF MAN ACCUSED OF STUDENT'S SLAYING  The fate of Michael Anthony Archuleta was up to a 4th District jury Friday, with jurors scheduled to begin deliberating the defendant's fate at 9 a.m. Following closing arguments Thursday afternoon, 4th District Judge George E. Ballif sent jurors home for the evening. Defense attorney Michael Esplin, in closing arguments, echoed Archuleta's testimony this week that co-defendant Lance Conway Wood, who will be tried in February, is to blame for the death of Gordon Ray Church, 28, Prosecutor Carvel Harward, however, said trial evidence indicates otherwise. "Both Wood and Archuleta were there," he said. "Both engaged in the execution," which he said was committed in an "especially heinous, atrocious, cruel and exceptionally depraved manner." Church's bludgeoned body was found Nov. 23, 1988, in a Millard County area north of Cove Fort known as Dog Valley. The victim had been stabbed in the liver and had suffered numerous abrasions, contusions and blows to the head. Harward said the state had presented "overwhelming evidence that Wood and this defendant participated in all the events that resulted in Gordon Ray Church's death. A fair and just verdict is guilty of murder in the first degree." Esplin, however, said prosecutors had only proved Wood's guilty. "The state has proved a case against Lance Wood. He's not on trial here," he said. "Your question is: Have they proved a case against Mike Archuleta?"  The state showed that Archuleta, 26, was present when Church was murdered, Esplin said, but it didn't prove the defendant actually killed the victim. "If he (Archuleta) were making up a story, it wouldn't be the story he gave on the stand," in which Archuleta admitted involvement in putting Church in his car's trunk, driving him to Dog Valley and committing a sex act with him. Esplin said Wood, 21, was the leader and initiated the violence when he cut Church's throat after the victim made sexual advances toward him in Cedar Canyon. "So you can see that it's clear that Mr. Wood started that whole series of tragic events that night. Lance was wild, he was hyper, he was still under the influence of alcohol. Mike was scared." Esplin, holding up a picture of Wood, told jurors that he was the "prime mover" the night Church was murdered. Harward said Archuleta's pants had more blood on them than Wood's pants, he drove Church’s car most of the way from Cedar Canyon to Dog Valley, he bought gasoline for the car and he controlled the relationship he had with Wood. he told jurors that Archuleta had suffered a "convenient loss of memory" on the witness stand and reminded them that the defendant admitted misleading authorities. "Who killed Gordon Church? From the evidence, the answer is clear," Harward said. "The same two people who put Gordon Church in the trunk (of his car) ... are the same two people who killed him at Dog Valley." Both Archuleta and Wood tied the victim up in chains, both drove his car, both took some of his belongings following the murder, both inflicted wounds on his body and both left fingerprints on his car, he said. "They did it (killed Church) because once injured, they couldn't let him go. In assessing the risk, they elected to take his life," Harward said. The defendant, after helping Wood force the victim into the car trunk, "knew that Gordon wouldn't live to see the sun rise on Nov. 22." ***** Michael Anthony Archuleta: defense vs. prosecution Closing arguments were presented Thursday to the jury, which began deliberations Friday morning. Archuleta and Lance Conway Wood were present when Gordon Ray Church was killed. "The state has proved a case against Lance Wood. He's not on trial here," he said. "Your question is: Have they proved a case against Mike Archulta?" --Defense attorney Michael Esplin Archuleta's pants had more blood on them than Wood's pants; he drove Chruch's car most of the way from Cedar Canyon to Dog Valley. "Who killed Gordon Church? The same two people who put Gordon Church in the trunk (of his car) ... are the same two people who killed him at Dog Valley." -- Prosecutor Carvel Harward (Deseret News)

 

16 December 1989 Saturday

I am so glad I went home last night because the weather turned nasty and it snowed really heavily.

Jim Rieger moved out today. He was just going to leave his bed but I paid him $75 for it. I didn’t want to take an underhanded advantage of him. I may not agree with Jim on most things but I’d never want to cheat him.

I went over to the post office and found a letter from Mark Lamar with my minister’s license from the Church of Unconditional Alliance and Support for Gays and Lesbians in it. How fun! I also had a Christmas card from Terry Johnson.  That melted my heart and I began to miss him all over again.

So I called Terry today and we are getting together  on Monday. He’s not well either. He said he has a disease which is causing his muscles to deteriorate. 

