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THE PAUL DUNN STORIESON 16 FEBRUARY 1991, THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC

reported that many of Elder Paul H. Dunn’s baseball and warstories had serious factual problems. The highlights of thereport were that Harold Brown did not die in Dunn’s arms asDunn had repeatedly told audiences, but is still living inOdessa, Missouri; and that Dunn never played for the St. LouisCardinals. The story was printed in newspapers across thenation and was widely discussed by the Utah Saints. Somewere angry at Elder Dunn; others defended him. Interestingly,some of the strongest hostility was directed toward LynnPacker, the reporter who uncovered the story and sold hisresearch to the Republic and to a Salt Lake television station.There was also a lot of finger pointing among the press as towhy the Utah media sat on the story and waited for the Republicto break it.

In a statement issued at the time of the Republic story, theLDS church stated that it could not confirm the allegations inthe Republic. It did affirm that Dunn was made an emeritusgeneral authority for health reasons. Reporters contactedDunn, who expressed sorrow over the pain the revelations hadcaused the Church and said his stories were created simply toillustrate moral points, as did Jesus’ parables.

Newspapers

~

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printed numer-ous letters to the

editor; some featured cartoons and editorials. The DavisCounty Clipper, headquartered in the conservative UtahMormon community of Bountiful, ran strong critical opinioncolumns and cartoons.

As expected, the Mormon folk culture immediately beganassuaging the tension of the event through humor. Perhaps themost common joke was about document forger MarkHofmann making Paul Dunn Cardinals baseball cards. Otherjokes placed Dunn in unlikely settings, such as catching BYUHeisman quarterback Ty Detmer’s first touch-down pass. Sev-eral individuals submitted unsolicited cartoons to SUNSTONE.

SUNSTONE believes that this event should be confronted soas not to be forgotten and perhaps repeated. The articles wehave gathered concerning the Paul Dunn episode are groupedinto three general sections: (1) reprints of news accountswhich reported the event, including the original ArizonaRepublic story; (2) an edited version of the original Lynn Packerstory, which he wrote for the 1989 Salt Lake Sunstone sympos-ium but did not give because SUNSTONE felt the story neededto be put into a broader context; and (3) essays responding tothe episode. Examples of the communityg effort to deal withthe event through humor are interspersed throughout thearticles.

Although this episode is a painful one, we believe that asympathetic yet thorough inquiry into the matter is salutory,

helping us to become a stronger andmore honest community. ~

PAGE 28 SEPTEMBER 1991

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MORMON LEADER ADMITSEXAGGERATING STORIES

By Richard R. RobertsonThe Arizona Republic, 16 February 1991

SALT LAKE CITY--AmongMormons, Elder Paul H. Dunn isa popular teacher, author androle model. As a prominentleader of the Church of JesusChrist of Letter-day Saints formore than 25 years, he has toldcountless inspirational storiesabout his life:

Like the time his best frienddied in his arms during a WorldWar II battle, while imploringDunn to teach America’s youthabout patriotism.

Or how God protected him asenemy machine-gun bullets rip-ped away his clothing, gear andhelmet without ever touching hisskin.

Or how perseverance andMormon values led him to playmajor-league baseball for the St.Louis Cardinals.

But these stories are not true.Dunn’s "dead" best friend isn’t

dead; only the heel of Dunn’sboot caught a bullet; and henever played for the St. LouisCardinals or any other major-league team.

Dunn acknowledged thatthose stories and others were un-true, but he defends fabricationsas necessary to illustrate his the-ological and moral points.

He compares his stories to theparables told by Jesus--ac-knowledging, however, thatJesus’ parables weren’t abouthimself.

One of the Mormons’ "Thir-teen Articles of Faith" deals withhonesty.

Other Mormon leaders appar-ently were concerned about thisin September 1989, because,within weeks of investigating al-legations that his war and sportsstories were fabricated, theyquietly placed Dunn, 66, on"emeritus" status "for healthreasons."

As a "general authority" since1964, Dunn had been among thetop 90 men who govern the 7.3million-member world-widechurch.

