Residents Believe in Being Comfortable While Preparing for the Worst : Homesteaders Will Be in the Hot Tub Awaiting World War III

Amid the fir trees and hills of the Klickitat Valley, Larry and Meg Letterman are putting in a hot tub while waiting for disaster.

The Lettermans are creators of Ponderosa Village, a 1,000-acre “intentional community” whose residents hope to ensure their survival in the social upheavals they see on the horizon.

They say they are not survivalists, not a religious cult and not a commune.

They are just people who are equipping their elaborate homes with bomb shelters and large stocks of food. They value their distance from large urban areas, where they sense disaster looming.

“There is a greater chance of mishap and social disorder in the cities,” said the 67-year-old Letterman.

“Our emphasis is on being prepared for whatever might come down the pike,” said his wife, who is 68.

Something as simple as a truckers’ strike could bring chaos, they contend.

“The supply of food in larger cities is down from 2 days to 1-1 1/2 days,” Letterman said. “Just a ripple in the trucking system could cause riots in large cities.”

Cities also breed disease, stress, pollution and political upheaval, and would be targets in nuclear warfare, say the Lettermans.

To prepare, they are developing a community where members would have their own stored food, seeds, water source, medical supplies, tools and “means of self-defense.”

“I don’t want to give the impression we’re wearing robes and waiting for doomsday to come,” Letterman said. “It’s not like that.”

But part of the allure is that the south-central Washington development is 70 miles from Yakima, Wash., 120 miles from Portland, Ore., and 210 miles from Seattle, according to a brochure.

In a time of upheaval, people will stream out of those cities, heading into the country for safety, they said.

“Access to Ponderosa Village is restricted by mountains, rivers, forest lands, number of approach roads and entrances,” the brochure says, “making protection feasible.”

Ponderosa Village, built on a heavily forested hillside, has the aura of a summer camp, with its wood-sided homes, red-dirt forest trails and whistling winds.

No weapons were evident when a reporter visited. Letterman said residents had agreed not to discuss weapons or food and equipment stockpiles, leaving those to the discretion of individual families.

About 50 five-acre parcels have been sold, to people from such places as Long Island, N.Y.; Seattle; Texas; California and even Switzerland, Letterman said. Undeveloped parcels cost $9,000 to $15,000.

So far 13 families, a total of 32 people, have taken up residence in this development about 5 miles from Goldendale, population about 3,500.

The Lettermans say it is coincidence that they chose to locate just 100 miles north of Rajneeshpuram, the now-disbanded commune where Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh moved his sect in 1981.

Unlike Rajneesh, the Lettermans have drawn little attention.

“There are a lot of good people who live up there,” said Sheriff Jim Gleason, who declined to say whether his office had received any complaints about the development.

Steven Anderson, former county planner, said the only complaints came from inside the development and involved internal regulations.

“People were complaining that when they bought the lot they didn’t understand the fine print,” said Anderson, now a private consultant.

One of the complainers was Tim Urchenko, a former industrial engineer from Dallas, who was upset by rules restricting the cutting of trees.

“I like the property and the people have been good except for the problem with all the rules,” said Urchenko, who makes intricate boxes and sells them at craft shows.

“When you come from the city, you are living with all kinds of people around you and you’re used to rules,” Urchenko said. “But then you move out here . . . and you think: ‘Why do we need this?’ ”

The Lettermans moved to the development from Los Altos, Calif., in 1982, five years after acquiring the land for a sum they will not disclose.

Since that time they have marked off 200 parcels, put in roads and a water system, bought a fire truck and built their own spectacular house.

The 3,000-square-foot residence includes a new hot tub, attached greenhouse, satellite dish and a root cellar where they store everything from dried beans to champagne. The earth-covered root cellar doubles as a bomb shelter.

The land is nearly paid off and all improvements have been paid for in cash, so the remaining debt is small, the Lettermans said.

They recruit like-minded people through ads in magazines like Mother Earth News and Mother Jones. They also advertise in New Age religious publications. They have been New Age followers, as are 75% of the development’s residents, according to Meg Letterman.

“People ask if this is a religious cult,” she said. “No, but preparedness is its own religion.”

There is a community meditation chapel as well as a stone gathering circle, where residents occasionally get together to share beliefs, she said.

Prospective buyers are told that they will be required to conform to the principles of self-reliance and to contribute to building community spirit. The Lettermans say they do not want people dependent on “handouts.”

Instead, they want people who can find work in area industries or who can create their own jobs. Current residents work in the nearby aluminum mill or as nurses, printers, computer analysts or artists.

Meg Letterman was editor of National Reporter, a magazine published by the Zero Population Growth organization, while Larry was an Air Force officer working with military satellites.

They wanted to escape cities, but at the same time they were not interested in small towns, which can be an “ingrown tribal society” where they would not be accepted, Letterman said.

“We thought it was better to start some sort of a community with people with similar interests,” he said.

Ponderosa Village is not a back-to-the-Earth commune.

Although many people have their own vegetable gardens and orchards, large-scale farming is not possible. The emphasis is on stocking canned and dried foods.

The houses are modernistic and elaborate, some featuring geodesic dome designs and natural heating and cooling systems.

The Lettermans provide a lending library with more than 2,000 titles, many of them do-it-yourself books.

The community is not utopian or communal, but is held together by its families, Letterman said.

“Utopian is a fantasy or a dream,” he said. “You can come here and increase your awareness of life.”