Washington Courts

Pete Whipple is about 5′10, healthy, with a pleasant smile. He is attentive; if you stand next to him, you will sense he is attentive to you.

Mr. Whipple came to Spokane to testify at the trial from Williams Port, Pa. He and his wife are working to organize a new church in Williams Port, a nondenominational Christian church. That is what he does – he works as a person who starts churches. He is married. He and his wife have raised five children who now range in age from 22 to 31.

Mr. Whipple was at Morning Star Boys Ranch from September 1967 to June of 1977. His brother M.J. Whipple was with him.  How did they come to be at the ranch and for so long?

Their father was the cook at the ranch. They lived in a house on the property. Their mother was gone, he has not seen her since the time he was four. Their mother and father were divorced.

One day, their father simply left, left the boys in the house and never returned. Father Joe came over and told them they should come over and live at the ranch with the other boys. They did, and they stayed. Father Joe and the ranch became their father.

But, it seems as though Pete Whipple also became a father to himself. He excelled at the ranch and though he did not say it, it became apparent as I listened to his testimony, that he had “identified” with the purposes of the ranch and the person and character of Father Joe Weitensteiner.

After graduating from the ranch and with the blessing and emotional and material assistance (an old car the ranch had), he attended Northwest College in Kirkland, Washington. In 1978, he moved to New Jersey and by correspondence took courses at Berean School of the Bible in Missouri. He graduated in 1981 and has been involved in the ministry ever since.

He was at Morning Star when Billy Knapton was there. He describes Billy Knapton as the “poster child” for the ranch and may have been at the ranch longer than he and his brother.

Billy Knapton in his testimony said that he and some other boys had to stay out of school because they were sick and that during that time he and the other boys were made to hold iris flowers in their butt cracks and that pictures were taken. He said the picture was on Father Joe’s desk and that everyone knew about what had happened.

Pete Whipple said he was there, he and some other boys along with Billy Knapton had been quarantined. He said that the incident never happened. That there were no pictures. That there was no picture on Father Joe’s desk.

Mr. Whipple testified as to trips with Father Joe and others at the ranch. Of camping. Of Thanksgiving dinners at the home of Father Joe’s mother in Spokane with other boys.

He was asked about whether he ever saw Father Joe lose his temper. Six or eight times maybe. He said Father Joe became a bit upset with him when one day he was not wearing his cassock and had jeans and a cowboy hat on. Father Joe disapprovingly said “its Father Joe.” His upset was always tied to disrespectful behavior or disruptive behavior of the boys.

He said he never saw Father Joe strike a boy.

When asked about “hacks,” he said there were times, but the hacks were no different from what was true of the public schools at the time, of Ferris High School or Sacajawea Junior High. As to the hacks, the boys never took their clothes off. He said he had received a hack from time to time for bad behavior – over ten years, maybe six times.

When he went to college, Father Joe put a 1965 Plymouth in his name for transportation and a start. Over the years, Father Joe continued his generosity by making money gifts to him and his family and especially his ministerial work.

He said he saw Billy Knapton when he came back to the ranch for a time in 1970 - 71. He had a concern about Knapton because he was trying to sell bags of airplane glue.

He saw Billy in the mid-70’s and he “wasn’t doing well.”

At the ranch and with the care and kindness of Father Joe, Pete Whipple was able to be the father of the man he has become.

Questions were asked of Mr. Fleck regarding Father LaVoy. He testified that he never saw Father LaVoy engage in any inappropriate conduct. He also testified that he never saw Father Joe Weitensteiner engage in any sort of inappropriate conduct. As to both men he testified that he had never heard of anyone saying that either Father LaVoy or Father Joe engaged in inappropriate sexual contact.

He talked at some length about Billy Knapton. He knew him well. Billy came in 1964; he may have left in 1968. He was small, young, like a child. He was the youngest kid at the ranch. The senior kids took him under their wing. It was made clear by the boys that Billy was not to be treated harshly because he was vulnerable. The rough stuff simply did not happen regarding Billy. There were 25 or so boys at the ranch at that time.

Mr. Fleck was asked how easy it was to keep a secret at the ranch. He said it would not be possible. The ranch was a closed society. The kids were together all the time. He said it would have been very difficult not to know any secrets.

During Billy Knapton’s testimony, a story was told about several boys who one day when they were supposed to be ill were punished when the counselors put stems of flowers in their butt cracks. It was told that a picture or pictures were taken and that the pictures circulated around the ranch.

Mr. Fleck was asked whether he knew of this story, whether he had even heard of the story, whether he had seen any pictures related to the story. In each case he clearly said no.

He spoke of many camping trips that Father Joe would take groups kids on overnight in and about the area near Morning Star Boys Ranch. He talked about sleeping out under the stars, about sleeping in war surplus, mummy sleeping bags.

Tim Kosnoff, the attorney for the plaintiff, did not particularly like what he was hearing.

Mr. Kosnoff wanted to show his negative response to Fleck’s testimony. He wanted to express his dismissiveness of the testimony in front of the jury. He made a snide remark about the use of mummy bags as if to say Fleck must not be telling the truth because war surplus mummy bags did not exist, that there were no such bags. Perhaps he was suggesting that mummy bags were only invented long after the war, maybe in Seattle.

Of course anyone age 60 today without much money in the 50’s and 60’s would have gotten his camping supplies at war surplus stores. As would Morning Star Boys Ranch. World War II sleeping bags were in great supply then. Many of the World War II sleeping bags were mummy sleeping bags. Down filled mummy bags were used by the 10th Mountain division. Wool blanket mummy bags were used by hundreds of thousands of other troops. Both such bags were also used during the Korean War and were available in surplus stores all over the nation.

Mr. Kosnoff attempted to be dismissive and somewhat snide with respect of Mr. Fleck’s testimony that Father Joe and the boys would sleep outside because they camped out when it would not rain. Kosnoff said something like “sure, it doesn’t rain in Spokane.”

Mr. Fleck said that the nights they went out on their night camping trips took place on nights when it would not rain. He said that if it did rain, everybody would just pack up, hop in the bus, and drive back to the ranch.