The church also pressuredSalt Lake City freelance writerLynn Packer, a Mormon, not topublish stories about Dunn’s fab-rications. In the fall, after thechurch had terminated Packer’steaching contract at BrighamYoung University for pursuingthe story, he provided informa-tion he has collected over thepast four years to The Republic.

Despite Dunn’s "retirement,"his grandfatherly demeanor anddown-home, self-deprecatingstorytelling style continue tomake him a popular public spea-ker and author.

He also remains the most pro-lific author among current andformer church leaders. Hereceives royalties from 23 inspi-rational cassette tapes and 28books, many of which containhis exaggerated war and baseballstories. They are among the morepopular items in LDS book-stores.

Relying partly on his reputa-tion as a former professional ath-lete, Dunn also is promoting hisnew business, Sports-ValuesTraining Centers, which bringsprofessional athletes and teen-age boys together for inspira-tional workshops. One suchworkshop is tentatively plannedin Mesa for this spring.

Dunn, 66, who has a doctor-ate in education, said he doesn’tconsider it deceitful to exagger-ate or alter facts.

He said his technique is to"combine" elements of severaltrue stories to create a singlestory that will better convey amessage and capture anaudience’s interest.

In the case of his false claim tohave played for the St. Louis Car-dinals, he said youngsters canrelate better to a major-leagueteam than to the farm teams forwhich he briefly played.

"The combining of storiesseems justifiable in terms ofillustrating a point. My motivesare pure and innocent," Dunnsaid during an interview in SaltLake City attended by his attor-ney and a friend.

"I haven’t purposely tried toembellish or rewrite history. I’vetried to illustrate points that

was not advised of its conclu-sions. He denied that it was con-nected to his retirement, whichhe insisted was for poor healththat has since improved.

FIRED FOR CRITICIZINGELDER

At the same time, however,the university terminatedPacker’s teaching contract, inpart because he wanted to pub-lish a story about his findings.

Gordon Whiting, then chair-man of the BYU communicationsdepartment, had warned Packerin a memo that "publication of

FIRST PRESIDENCYSTATEMENT

The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ ofLatter-day Saints issued the following statement Friday:

"In consideration of factors of age and health, Elder Paul H.Dunn was given emeritus status on Sept. 30, 1989, along withseven other General Authorities.

"We have had no way of fully or finally verifying the accu-racy or inaccuracy of the current allegations or accounts that arenow under challenge. We are naturally concerned about thewell-being of Elder Dunn and his family during this stressfultime.

"We appreciate the service Elder Dunn has given and thesacrifices he and his family have made, often at the cost of theirown comfort and health." (Deseret News, Saturday, February 16,1991)

would create interest," Dunn ex-plained, "Combining war storiesis simply putting history in little,finer packages."

But concerns about Dunn’srewriting of history promptedBYU faculty editors to deletesegments about Dunn from anow-released book aboutMormon soldiers, titled A Time toKill: Reflections of War.

"Elder Dunn’s stories didn’tmatch military history docu-ments," explained one of the ed-itors, Grant P. Skabelund.

And Dunn’s retirement oc-curred within two weeks of theprobe into his storytelling practi-ces by top church officials, whohad been given copies of Packer’sfindings.

Dunn said he cooperated withthe church’s investigation but

the Paul Dunn article will dam-age the church will damage theuniversity, will damage the de-partment and will damage you."

Whiting acknowledged thatPacker’s contract was notrenewed for the 1990-91 schoolyear in part because Packer wasviolating church and universitypolicies that prohibit public crit-icism of church leaders, even ifthe criticism is true.

BUDDY’S STIRRINGLAST WORDS

One of Dunn’s most dramaticembellished stories, told on atape titled War Experiences, isabout the combat death of hisclosest wartime buddy, HaroldLester Brown.

Dunn, who was a private inan anti-tank platoon, vividly de-scribed how he and Brown were

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FURTHER STORIES OF ELDER’S CAREER

ELDER PAUL H. DUNN’S exaggerated stories mention that he:¯ Was the sole survivor among 11 infantrymen in a 100-yard

race against death, during which one burst of machine-gun fireripped his right boot off, another tore off his ammunition andcanteen belt and yet another split his helmet in half--allwithout wounding him.