Jim Rieger just barely left for good when the meeting for the Political Coalition and Caucus began at four at my place. I barely had time to straighten up and of course Jim left in a whirlwind, not cleaning or anything. He just took his stuff and left.

Before the Political Meeting began, I baked an Apple Brown Betty with red hots cinnamon candy in it for Curtis Jensen’s birthday party. A man named Doug Wortham, John Martin, Rocky O’Donovan, Willy Marshall, Bob Waldrop, David Nelson, his friend Andy Dalrymple, Liza Smart, Luci Malin, Rhonda Nielsen, Brenda Voisard, Mike Pipkin and his friend Russ, Steve Oldroyd, David Kessler, Curtis Jensen, and more, who I can’t remember right now, were at the meeting. Bob Waldrop suggested we form a “Gays for Dan Marriott” club because he is so conservative and it would piss him off.

We discussed our various Agendas and what we hoped would be a purpose for the Coalition and why we each came to the meeting and what hoped to get out of it. It was a very good introductory meeting. Curtis Jensen had to leave early for his own party because the meeting lasted until six in the evening.

We agreed to each bring our agendas when we meet again next January the 6^th at four  again in my Apartment. I love the dialog we had and think that we got off to a good start.

Any way Mike’s friend Russ, Mike and I went to Curtis’ party. Russ‘s a sweet man. He has “ARC” and is kind of thin but good looking. Curtis hugged me when we arrived and said to me we don’t see each other enough. Curtis is 23 years old now. I knew him since he was 19. A lot of growing up in those four years. Me too.

I brought a bottle of wine and my Brown Betty to the party and proceeded to get drunk. There were lots of young pretty boys at the party saying “Oh gross” at everything and chain smoking cigarettes. Gag me. Anyway I decided if I can’t date any of them I can at least intimidate them which I proceeded to do. That was a lot of fun.

 I ignored Becky Moorman and snubbed Rocky O’Donovan at the party as they are on my shit list. Chris Brown called form New York City to wish Curtis a happy birthday. Chris said that he heard that Dolly Parton is dating this woman and contributes to the Lambda Defense fund as a confirmed Lesbian. Interesting side note. 

Anyhow, Mike, Russ, and I left about midnight and Russ and I slept together. Nothing unsafe; just a lot of kissing and masturbating. It felt good to be sleeping again with someone curled up in my arms. Laying with him, I wished that I had healing hands to take away this disease from Russ but since I don’t I will just love him as another human being and be grateful for the time we had together.

Change and decay in all the world I see Oh Thou who changest not abide with me.

Additional Material

·         Sentencing: On Wednesday, Judge Ballif will decide if murder gets life in prison or death. JURY FINDS ARCHULETA GUILTY OF TORTURE SLAYING  By Michael Morris, Staff Writer A 4th District Court jury deliberated eight hours Friday before finding Michael Anthony Archuleta guilty of capital homicide in the torture slaying of Gordon Ray Church. Prosecutors and the victim's family welcomed the verdict, which was reached at 5:10 p.m. Members of Archuleta's family, visibly upset, hurried from the courtroom after the verdict was read. "The verdict is the right one under the evidence," said Millard County Attorney Warren Peterson. "The jury did a responsible job. They were careful and they heard what was presented. They made the decision that the evidence allowed." Defense attorney Michael Esplin said he would reserve comment until after the sentencing hearing, which Judge George E. Ballif set for Wednesday at 9 a.m. Archuleta will receive either the death penalty or life in prison. "We're somewhat relieved that one of the parts of this terrible, horrible tragedy in our lives is complete," said the victim's father, David G. Church. "We believe the correct verdict was achieved." Church said the jury's verdict, however, won't ease his family's painful loss. "We've just had to try to get through it," he said, adding that he would not wish on anyone the experience of sitting through a murder trial. "It's terribly hard. We all loved Gordon very much." The victim's body - gagged, naked from the waist down and draped in tire chains - was found Nov. 23, 1988, north of Cove Fort in an area known as Dog Valley, Millard County.  Trial evidence showed that Church had suffered serious blows to the head, that his left arm and jaw had been broken, his neck cut, his liver stabbed and that he had been sexually assaulted with battery jumper cables and a tire iron. In reaching the verdict, the seven-man, five-woman jury found that Church's death was caused while the defendant was "engaged as a party in the commission of" kidnapping, aggravated kidnapping and object rape. The jury also found that the murder was committed in an "especially heinous, atrocious, cruel or exceptionally depraved manner." Archuleta, who took the stand this week in his own defense, showed no emotion as the verdict was read. The defendant will be held in the Utah County Jail until sentencing. While on the witness stand, Archuleta, 27, claimed that co-defendant Lance Conway Wood had killed Church. Wood, 21, will be tried in February. "They (jurors) made their decision in light of his testimony, and I think they knew what they were doing," Peterson said. "The jury had a tough decision to make, and they were entitled to that eight hours." Peterson praised co-prosecutor Carvel Harward and Millard County investigators. "We've got a good team, and they served us well - every one of them," he said. "It's been a long year," said Sheriff Ed Phillips, adding that the case has required countless man-hours. "We're confident to move forward on" the Wood trial. Prosecutors called approximately 40 witnesses during Archuleta's trial and presented between 250 and 300 pieces of evidence. "We felt strongly about the evidence," Peterson said. "We didn't have second thoughts. It was a murder that deserved a first-degree murder verdict." **** (Additional information) Co-defendant loses a round in U.S. court Lance Conway Wood, Michael Anthony Archuleta's co-defendant in a murder case, has lost a round in U.S. District Court. Wood, 20, is charged in the killing of Southern Utah State College student Gordon Ray Church. Wood is awaiting trial in the case. Meanwhile, he filed a federal suit saying he tried to warn parole officers "something bad was going to happen" because Archuleta had shown up. He said that on Nov. 15, 1988 - a week before the murder - he tried unsuccessfully to have Archuleta arrested. But U.S. Magistrate Ronald N. Boyce ruled that Wood "had no right to leave his supervision or violate his parole officer's orders. He also had no right to have Archuleta arrested."  recommended that the $2 million suit be dismissed, and U.S. District Judge Bruce S. Jenkins agreed, throwing it out.

