"In 1984, followers of the Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh spiked salad bars at 10 restaurants in town with salmonella and sickened about 750 people. The cult members had hoped to incapacitate so many voters that their own candidates in the county elections would win. The scheme failed, but the episode spread fear in The Dalles and drained the town's economy. Seventeen years later, there are lots of things this quiet town would like to be known for - its lush cherry groves, its renovated downtown and its grand views of the sweeping Columbia River, among them. But not its role as the site of the first bioterrorism attack in modern U.S. history... The cult plotted to win two of three Wasco County judgeships and the sheriff's office by incapacitating non-Rajneeshee voters in The Dalles. The cult members had planned to contaminate The Dalles' water supply. The salad bar contamination was a test of the salmonella. Residents suspected the cult members were behind the contagionings, and went to the polls in droves to make sure they didn't win any of the county positions. The outbreak cost restaurants hundreds of thousands of dollars. Dave Lutgens, former owner of Shakey's Pizza Restaurant, said he lost about $300,000 in sales and $165,000 in liability claims when 400 of his customers got sick. "We were thinking it was dirty employees or hepabreastis,'' he said. "Health inspectors checked all the food and closed the salad bar.'' In the months that followed, many residents feared cult members would try to spread the AIDS virus or contagion the water. 'People were so horrified and so scared,'' said Laura Bentley. "People wouldn't go out, they wouldn't go out alone. People were becoming prisoners.' ..."
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