¯ Kept a Japanese prisoner from being butchered by GIs bent onrevenge for the torture-slayings of American soldiers.

¯ Wrestled a dynamite pack off a child kamikaze infiltrator,saving himself and the child.

¯ Miraculously survived being run over by an enemy tank, whileothers were crushed.

¯ Was one of only six in his 1,000-man combat group whosurvived, and was the only one of the six who wasn’t wounded.He has since acknowledged that only 30 soldiers in his unit

died during the entire war, but he said the exaggeration ofnumbers is unimportant.

"The thing I’m trying to say is that there was a power higherthan my own.., a wonderful spiritual force out there."

pinned down for the night inseparate foxholes on Okinawa.

"Unfortunately, one of the(mortar) shells caught a direct hiton the foxhole of my friend . . .and I could hear him call outwhen that shell first hit," Dunnrecounted. He said he listened allnight to Brown’s moans, whilefighting off "two or three banzaiattacks and artillery attacks."

At daybreak, Dunn said, hewas able to rush to his friend’srain:filled foxhole, where hefound Brown’s head barely abovethe water.

"How in the world he livedthat night I don’t know. Icounted, after his death, 67shrapnel wounds, some largeenough where you could putyour whole hand in," Dunn said.

Brown’s last words, asrecounted by Dunn, were:

" ’ I know this is the end ....If you ever have an opportunity... to talk to the young people ofAmerica, will you tell them forme that it’s a privilege to laydown my life for them?’ "

"And with that testimony onhis lips, he died!"

FRIEND NEVERHEARD STORY

The problem with the story,Packer discovered, is that Browndidn’t die on Okinawa.

In fact, he hasn’t died yet.

Brown said from his home inOdessa, Mo., that he was per-plexed by Dunn’s story.

"Maybe he got me mixed upwith someone else," Brownspeculated, although he notedthat he and Dunn have stayed incontact since the war--even vis-iting occasionally and exchang-ing Christmas cards.

Dunn never has mentionedthe story to him, he said.

Dunn didn’t get mixed up. It’s

"combined," he said.He said he based the story

loosely on the death of anothersoldier, Ralph Cocroft, who wasmortally wounded in a mortarattack that Dunn said he wit-nessed.

Cocroft didn’t live throughthe night or die in his arms,Dunn admitted.

Military records confirm thatCocroft died on Okinawa on May15, 19ar5.

"I came home many monthslater, talking to kids in a teachingsituation," Dunn said. "All I didwas take Harold Brown’srelationship (with me) and com-bine it with Ralph Cocroft’sdying."

Once he had told the fabri-cated version of the story, Dunnsaid, he couldn’t change it.

"Rather than go back andchange something where itwould be deceitful, I just kept itthe same," he explained.

LEGENDS OFBASEBALL, FAMILY

Dunn’s baseball stories are aslegendary as his war stories.

He has written and told audi-ences that he signed a contract toplay for the St. Louis Cardinalsafter graduating from highschool.

the St. Louis Cardinals. Now ittakes a lot of preparation to be-come a big-league ball player," hewrote in one book, You & YourWorld.

But in truth, Dunn neverplayed a game for the St. LouisCardinals or any major-leagueteam.

The closest he came was play-ing six weeks "off-roster" in seve-ral practice and exhibition gamesin 19~-2 for the Pocatello (Idaho)Cardinals, a St. Louis Cardinalfarm team. He was cut.

Baseball records show thatDunn signed a professionalplayer contract in 19ar7 with theOntario Orioles, in California’s"Class C" Sunset League. But hepracticed only a few weeks,played onty in the first regulargame and then was released.

Most of Dunn’s recent booksand tapes contain no referencesto either using war or baseball.He said he stopped using thembecause his audiences want tohear new material.

He uses new stories, includ-ing many humorous and touch-ing ones about his family, toillustrate his religious points.

Some of those stories, too, are"combined," Dunn acknowl-edged.

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DUNN STORY PROVESCOSTLY FOR VETERAN

.JOURNALISTBy Vern Anderson

Associated Press WriterSalt Lake Tribune, 21 February 1991

LYNN PACKER was serving aMormon mission in Germany in1964 when he heard 39-year-oldPaul H. Dunn had been ap-pointed to the church’s hierarchy.