 

17 December 1989 Sunday

Willy Marshal came by and took Mike Pipkin, Russ, and me to the Metropolitan Community Church. I really don’t get much out of MCC services anymore. It is way too highfaluting, too much pomp and circumstance, for my taste but I enjoy seeing people from the community there.

The church meeting must have about seventy five people or more attending now but it’s way too long, two hours and I am use to the Quakers 45 minutes meetings.

 Anyway Russ and Mike went out for brunch while I stayed home. Mike’s done such a nice job rearranging the furniture and fixing the place up.   

I have been eating a lot of corn bread and beans lately. I’m so old fashion that way. 

I tried to take a nap but Jim Rieger’s young friend Allan came over. He didn’t know that Jim had moved. I visited a little with him because I think he was lonesome. There’s so much less tension here now with Jim Rieger gone.

After Allan left Jeff Wood came over about five this afternoon and wanted me to go to the movies with him but I said I had to go do a radio program for Concerning Gays and Lesbians instead. He was in a funny mood giving off a horny vibe so I gave him a body massage and after Mike, Russ, and Brandon Burt left to go to Radio City, I ate Jeff out. Royally. He loved it. Anyhow, Jeff left happier than when he came and then Becky Moss came over and picked me up at seven thirty.

We were at KRCL’s station until nine. We let Jim Rieger’s Christmas  show stand without any alterations. We did an end of the year program so we don’t have to return on Christmas Eve. I couldn’t anyway because I’ll be in California.

After the taping we went up to Federal Heights to pick up a book that we’re reviewing so we can do a program with its author. I was home about ten fifteen  and I went to bed as soon as I could. It was a strange weekend and Mike is sleeping in the small bedroom now instead of me.

 

18 December 1989 Monday

This is going to be the week from hell. Tonight I went over to see Terry Johnson. Tomorrow I’m leading the Unconditional Support meeting. Wednesday I’m writing up the minutes for the Gay and Lesbian Community Council. Thursday evening will be the Christmas play for parents and Friday I’ll be on my way to California.

This is almost a dead week at school because the kids are too wired and are completely unteachable, just like the week before school gets out in the summer.

When I got off work I walked to Albertson’s on 2^nd and 4^th and bought a carton of Marlboro soft pack at $15 for a Christmas gift for Terry. I also gave him a card with $20 in it. I took the 3^rd East bus out to 1400 South to his place. It was so cold. Terry said he wasn’t feeling well and that he had had a seizure yesterday. I asked him if he thought about being tested for AIDS. He’s been so sick since I have known him. I wonder.

Anyhow,  he had his brother’s car because his truck was reprocessed. He took me back home so I didn’t have to take the bus. There we visited and held each other. Terry is a part of a circle of people I do love. It was almost eleven before I was able to get to bed.

