Lying For The Lord-The Paul H. Dunn Stories - Paperback

by Lynn Kenneth Packer (Author)

Paul H. Dunn's meteoric rise in the leadership ranks of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) was propelled by stories he told about his World War II combat experiences and professional baseball career. Stories like the one about his Army buddy dying in his arms during the invasion of Okinawa, or how he won the first game he pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals at the outset of a five-year pro career. The stories Dunn told, however, were not born out of his actual experiences, but out of his vivid imagination. They were complete fabrications that were repeated over and over, from the pulpit, in books, and on audiocassettes. Dunn's self-generated stardom placed him in the circle of Mormondom's rich and famous. He hobnobbed with the likes of the singing Osmonds and authored their official biography. In the sports world he associated with pro quarterbacks Steve Young and Danny White, NBA player and team president Danny Ainge, and with baseball stars such as Wally Joyner, Vernon Law, and Dale Murphy. Dunn also counted Utah Senator Orrin Hatch as one of his close friends. As these orbits joined, a few observers irreverently called Dunn the Mormon Church's "general authority to the stars." Dunn did not end his self-promotion with the sales of books and tapes. He also lent his name to help promote failing, even fraudulent business ventures run by a variety of Mormon swindlers and con artists. This is the story behind the debunking of Dunn's stories and efforts by Dunn and fellow Mormon Church leaders to quash any news accounts about Dunn's perfidy.

Author Biography

Lynn Packer is an award-winning investigative reporter, television news consultant and law consultant. He graduated from Utah State University with a broadcast journalism degree. He was a radio disk jockey for KBUH in Brigham City and KVNU in Logan while attending college. Packer served in the United States Army between 1968 and 1970. In Vietnam he was a television news anchor and producer for the Armed Forces Vietnam Network (AFVN), Quang Tri detachment. He was awarded the Bronze Star. For 15 years Packer reported for KSL Television News in Salt Lake City where he covered city-county and state government, and did investigative reporting for the documentary unit. Among the major stories he covered were the Challenger space shuttle disaster, the Mark Hofmann bombing murders, the trial of serial killer Ted Bundy, and the Judge Willis Ritter corruption scandal. His teaching career spanned ten years as an adjunct journalism instructor at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah and the University of Dortmund in Germany. After teaching in Dortmund Packer consulted for various German television stations including WDR in Cologne and Düsseldorf; SAT.1 in Hamburg, Mainz and Berlin; 1A in Berlin (see photo), N24 in Berlin and DSF in Munich. He wrote a textbook for German television news reporters: Schreiben, Drehen, und Schneiden. As a legal consultant Packer designed and patented a method for the video recording of paperless legal depositions. He produced PowerPoint opening and closing statements for several high profile Utah cases. His published legal articles include "PowerPoint During Murder Case Leads to Acquittal," Law Office Computing, (February/March 2006), pp. 16-17; "To Impress a Jury think Like a Television News Anchor," Law Technology News (September 2001), page 33; "The Case Against Courtroom E-Lecterns; Laptops v. Doc Cams," Technolawyer.com, (March 2004); "Visuelle Rechstkommunikation," jurawelt.de, (February 2003); "The Curse of Courtroom 21," Technolawyer.com (August, 2005) and "Paperless Depositions-Time to Pull the Plug on Paper and Steno," Technolawyer.com (March, 2006). Packer won first place investigative reporting awards from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), Utah Chapter, in 1984, 1995, 1996, and 2001. He freelanced dozens of articles among them: The Goldcor fraud story, Mormon fraud history, Bonneville Pacific fraud, Paul Dunn/AFCO fraud story, and the Utah 2002 Olympic Bribery scandal.