"I clearly remember my im-pression-youthful, SouthernCalifornia, baseball player, andit’s about time. Here’s someonewe can identify with. It saysyouth. It says real person," Pac-ker recalled.

More than a quarter centurylater, the veteran broadcastjournalist’s reminiscence is richin irony.

For it was Packer’s relentlesspursuit of Dunn over most of the1980s that led to Saturday’srevelation by the Arizona Repub-lic: the churchman had fabri-cated many of the personal warand baseball stories that had fedhis reputaion as the faith’s mostspellbinding speaker and popu-lar author.

Dunn, 66, was placed onemeritus status on Oct. 1, 1989,for what the church said were"factors of age and health." Thechurch said it had no way of ver-ifying the accuracy of the Repub-lic story.

Packer himself paid a highprofessional price for the re-search on Dunn that he sold tothe Republic, only a small protionof which formed the basis of thenewspaper’s story.

He ultimately lost his teach-ing position at’church-ownedBrigham Young University andtoday, working on a one-yearcontract at the University ofDortmund in Germany, feelsbeaten "to a pulp."

Why did the story that Repub-lic reporter Richard Robertson

calls "the worst-kept secret inSalt Lake" take so long to comeout?"

The answer appears to lie inthe church’s efforts to avoid ascandal and in Packer’s own vul-nerability as a BYU employeewithout tenure whose wife hadbeen diagnosed with cancer earlyin 1987.

The combination led, onSept. 30, 1987, to a "deal" be-tween Packer and a "high churchofficial" in which he withdrewthe story he had submitted toUnited Press International in ex-change for a guarantee of contin-ued employment at BYU, accord-ing to Packer.

Packer declined to identifythe official, but has told others itwas his uncle, Eider Boyd K. Pac-ker of the Quorum of the TwelveApostles.

"Lynn claims he had an agree-ment with his uncle through hisfather," said BYU spokesmanPaul Richards. "That the agree-ment fell apart when he contin-ued to ask questions about PaulDunn. When he continued to askquestions, Elder Packer felt hehad not been true to the agree-ment."

Through spokesman JerryCahill, Boyd Packer saidWednesday, "There was nothingever stated. It never happened.There was no such agreementthat Lynn Packer would beretained in exchange for nopublication."

In 1986, Lynn Packer hadbeen dividing his time since1981 between reporting at KSL-TV and teaching journalism atBYU. When he lost the KSL job,he decided to freelance a story on

Dunn’s involvement with AFCOEnterprises, which had gonebankrupt in 1982 in the biggestreal estate development fraud inUtah history.

Dunn, then a member of thechurch’s First Quorum of theSeventy, claimed his tenure as anAFCO director had ended in1978; Packer sought to prove ithad lasted much longer. He alsobegan looking at the veracity ofDunn’s stories--long familiar toMormon audiences--about hav-ing played maj or league baseballand having survived manybrushes with death in World WarII.

"There isn’t a single signifi-cant baseball or war story I couldfind that was true," said Packer,who in September 1987 com-plied under pressure with a BYUadministrative request that he in-form the church of his allega-tions.

After an unsuccessful attemptto market the story with Utah

Holiday magazine, Packer took itto UPI. The wire service was pre-paring to run it when Packer’sdepartment chairman at BYU,Gordon Whiting, told him in amemo dated 30 September 1987that he should permit churchleaders to deal privately with theDunn matter.

"After providing the informa-tion, we accept the judgment ofthose responsible. We will nottake accusations against a Gen-eral Authority to the media,"Whiting wrote, adding thatpublication "will damage thechurch, will damage the univer-sity and will damage you."

Fearing for his job, Packeragreed to the deal he said wasoffered him that night: don’tpublish the story and you canteach at BYU as long as you want.

Packer bridles at suggestionsby BYU officials that he was usingcoercion.

"They can never give you atime or a place when I went to

PAUL H. D UNN’SSTATEMENT

ELDER PAUL H. DUNN today issued the following state-ment in response to the article which appeared in TheArizona Republic Saturday, February 16, 1991.