 

19 December 1989 Tuesday-

Today is Mike Pipkin's 29th birthday. 

School went by fairly fast with the Sixth Grade’s Christmas Pageant in the afternoon. I was upset that Mrs. Fisher would put on a full blown nativity Christmas play with shepherds, angels, the whole works. The only redeeming feature was they used the word minister instead of Bishop. Otherwise I would have considered a law suit. This a public school, not Sunday School, or even a parochial school. Oh Well.

After school I came home and took a nap before getting ready for Unconditional support. Robert Smith wanted me to lead the meeting tonight because he was exhausted. I did it on Gay morality and ethics. It was a small turn out.

Lennie Fisher and Doug Winkler were new faces at the meeting. I ended the meeting about eight forty five and walked home with Lennie. Mike was taken out to dinner by Allan; one of his many beaus. Lennie and I talked a little before he left and I went to bed around ten.

I got an Xmas card from John Reeves and from my sister Charline Wachs today. John said he found a good support group in Boston.

A week from now Christmas will be over and I’ll be on my way back home to Utah from California, Ho Ho Ho.

I wonder what Billy Bikowski is doing this year?  I don’t know if I still love him anymore or it’s just a bad habit.

The Cold War is ending and peace is about to break out unless Bush and his CIA cronies so something stupid.

 

20 December 1989 Wednesday

President Bush did something stupid. He invaded Panama in violation of international treaties and the War Power Act. I can’t believe it. American troops are in Panama and are being killed for what? So that Bush won’t look like a wimp? I can’t believe we are in Panama.

On Monday Panama declared a state of war existed between them and us because of our involvement in last October’s attempt to overthrow Noriega. The CIA put him in power in the seventy’s and now they want him out.

Busy day at school with a dress rehearsal for the fifth grade Christmas Play. Tomorrow is the big day.

Kevin McCloskey said he wouldn’t be able to make it to California so I guess it will be bus city for me. I know it’s way too late to take a plane.

At home tonight I spent a quiet evening trying to get my bedroom put together after moving everything into the large room that Jim Rieger vacated.

Additional Material

·         PROVO JURY DELIBERATING ARCHULETA'S SENTENCE Jurors in the murder trial of Michael Anthony Archuleta will decide Wednesday whether to recommend the defendant they convicted last week of capital homicide get the death penalty or life in prison. Following two weeks of testimony, the seven-man, five-woman jury on Friday found Archuleta, 27, guilty in the torture slaying on Nov. 22, 1988, of Gordon Ray Church, 28. Church's badly beaten body was found buried under dirt and tree limbs north or Cove Fort, Millard County, in an area known as Dog Valley. Archuleta testified under oath last week that he stood by while co-defendant Lance Conway Wood, who will be tried Feb. 20, murdered Church. Jurors rejected his testimony in light of what prosecutor Carvel Harward called "overwhelming evidence" to the contrary. Fourth District Judge George E. Ballif sent jurors home Friday evening after they reached their verdict following eight hours of deliberations. Ballif ordered jurors to return Wednesday at 9 a.m. for the penalty phase of Archuleta's trial.

 

21 December 1989 Thursday-

The Winter solstice began today.

At school we had two performances one for the lower grades and one for the upper grades and evening performance for the parents. So the entire day was pretty well spent around the play. The kids really came through when they needed to and while it was hectic I was really proud of the stinkers.

I went home at three to get away and to get something to eat before then taking a five thirty bus back to Orchard. The evening performance of the Little Red School House in front of all the parents was our tour de force. The play went on without a hitch. The kids were excited, the parents beaming, and Mr. Stanger very pleased with our efforts.

Mrs. Day’s husband gave me a ride back into Salt Lake City so I didn’t have to wait out in the cold to catch a bus. Downtown the bustling crowds were everywhere and the twinkling lights were so Faerie like. 

Anyway, I drew some money out of the bank and went to Albertson’s to buy some cookies for tomorrow’s “cast party” for the kids.

I finally was home about nine. It was a long, tiresome, but exciting day. I am so glad the plays are finally over.

 I talked to Michael Pipkin some today because he was kind of bummed out. He thinks he has scabies and may have infected Brandon Burt and Allan.

He’s rearranged the apartment again and its really cute. I went to bed by nine thirty exhausted.

