The Press and Standard, Thur, December 1, 1988

By: Rick Tobin: Staff Reporter

Six months after the death of a baby at birth brought national media attention to
The Overcomer Campground in Colleton County, the baby's body is being removed from
the campground and newspapers are again reporting on the controversial ministry.

Brother R. G. Stair is the founder and leader of the religious commune with one
tract of land on Hwy. 61 near Springtown and another on Hwy. 15 North near Walterboro

The son of Jerry and Linda McCourt died at the campground in July when they tried
to have the baby without a doctor's assistance. Stair preaches against doctors and
medicine but says he allows his followers to seek medicl attention if they wish.

A rift between the McCourts and Stair led the preacher to ask that the McCourts
exhume the body and move it off the Hwy. 61 property, according to a former resident.

The baby will be exhumed by Brice W. Herndon and Sons Funeral Home and reburied at
Glendale Memorial Cemetery near where the McCourts now live on Mt. Carmel Rd.

Jerry McCourt declined to discuss the situation with The Press and Standard Nov. 23
except to say Stair "wants to break off all relationships with us...to get rid of
us totally. He wants to cut all ties with us."

Before the baby was born, Linda McCourt's Mother, Pennsylvania resident Gloria
Ahearn, told reporters she was worried because her daughter had to have her previous
baby by cesarian section. Before Linda moved to South Carolina, doctors in Pennsylvania
carefully monitored her pregnancy.

The controversy last summer was reported in The State, The Charlotte Observer, The
News and Courier, two newspapers in Pennsylvania, and a national tabloid. This week's
controversy has been reported in The Philadelphia Daily News and The Deleware County
Daily Times.

Rose and his wife, Ellen, were at the camp on Hwy. 61 when the baby was born dead.
Ellen helped with the birth. During an interview on Nov. 18. Chuck said, "Stair was
adamant that we could do this without doctors, and he kept checking with Linda and
checking her attitude to make sure that it was OK." And the end result was that
we all failed." Rose said.

He continued, "My wife was in the room when the baby was being birthed, as were
other women from the camp. And Jerry was there as well...If we had been on our toes,
we could have insisted that Linda quickly force the baby out because he wound up
stangling. And I gave the baby CPR for, I guess an hour and a half, something like
that, and I had a couple of guys help me out for brief moments. But we did our best
to try to save the little fellow.

Rose said a member of the congregation suggested burying the baby and not telling
anyone about the event. Rose said, "Brother Stair was very much in favor of that.
And it struck me like,'Wait a minute. We're moving too fast here all of a sudden.'
And I said, 'Well, it seems to me that wwe should be notifying the authorities based
on all the factors here. We have nothing to hide, number one, and number two, why
just bury the baby secretly because they could order an inquest and order the baby
exhumed. I don't want to go through that,' We batted it back and forth."

Rose said they finally agreed to call the hospital and they notified Colleton County
Coroner Bob Bryan. Later, police officiers interviewed Jerry and Linda McCourt.
No legal action was taken against anyone.

Rose said, "There was nothing that could be done. We lost. All the time, the thing
that was so frustrating to me was that Stair kept this down...like it was a botheration
to him. This was something that he did not want to be involved with or be party to."

Rose and his wife were openly crying at this point of the interview. Rose had to
stop talking for about 30 seconds to regain his composure before continuing. "Stair
said, 'Well, you can speak words over it, but make it brief.' Just like we were
burying a dog. And I didn't acknowledge what he said and he looked at me and said,
'Isn't that right, Brother Rose?' After I didn't acknowledge again and the third
time he said, 'ISN'T THAT RIGHT BROTHER ROSE?' And I said, 'Yes Sir."

Rose spoke over the baby for five or 10 minutes and sang a song for him. He said,
"You know, you can tell when someone is bored with what you're saying and really
doesn't want to be too much involved with it." Rose was referring to Stair's attitude
concerning the burial. Rose continued, "That was it. We quickly went to the grave
and they handed the baby to (Stair) and he put the baby in the grave and covered
it up. It was just such a lack of reverence for the child."

Stair told The Press and Standard that Rose brought the McCourts from Pennsylvania
to the camp with him and it was his idea for Linda to have the baby at the campground.
"He was running that mess", Stair said. "I was the one who suggested that we go to
the hospital." Stair contended that he and others offered to be there to help with
the birth, but Rose and the McCourts refused. He said that if the baby had been born
healthy "Chuck would have said 'Look what I did.' "Stair said that blame "was thrown
on my back," after the death.

Rose said that baby's death wasn't the only thing bothering him. He said there was
a lack of emphasis on Bible study at the camp. And he questioned Stair's ability
as a prophet after one of Stair's prophecies did not come to pass. Stair prophecies
on national radio broadcasts in April that the U.S. economy would collapse in May.
Two other prophecies from April will come true in the next two months or not at all;
Stair prophesied the world would end in nuclear war before the end of the year and
that President Reagan will not complete his term in office.

After a time at the camp, Rose felt that Stair, "was very intimidating, very force-
ful. And it was almost uncomfortable being around him," Rose said, "Somehow, you
had the feeling that he had to dominate. And he did...dominate in situations,
dominate in conversations, dominated discussions."

Rose recalled that one night after services Stair "lambasted me with everything
imaginable. I mean, when he was done with me, I had no more credibility. About the
only thing I could do at that point was to get out of there." Rose said that Stair
told him, "This is my ministry, this is my land, and you will submit to the way I
run things."

Rose said, "People up there are more afraid of Stair than they are of God. And the
end result was that everything Stair said become law and what God said became second
place. And that, to me, reeks, smells, stinks to high heaven of cult. There's no
two ways about it. The end result was that I would not submit myself to those
practices."

That same night, Rose said, Stair "also came against the McCourts and Linda got
quite upset because he inferred that the whole world was accusing him of being a
murderer on account of that baby. The end result was that they were thrust on my
side, if you want to draw sides now...We all of a sudden had two camps within the
camp, and you can't have that.

Rose said that just before he left Stair accused him of "being rebellious, causing
strife and division in the camp....sent by satan to destroy his ministry."

The Roses, The McCourts and their children, and an older couple and their children -
a total of 11 people - left the camp. The Roses and the McCourts still live in
Colleton County, although not near one another. The third couple moved to Raleigh, N.C.

Stair disputes Rose's allegations. He sees Rose as the person who reporters should
investigate. "If I was a reporter," Stair said, "I'd say, 'Who are you, anyway?'"

Stair said the Roses and the McCourts have caused him nothing but grief since their
arrival at the campground.

He said a more accurate picture of life at The Overcomer would come from interviewing
people, including the Roses' daughter, who continue to live there. Stair said, "We've
got people here who are good people. To see them blasted like this doesn't make sense."

Stair continued, "I've lived here 10 years and don't need someone like Rose acting
like a character assassin. I just want it to stop."