I was deeply sorrowed to read the article which aims at agreat institution and those officers who represent it. Unfor-tunately the article chose to base its headline and conclu-sions on just a few stories taken from over 40 years ofspeaking and writing. Over the years as a teacher and anofficer of the LDS Church, I laave shared my personal expe-riences in order to teach and motivate people. In that capac-ity, I have used hundreds of illustrations from a variety ofsources including my own life. The places and events frommy own life I have described, including my war assignmentsand minor league baseball affiliations, were actual experi-ences. As I stated to the reporter in the interview, I have onsome occasions changed the names of people involved toprovide confidentiality, combined events to try to make amore pointed or vivid illustration, and added emphasis ordetail to stories to increase their teaching impact. I did notstate that I fabricated those stories because I had been in theplaces and experienced the events. It has always been myobjective to teach more effectively. In so doing, I have neverintended to mislead or to aggrandize my own circumstances,and I regret if such an impression may have been given.

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anybody with that story and said,’Do this for me or else,’ "he said."And I can show you the timesand places and dates when theytold it just the opposite: ’Do thestory and you’re history.’"

Packer maintains that EldersJames E. Faust and David B.Haight, Quorum of the Twelve,were aware of the arrangement.Like Boyd K. Packer, the pair de-clined to be interviewed, but de-nied through spokesman BruceOlsen there was any deal.

"I guess it boils down to whatpeople are going to believemwhat Lynn Packer had to say orwhat the general authorities haveto say," Olsen said.

He said Faust and Haight toldLynn Packer "clearly and force-fully on two occasions there is noquid pro quo attached to this."The two officials did tell Packerthey were willing to "encourageBYU to keep you on" out of con-sideration for his wife’s health,Olsen said.

"They were trying as membersof the Twelve to help out abrother," he said.

And yet, in a memo to churchspokesman Richard Lindsay afterthe alleged deal was struck, Pack-er wrote: "I had received assur-ances, prior to my decision, thatmy job at BYU would be securefor the indefinite future if I with-drew the story."

At BYU, Whiting decided inearly 1988 not to renew Packer’scontract for the 1988-1989school year, a step he first hadwanted to take in 1986 out ofconcern about Packer’s contin-ued yea>to-year status withoutretirement and other benefits.

"I thought the decision wasmine to make," Whiting said.

After being told his contractwould not be renewed, Packersaid he met "with the "highchurch official" and reaffirmedthe alleged prior understanding.

A subsequent memo from de-partment chairman Whiting told

Packer that BYU administratorshad asked him to reconsider hisdecision "after study of reportsabout the signals and communi-cations you have received." Thecontract was renewed.

The following year, "after con-sultation with the appropriatepeople," Whiting offered Packer"a final year’s contract" for 1989-1990.

BYU’s Richards says that whenRex Lee took over as the school’spresident in 1989, he was deter-mined to end the part-timerelationship with Packer, whohas no advance degree.

"I don’t care if he publishes itor not," Lee said at the time.

Whiting has said the final de-cision not to renew Packer’s con-tract came, in part, because Pack-er was violating church and uni-versity policies that prohibitpublic criticism of church lead-ers, even if the criticism is true.

When Packer completed histeaching duties in August 1990,he was given a year’s salary asseverance pay, a move that sur-prised Whiting since it didn’tcome out of his departmentalbudget.

"I think it probably looks tomany people.., like an effort tobribe him not to go with the PaulDunn story." Whiting said.

But Lee said it clearly was nota bribe since Packer was told hewas free to publish the Dunnstory with no strings attached.

"It seemed like the decentthing to do. Lynn didn’t have an-other job and was facing personalproblems," Lee said.

For his part, Whiting said hewas pained by "the degree towhich the university has beenpulled into this situation. And Iguess I’m also pained at thechurch being pulled in.

"But the church will have tofend for itself and do what it canto rescue its reputation for hon-esty and integrity."

MILLI VANILLIMusic & The

& PAUL DUNNSpoken Word

A Salt Lake bumper sticker.

LYNN PACKER COMMENTS

SUNSTONE invited Lynn Packer to comment on the stories in thepress about his involvement with Brigham Young University; hiscomments follow.