Additional Material

·         JURORS SAY ARCHULETA SHOULD DIE By Michael Morris, Staff Writer It took a 4th District Court jury just over six hours of deliberations Wednesday to decide that Michael Anthony Archuleta should die for his part in the torture slaying of Gordon Ray Church. The defendant, 27, showed no emotion when the jury's decision was read, but as he was taken from the courtroom he glared at prosecutor Carvel Harward, telling him, "I'll see you in hell." Archuleta's sister and parents, who testified earlier Wednesday that the defendant had been neglected and physically abused before they adopted him when he was 5, wept and embraced. Members of the victim's family were not present when jurors reached their decision at 9:10 p.m. "Justice was done. It's not a happy occasion for anyone," said Millard County Attorney Warren Peterson. "But the jury did a tough job. They followed the evidence. They did what the statute called for, and that's their verdict. It was a proper verdict under the evidence." The jury, which last week found Archuleta guilty of capital homicide, had the option of sentencing him to death or life in prison. Several jurors sobbed when 4th District Judge George E. Ballif polled them on their decision, which will automatically be appealed to the Utah State Supreme Court. Next week, Ballif said, the court will issue a death warrant with an execution date. The judge chose lethal injection as the means of execution after Archuleta was unable to decide between injection and the firing squad. Defense attorney Michael Esplin expressed disappointment with the jury's decision but said he was not surprised. "I thought there was some evidence that the jury could have gone the other way with, but that's the verdict," he said. "The amount of time they were out would indicate that they didn't arrive at it (the decision) easily, but considered it carefully." Regarding the defendant's statement to Harward, Esplin said, "I'm sure he's (Archuleta) probably not feeling his best right now." Archuleta, who took the stand again Wednesday before the jury began penalty-phase deliberations, said he wanted to live a normal life. "I feel I should be punished. I don't want to die," he said. "I didn't kill Gordon, (but) I was there." As he did under oath last week, Archuleta placed blame for the murder on co-defendant Lance Conway Wood, 21, who will be tried Feb. 20. Wood led investigators to the murder scene Nov. 23, 1988 _ a day after the slaying. Church's half-nude, badly beaten body was found covered with dirt and tree limbs in an area north of Cove Fort known as Dog Valley, Millard County. Archuleta's remarks conflicted, however, with testimony Wednesday from a prison inmate who shared a cell with Archuleta shortly after the murder. "He said that him and Lance Wood killed Gordon Church," said the inmate, whose identity the court asked the media to keep anonymous. "He told me that it was the ultimate rush. He said the evil had completely taken over him, and once they started he couldn't stop." The inmate quoted Archuleta as saying that drugs couldn't compare to the "high" of killing Church, 28. "He told me they beat him to death" after trying to shock him with car battery jumper cables. Archuleta wept when his mother, Stella Archuleta, took the stand and recounted noticing signs of abuse when she and her husband, Amos, adopted the defendant in 1968. Archuleta's parents testified that he had burn scars on his arms and buttocks. "He was afraid of hot water," Stella Archuleta said. "He was afraid of (closed) doors." She said the defendant was a hyperactive child, that he was suspended from several public schools and received treatment at both Timpanogos Community Mental Health Center and the Utah State Hospital. Archuleta was in prison by the time he was 18 on a conviction of theft of a firearm, said June Hinckley, state prison records officer. He was paroled a year later in 1982. He was imprisoned again in 1987 for distribution of a controlled substance andwas paroled Oct. 11, 1988 - about a month before the murder. Psychologist Robert J. Howell testified that the defendant suffers from "attention-deficit hyperactivity syndrome" and that he has hallucinations. However, he said, Archuleta knows right from wrong, though his ability to make correct decisions is somewhat impaired.  "I love him. I couldn't love him any more even if I had given birth to him," Stella Archuleta said. "He's my son."

 

22 December 1989 Friday-

First full day of Winter. The kids were so wired today. We just had the fifth grade all come into my room and watched the “Incredible Journey” which I had just finished reading to my class. That took most of the morning and after that I had my class clean the room and take down all the Christmas decorations to take home and worked on some holiday puzzles.

After lunch we had a small party with sprite and cookies. Finally school was out at one twenty. I left school at one forty five and was so exhausted when I got home.

So I took a nap at two and slept until Bobbie Smith came over at three. He brought me some Christmas presents; the sweet thing. One was a bunch of Uncle Scrooge comics! I loved it. That really made me happy.

