Burbank Officials Looking for Source of Anti-Catholic Posters Being Glued to Public Property

Burbank officials said Wednesday they are trying to pinpoint the source of hundreds of anti-Catholic propaganda posters that have appeared, glued to public property, in their city and elsewhere in the Los Angeles area during the last month.

The posters charge the Roman Catholic Church with secret ownership of print and electronic news media and manipulation of government agencies--wording similar to leaflets distributed by the Tony and Susan Alamo Christian Foundation of Alma, Ark.

Thus far, authorities said, no direct link to the Alamo organization has been found. But a spokesman for the target of the propaganda declared that the link exists.

“One of our people saw one (poster) being put up awhile ago,” said the Rev. Joseph Battaglia, director of communications for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, “and we were able to trace the license number of the car . . . to the Alamo Foundation.”

Burbank Assistant Prosecutor Terry Stevenson said it will cost his city $9,000 to take down the posters, which are glued to utility poles and traffic control boxes, and if responsibility can be fixed, “we’re going to prosecute them and make them pay.”

Tony Alamo, co-founder of the organization that began in 1966 as a fundamentalist ministry to Hollywood street people and now claims 4 million members, would neither confirm nor deny responsibility for the posters.

“We wish to remain as mysterious on the subject . . . as the Vatican,” he said.

The posters charge that the three major TV networks, the Los Angeles Times, many federal and state governmental agencies and the Supreme Court are all Catholic-controlled.