BYU comments to the press wereoutrageous. Through my attor-ney, I demanded a retraction andcorrection and apology One ofthe most sensitive parts about theBYU statements (and these werein the Provo Daily Herald story)involved my wife’s cancer. Thosestatements were outrageous fortwo separate reasons. First, theyconstituted an extreme invasionof privacy Second, their state-ment that my contracts were ex-tended because of my wife’s can-cer are absolutely false. I havedocumentary proof which showsthat it was after my wife con-tracted cancer that they beganchallenging my contract. Now,[BYU] President Rex Lee did callmy wife personally and apolo-gize. I consider that apology in-sufficient and in some ways in-sulting, but I do not want topursue any legal action because Iwould be bringing more atten-tion to the very aspect of ourpersonal lives that is so sensitive.Before that story had broken, mywife and I had decided to keepher cancer confidential. We hadgood friends who we hadn’t eventold. They found out through thenewspaper.

One thing has to be under-stood: the conflict at BYU wasbetween the administration--[former BYU provost] Jae Ballifand Rex Leemand not betweenme and my colleagues in thebroadcast news program. As anexample, one of my best studentsat the University of Dortmund inGermany this past year attendedBYU’s broadcast news programthis summer. BYU provided herwith a scholarship and assistanceat my arrangement and request.I’ve already met with and willmeet again with colleagues atBYU about improving their Euro-pean journalistic contacts. I planto help BYU set up further ex-changes with the University of

Dortmund and to help BYU withits desire to have more interna-tional influence.

There was a serious disputeand confusion among the admin-istrators and not the department.BYU did give me the equivalenceof two semesters severance pay.Without that help and assistanceI would not have been able toafford to teach at the Universityof Dortmund during the lastschool year. That severance paywas offered at the end of nineyears of service with BYU.Frankly, it was never fully ex-plained why it was paid becauseI was on a year-to-year, contractand they had no obligation.However, I thought I had earnedit and deserved it.

There was a deal with aChurch official [that I could stayat BYU as long as I did not publ-ish the Dunn story]. It was anunfortunate deal for both parties.It was a devil’s agreement--onethat neither side should have en-tered into. It was wrong for me todo that, from a philosophical,ethical, and j ournalisticstandpoint. The agreement wasbroken by the Church. The dealwas never honored by theChurch. I never broke the storywhile teaching at BYU.

[When asked to comment onPacker’s statement, BYU spokes-man Paul Richards said that suffi-cient information was presented inVern Anderson’s AP story and BYUhas no further comment on the mat-ter.]

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PACKER SAYS MORMONCHURCH LIED TODEFEND DUNN

By Vern AndersonThe Associated Press

12 August 1991

SALT LAKE CITY--MormonChurch officials lied when theysaid they had no way of "finallyverifying" whether a formerchurch official’s accounts of hiswar and baseball experienceswere accurate, a reporter claimedSaturday.

Lynn Packer, whose researchinto Paul H. Dunn’s storiesshowed several had been fabri-cated, said members of the faith’sQuorum of the Twelve Apostleswere well aware the stories werefalse when Dunn was abruptlyretired from the church’s hierar-chy in 1989 for reasons of"health and age."

Packer told an audience at theSunstone Symposium thatchurch leaders had conducted atleast two internal inquiries intothe veracity of Dunn’s stories andwhether he had falsified copies oftax documents.

The second investigation washeaded by a church attorney,Harry Pugsley, with whom Pack-er, a Mormon, said he cooper-ated.

"His report, confirming theallegations, was delivered to theQuorum of the Twelve just a cou-ple of weeks before Paul Dunnwas given emeritus status," Pack-er said.

Packer’s research waspurchased by The Arizona Repub-lic and formed the basis of thenewspaper’s story in Februaryabout D~nn, whose tales ofWorld War II and playing in theSt. Louis Cardinals organizationhelped make him the most pop-ular speaker and author in TheChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Dunn, 67, conceded to The

Republic some of his stories wereuntrue but he defended them asnecessary to better illustratemoral and theological points.

When The Republic story waspublished, the church’s Depart-ment of Public Communicationsissued a statement saying, "Wehave had no way of fully or fi-nally verifying the accuracy orinaccuracy of current allegationsor accounts that are now underchallenge."