Anyhow, I went down town with him and went to Valley Bank to pull out some money for the trip to California. There the fuckers wouldn’t let me because they said I had to have two signatures to withdraw money from the Delta Account. I explained that I had set up the account where I was the principle signature and if anyone else signed they had to have two signatures. Well it never got put on the card that way and with the account being transferred to a new branch the bottom line was that I couldn’t access my money. I was so furious that I wanted to cry but then decided well maybe I’m not supposed to go home for Christmas.

I am really tired but I am still mad at Valley Bank and I am going to take out all my funds as soon as I can. I wanted to cry coming home and I don’t know if it was from being frustrated at Valley Bank or disappointed over not going home.

When Mike Pipkin came home from work I told him I wasn’t going home and it’s probably fate. So I gave him a one pound box of See’s Candies and he just devoured it.

Then Bobbie Smith came over later and offered me two hundred dollars so I could go home. I just hugged him and thanked him. That really touched my heart but I told him I am resigned to not be going home for the holidays. There must be a reason for it.

So I talked to Mike this evening about conditions regarding living with me if he planned on staying here. I said he must take out the trash everyday and be responsible for cleaning the bathroom every Saturday. I’m going to only charge him $100 but he must pay half the phone bill and the utilities. He agreed but he later got wasted smoking pot with his friend Russ.

Later tonight I read Russ’s medicine cards. His main totem was a Dolphin, kindness and playful  energy. Interesting. In the news we are still fighting in Panama and they are unable to capture Noriega.

 

23 December 1989 Saturday

I got up early around seven to do the dishes and clean up a little. Michael Pipkin got up about eight and started getting high right away with beer and pot. I told him that I was glad he’s here so that I can see what I’d be like if I was practicing my disease. He was too high to get my sardonic remark.

This morning at eleven I was in a protest march at the Federal Building to protest the invasion of Panama.  I was interviewed by a woman from Channel 2 News who remembered me from Gay Pride Day.  I didn’t get to see it on the ten o’clock news though.

About noon I walked over to the post office and then over to Bobbie Smith’s place on Delmar Court by the Greek Orthodox Church.  I wanted to use his phone to call home and let them know I wasn’t coming. Mom sounded so disappointed that I began to cry and regretted my decision. So I called her back and said I’d be on the ten fifteen bus tonight.

Once I was resolved to go, I borrowed fifty dollars from Bobbie and had to go back home to make the arrangements. Back at my place I did some wash and tried to pack.

Mike went with Brandon Burt to Quickbeam’ pagan Winter Solstice Ritual. I would have liked to have gone but had so much to do.

I carried my shoulder bag and walked down to the bus terminal on South Temple where I bought a round trip ticket for $122. No one was there to see me off in the crowded station. It was a mess down there. My bus left at ten thirty.

 

24 December 1989 Sunday Christmas Eve

Around three in the morning we arrived in Beaver, Utah. There I was so surprised to see Jeff Sewell at the bus stop where people were allowed a bathroom break. He was coming up from  Arizona and I was going down to California. That was kind of neat and surprising. Ships that pass in the night.

My butt is sore from sitting cramped up in my seat as the bus was crowded. Fortunately in Cedar City around four I was able to stretch out across the seat when several people got off the bus. I was never able to really sleep but did get to cat-nap some.

The bus made more stops in St. George and Mesquite before arriving in Las Vegas at seven this morning. I was so travel weary and in Las Vegas we changed drivers and he was a real prick.

At noon Utah time, the bus pulled into Victorville and I saw mom and dad waiting at the terminal but the Bus Driver wouldn’t stop and was getting ready to pull back onto the freeway. I said “Aren't you going to stop?” and he snarled at me “I don’t have anyone getting off at Victorville and I said “I’m getting off at Victorville! I bought a ticket to Victorville.” Well instead of going back to the station he made me get off about a half mile from the terminal and I had to walk back carrying my luggage. I was so mad. I lodged a complaint against him once I was back at the station. Even the station master said the bus driver should have taken me back but also said it was the ticket master in SLC’s fault for the guy who issued me my ticket wrote out my ticket for San Bernardino and had told me just to get off in Victorville.

Anyway all’s well that ends well and I was able to connect up with Mom and Dad who had left but came back to get me. What a trip! I am so tired.

Mom’s new house is beautiful but it still feels strange, however. It’s not Dale Street for sure.

Anyhow, Mom and I had a nice visit about me being Gay. She said coming to Salt Lake this summer had really helped her get over it and she said my being Gay doesn’t bother her anymore.

I was taking a shower when my uncle and aunt J.W. and Pauline Johnson arrived from Texas. It was really good to see them. My cousin Kay is still living at Shallow Water and my cousin John is farming a thousand acres in Fieldton. His son Christopher Johnson is in the air force or just getting out.

 It was a shock seeing my niece and nephew Denise Wachs and Michael Wachs as they are so tall and good looking. Denise is eighteen and engaged. She’s just gotten back from a trip she had won to Jamaica.

 Anyway only my nephew James was not up for Christmas Eve so I guess he is spending it with his friends. We had a nice Christmas meal including Grandpa Williams’ chili although I just ate beans and cornbread. All said and done it was nice to be home with my folks.

I called John Cunningham but he wasn’t home. I also called Terry Johnson and he sounded wonderful and really upbeat. I guess the medicine he is taking is working. He went and was tested for HIV last Thursday and I think I will also when I get back to Salt Lake.

 

25 December 1989 Monday Christmas Day

Today was a very nice Christmas spent with my family. I slept in until seven thirty and then got up feeling more rested. When my sister Charline and her kids Denise and Michael came this morning, I fixed them a breakfast of biscuits and milk gravy  which is wat Denise wanted.

We just visited most of the day catching up with our lives when Milton and Marie came around two thirty just in time for Christmas Dinner.  We had more food then we had good sense.

I called John Cunningham again and got through this time. It was so good to hear his voice again. He said he had dislocated his shoulder and may have to give up his fireman job. He also said he wanted to move from California. I asked him to come stay with me for a while to see if he liked Utah. He said he might but I really doubt it. Wouldn’t that be a trip after these 20 years?

Anyhow, after having a big old Williams dinner we just had a nice time spending the afternoon reminiscing about family occasions. I know Milton and Marie were glad to see me. The weather was super.

 

26 December 1989 Tuesday

I was up early about six thirty California time and watched some of the news. Noriega is hiding out in the Vatican Embassy in Panama City and the Romanian dictator and his wife were executed yesterday. What a strange and different world we are living in.

 I fixed J.W. and Pauline and Mom and Dad a big breakfast this morning. Milton and Marie didn't get back over here until eleven this morning. That's when my sister Donna showed up with her boys Kenny Jones and Kevin. Jones. 

Kenny is fourteen and taller than I am. Kevin is a nice looking kid too. He's in fourth grade. They are still pretty quiet and reserve around me but then they really don't know me. I really didn't have much to say to Donna. Maybe one of these days it will be different.

Milton and Marie are completely accepting of me being Gay as I think Mom and Dad are. Marie told me that Charline knows I am Gay and if she knows then Donna does too.

Really didn't do much today except overeat. I'm glad I am going home tomorrow so I can give my stomach a rest. It’s been pleasant here in California  but it feels strange that I'm not on Dale Street or in Orange County even.

I thought about John Cunningham a lot today... my first real love and heart break.

 

27 December 1989 Wednesday

Time really went fast today. Mom took me down to the Mervyn department store to exchange my sweaters that were too large and we then went out to lunch at some Mexican Restaurant. It was really good.

I’ve had a nice time with my folks but it will be great to get back to my life in Utah and stop all this binge eating. I’m glad I came home even if I feel like I am catching a cold. It’s good to rebuild family ties. I am more than ever convinced that Albuquerque will be the place for me. Salt Lake is too much of a detour for my family to come visit while Albuquerque is between California and Texas.

Anyway, I just visited until it was time for my folks to take me down to the bus depot. I hugged everyone goodbye and had them leave me there rather than sit around with me waiting to board the bus.  The Greyhound finally came around five California time and the rest of the evening was spent sitting on the bus traveling back to Utah.

Additional Material

·         KILLER GETS EXECUTION DATE  An execution date has been set for Michael Anthony Archuleta, who was found guilty Dec. 15 of capital homicide in the torture slaying of Gordon Ray Church of Delta. Fourth District Judge George E. Baliff has set Archuleta's execution by lethal injection for Feb. 19, 1990. Baliff signed the death warrant on Dec. 21, one day after a 4th District Court jury decided Archuleta, 27, should be given the death penalty for his part in Church's murder. The sentence will be automatically appealed to the Utah State Supreme Court. A trial for a second man involved in the murder, Lance Conway Wood, 21, is scheduled to begin on Feb. 20.

 

28 December 1989 Thursday

The bus arrived in Salt Lake City near seven in the morning Utah Time. It was so cold, foggy, and nasty out. I thought I’d freeze to death before walking the five blocks home to A Street.