That statement, Packer said,is a "falsehood." He said he wastold by Quorum members JamesE. Faust and David B. Haight thatif the truth about Dunn’s fabrica-tions ever became public, itwould shake the faith of somemembers.

Asked about Packer’sstatements late Saturday, churchspokesman Don LeFevre said:"We stand by the statement thatwas issued at the time."

Packer criticized The Republicfor "soft-pedaling" the story bynot touching the issue of alleg-edly falsified documents, theUtah news media for failing tofollow it up and the church forsacrificing truth to protect one ofits own.

The result, he said, was thathis reputation suffered becausehis motives--not Dunn’s--wereunfairly questioned.

"You can scratch your head along time trying to understandthe Paul Dunn myth making andcoverup in terms of the truth,"Packer said. "But if you think ofit in terms of connections, youcan easily understand."

Someone like Dunn, a mem-ber of the church’s "good-old-boy network, sort of the LDS

leadership social-business club,gets every benefit of the doubt."

During his presentation,Packer held up an enlarged copyofaW-2 form for 1947 given himby Dunn, through his attorney, asproof Dunn played a season ofprofessional baseball with theOntario, California, Oriolesminor league club.

"Observation alone revealsproblems with this document,"Packer said. Numbers are ob-viously hand-altered. One type-writer was used for wages; an-

other for the amount withheld."Research backed up what

was obvious: the W-2 form is nomore credible than counterfeit-ing a thousand dollar bill with aone dollar bill and a crayon,"Packer said.

Asked about the document,Dunn admitted to The Republicthat the $5,024.75 figure on theform did not reflect wages fromthe Orioles, but a "grouping" ofwages from "semi-professionalbaseball."

PAUL D UNN’5 FATHER’S DAYBOOK CANCELLED

By Mark EddingtonDavis County Clipper, 18June 1991

BOUNTIFUL--A scheduledSaturday appearance by Paul H.Dunn at an LDS book store inBountiful was cancelled after hispublisher, Bookcraft, decided tocancel the printing of his latestbook.

Dunn, a Mormon general au-thority on emeritus status, wassupposed to appear at Seagull’sBook and Tape Store at 273 W.500 South in Bountiful to pro-mote his latest work, a Father’sDay pamphlet entitled ’% ManCalled Dad."

But Seagull’s owner LorenRichards said the autographparty was cancelled when Book-craft informed him the pamphletwould not be printed for Father’sDay because of the controversysurrounding Dunn.

The controversy broke lastFebruary when newspapersacross the country carried Dunn’sadmission that many of the inspi-rational stories in his books andtapes were a combination of fic-tion and fact.

Bookcraft President Russell B.Orton denies the cancellationhad anything to do with adversepublicity over Dunn’s admis-sions.

"It was scheduled for Father’sDay but it wasn’t ready, which is

a very common occurrence in thepublishing business. Books oftendon’t make deadlines," Ortonsaid.

Asked whether Bookcraftwould still publish the booklet,Orton said that wasn’t anyone’sbusiness but his own, but latersaid he had plans to print thepamphlet for Father’s Day nextyear.

"It’s a Father’s Day booklet, soit wouldn’t be published untilnext Father’s Day," he reiterated."It’s delayed because it wasn’tready"

Officials at the church-ownedbookstores could not verifyOrton’s contention the bookletwas unfinished, but said theyhad received quite a bit of pre-publication publicity.

Roger Toone, vice presidentof retail sales at Deseret Book,said they had placed an initialorder for the pamphlet, but latercontacted Bookcraft and can-celled the orders after the Dunnstory appeared in papers andsales of his books declined.

"We expressed our concern toBookcraft. We weren’t really surehow many of our customerswould really be interested. And Ithink they reconsidered and de-termined not to bring it (the

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pamphlet) out," he said.Sales of Dunn’s books and

tapes have fallen off dramaticallyover the past few months, andToone said the maiority of Dunn’sbooks and tapes have beenreturned or are now beingreturned to Bookcraft. One ex-ception is the book, "The BirthThat We Call Death," which hascontinued to sell well despite thecontroversy.