Mike got out of bed when I came home and we visited a little but mostly I just wanted to fall into my own bed. You can’t sleep on a bus and I know I have a cold.

 In the afternoon, I went over to the offices at the Covey and signed a lease until the first of June so that’s taken care of. I then went to the phone company to have a phone installed in my apartment. They said they’d turn service on this Saturday.

I called Terry Johnson from the payphone to tell him that I was home and he said he’d come by tonight but he didn’t. Oh well. Not the first time he’s disappointed me.

I just stayed home this evening and watched TV. There was nothing special on. My cold has settled in my chest. Ugh. I don’t feel horrible, just miserable.  Actually I am glad that Terry didn’t come over.

 

29 December 1989 Friday

I cleaned the place this morning before going up to the University of Utah to sit in the sauna. I stayed there over two hours trying to sweat out this cold. I was way too tired to do much today.

About five thirty Terry Johnson came over and said he was sorry about not coming over last night but right after talking to me he got a phone call to come into work. He’s working tonight also but said he would come over tomorrow to spend the night. 

I just stayed home and watch TV and the news. I am so glad the 1980’s are almost over. I don’t have any plans for New Year’s Eve. Terry said he’s coming over but I wont hold my breath.

I’d kind of like to go to Backstreet out of tradition. I wonder how Billy Bikowski is doing? I don’t know why I should still care. May be its just this time of year we get nostalgic. Who knows?

In the news U.S. Troops are still in Panama and Noriega is still in the Vatican Embassy.

 

30 December 1989 Saturday

I rose early and then scrubbed the kitchen. When Mike Pipkin got up he cleaned the bathroom so he is keeping up with his part of the arrangement. Only time I went out today was to walk over to the Post Office. My pay check was in and a package from John Reeves. He sent me a "White Trash" cookbook. Mom collects cook books so I will send it on to her as I couldn't really use it as It's mostly cooking with meat. However it was sweet to have sent it.

Dave Malmstrom came over yesterday to sign a check so I can finally close out the Stonewall account. I think I will send $166 to Mark Lamar that he needs to cover the cost of his sitting up his church, but I need to get a little more control and get him to stop making financial obligations without my approval if he wants my involvement.

Anyhow, the phone was never turned on today and Terry never came over either to spend the night. I'm sure he'll come up with some lame excuse this time too.

Well it's soon to be a new year and a new decade. It is time to cut loose people who are draining my energies. Time to stop my co-dependency and being a care taker.

 I've been off sugar now for a day. I want to become sugar abstinent completely this coming year.

It was windy out today but it blew all the shit out of the air. Goodnight.

 

31 December 1989 Sunday

A closure, not just to a year but to an entire decade. Time cleanses all wounds so philosophers say.  I’m sitting here in my front room alone, listening to Nancy Griffith’s “there’s a light beyond these walls, Mary Margaret” and I am feeling a little melancholy.

Mike Pipkin has had Brandon Burt over here all day fucking so in the afternoon I went out to the movies and saw “War of the Roses” which I really enjoyed.

Anyway I felt blah for most of the day and rather isolated from people. The phone wasn’t turned on yesterday like it was supposed to have been so I don’t know if anyone has been trying to get a hold of me or not.

 So ends the year. I have the sniffles and I’m not planning on going out. Backstreet will just have to carry on without me. 

What are my feelings? I am feeling too much. I want to cry but not sure why. Maybe because I need someone to hold me and say it’s going to be fine. Why isn’t Terry Johnson here to hold me? That’s all I needed from him. Maybe that was too much for him.

I kind of would like to have gone to Affirmation but why I am not sure. It’s Duane Dawson’s Affirmation now and estrange from me. Just as I was sitting here feeling sorry for myself, Steve Barker and his nephew Spencer Barker came over like a whirlwind and had me sign up for three thousand free bonus frequent flyer hours. What a trip they are. I have no idea what that was all about but it seemed to have made them happy.

They told me that Walt Larabee is hosting a New Year’s Eve Party for Affirmation and that Bobbie Smith is sick with probably the same cold I have. I wish I had a phone to call some people and wish them happy New Years but Oh Well.  It is what it is .  God will keep them safe in her loving hands.

No wonder I’m so melancholy I just remembered that thirteen years ago tonight I had asked Fran to marry me. What a strange journey I've been on. I wonder how it will end? I am sure I wont be recording it ha!