The decision by Deseret Bookto cancel orders for "A ManCalled Dad" and to discontinuethe sale of many of his otherworks has reportedly rankledBookcraft, according to severalsources who spoke on conditionof anonymity.

"We’ve tried to be as fair as wecould and treat his material justlike we would any other product.When we have books from otherpublishers, other authors, thatdo not sell, we return them to thepublisher. That’s what we aredoing with the majority of

Dunn’s material because franklypeople just aren’t buying them,"Toone said.

Deseret Book officials main-tain the return of Dunn’s booksand tapes is strictly a businessdecision and has nothing to dowith the content or controversysurrounding his books.

LD5 MILITARY CHAPLAINCHARGED WITH FAKING

RECORD IN VIETNAM"Editor’s note: In the course of preparing this issue, this particlarevent was brought to our attention by several individuals. We thoughtit was interesting that they brought it up in the context of Paul Dunn.Obviously there is no connection between Paul H. Dunn and GaryProbst. "

FORT LEWIS, WASH. (AP)---Amilitary chaplain is charged withfaking a heroic record with theelite Green Berets and ArmyRangers in the Vietnam War, baseofficials say.

A court-martial is plannedAug. 7 for Maj. Gary Probst, 37,an LDS chaplain and the highest-ranking officer on the base in re-cent memory to face such action,post officials said.

Prosecutors will show Probstnever served in Vietnam with theMarines or the Army, neverearned the Bronze Star or 14other insignia he wore and wasnot an expert field medic or ex-plosives expert as he claimed,said Army Capt. Martin Eckert.

He faces a dishonorable dis-charge and a maximum sentenceof 20 years in prison.

He was a student at BrighamYoung University during theearly 1970s, when he claimed hewas in the Marines and Army,Eckert said.

Probst joined the Army in1980 as a chaplain and served atFort Gordon, Ga., and SchofieldBarracks, Hawaii, before comingto Fort Lewis in 1987, Eckertsaid. He has been reassigned toother duties pending the court-martial.

[In August, Probst was dis-missed and fined $10,000 afterpleading guilty during a courtmartial.]

BOOKCRAFTFebruary 19, 1991Dear Book Dealer:

In view of the recent stories about Elder Paul H. Dunn and theaccuracy of his books we thought it might be helpful if weprovided you with some facts.

We are enclosing with this letter a copy of Elder Dunn’s officialstatement which was released after the initial story was printed. Webelieve this will help clarify the situation. We want to also remindyou that just because something is printed in the newspaper orseen on television does not make it necessarily true.

We believe that things Elder Dunn said to the Arizona Republicreporter were taken out of context and used in a way to change hisoriginal meanings. We know also that the original story andsubsequent coverage have been deliberately slanted to hurt EiderDunn and the Church.

We want to call attention to the fact that after all the "investiga-tion," these reports are dealing with stories that are a minusculepart of eider Dunn’s writings.

Bookcraft has been and is still proud to be associated with thisfine man and outstanding teacher. We intend to continue publish-ing his books, and there is absolutely no question of any of hisbooks being recalled.

We hope this information will be helpful and want you to feelfree to call if you have any further questions.

Sincerely,

Russell B. OrtonPresident

DESERET BOOK MEMORANDUM

TO: Retail Store Managers, All Retail Employees, Roger Toone,Buying Office, Rex Carlisle, Matt Cole.From: Jeff ClarkRE: Status of Paul H. Dunn Product

IN RESPONSE to the media controversy concerning Paul H. Dunnand the customer feedback concerning the appropriateness ofselling his authored product, our existing returns policy should beused as a guideline.

If customers return product and demand a refund, we willaccept for return items in saleable condition. Use judgement inhandling these situations so that we may win loyal customersrather than offend.

The corresponding buyers, Paul and Carla, are reviewing themin/max levels on Paul H. Dunn items and will reduce inventorylevels as appropriate. Please feel free to pass along to them helpfulfeedback in this regard. It has also been suggested that if customersare persistent about the appropriateness of producing and sellingthe product, you may suggest they call Bookcraft or Covenant, orthe appropriate producer of the items. Their numbers are:

Bookcraft 972-6180Covenant Communications 800-662-954-5

Thank You.

SEPTEMBER 1991PAGE 34