Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review
Volume 2, Issue 41
02/01/98
by Rod Keller [rkeller@voicenet.com]
copyright 1998

Contents

1. Bruce Pettycrew
2. Cult Education Service
3. Germany
4. Gerry Armstrong
5. Gold Base
6. State Department
7. Keith Henson
8. Digital Lightwave
9. Bob Minton
10. Web Sites
11. Boston School
12. U.K.
13. Zenon Panoussis
14. Laundry Balls
15. Chick Corea

Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review summarizes the most significant
postings from the Usenet group Alt.religion.scientology for the preceding
week for the benefit of those who can't follow the group as closely as
they'd like. Out of thousands of postings, I attempt to include news of
significant events, new affidavits, court rulings, new contributors,
whatever. I hope you find it useful. Like many readers of a.r.s, I have a
kill file. So please take into consideration that I may not have seen some
of the most significant postings. 

The articles in A.r.s Week in Review are brief summaries of articles
posted to the newsgroup. They include message IDs for the original
articles, and many have a URL to get more information. You may be able to
find the original article, depending on how long your site stores articles
in the newsgroup before expiring them. 

Free A.r.s Week in Review subscriptions are available, just email me at 
rkeller@voicenet.com
It is archived at:
        http://wpxx02.toxi.uni-wuerzburg.de/~krasel/CoS/ars-summary.html
        http://www.thur.de/religio/publik/arsfaq.html
        http://home.sol.no/heldal/CoS/archive/WIR/
        http://www.i1.net/~mallen/scn/arswr/ars-summary.html

#####

Bruce Pettycrew

"The CoS of Arizona today lost another court motion for an ex parte injunction against my right to picket them. There will be a full hearing on Feb 27."

Jeff Jacobsen attended the hearing.

"It lasted maybe 10-15 minutes. 2 lawyers were at the church bench, with Leslie Dunholm(sp?) and some older guy sitting behind them. Bruce represented himself, and his wife and I sat on his side. The initial complaint says the Evil Bruce shouts things, wears offensive clothing (like the 'Scientology Kills' t-shirt), is a religious bigot, etc. I only saw this right before the hearing began. It's pathetic and lame.

"The judge asks the church guy to clarify a point in the complaint wherein they say other people are in concert with Bruce. The church guy says yeah, there have been other people and even in other places, including 'incidents in Florida.' He says 'Jeff Jacobsen' might be required to be restrained too. The judge asks the church guy how long his arguments would take and how many witnesses. About an hour with 2 or more witnesses, including James Vannier and the above Leslie. Bruce says he'll take about an hour with 2 witnesses, his wife and me. The church guy tries to persuade the judge that it's necessary to keep Bruce at bay meanwhile, and shows the judge photos of Bruce picketing with <gasp> a sign! Not a gun, not mace, not a club, a sign."

Bruce continues to picket the Mesa org.

"We were at the org from 10-11 today. There were only 3 cars in the lot (and one motorcycle) when we arrived. About 1/2 hour after we started a woman and then a man arrived to handle us. The woman wanted to know 'if it was true that I wanted to bomb the church'. I assured her that I support the right of anyone to believe in anything, all I wanted was for the Co$ to stop harassing critics, to stop endangering its members, and to stop making unsubstantiated claims about supposed benefits.

"The man was unbelievable. He started with, 'do you remember when the psychiatrist hypnotized you and told you to do this?', segeued over to the ubiquitous accusation 'What crime did you do that you are hiding?', and ended up trying to use 'eye rays' and Tone 40 'commands'."

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#####

Cult Education Service

"HOW CULTS KEEP MEMBERS FROM LEAVING Kaynor J. Weishaupt, Moderator Kimberly Sherry Shalon Goldsby

"Cults and High Control Groups keep their members from leaving with a variety of methods. Among these methods are: isolation from friends and family, induced fears and phobias about the 'outside' world, undermining of individual ability to think and act on ones own, punishment and shunning for leaving the group, and so on. These methods are highly effective in keeping group members from leaving even when they experience doubts and unhappiness with the group's lifestyle. Additionally, for those who are successful in leaving, these methods can produce problems in post-group life that, if unaddressed, can interfere with the ex-member's ability to adjust to life on the 'outside.' For more information, contact ces@bennett.com.

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#####

Germany

"On 12.09.1997 the Berlin state labor court publishes a decision upholding the dismissal of a scientologist from her job at an agency that did counseling for foreigners. The scientologist, a trained psychologist, had not only distributed invitations to scientology events in the workplace, but also defended the scientologists towards young people as 'harmless'. The court said that this allows an 'exceptional' dismissal, because of the danger of a one-sided influence, because an employer expects its employees to be neutral - which her employer can no longer trust her. The court added that the targets and the methods of the scientologists are seen by the public as contemptuous for humankind and criminal.

"I have received the written decision. The woman worked in a non-profit organisation that provided counselling for Russian immigrants. The woman had written invitations on the computer of the center, and had also lied to her superiors about her affiliation to scientology, she lied about knowing another scientologist who distributed the invitations in the center. The scientology org later announced her as 'Russian language auditor' to the visitors she had sucked into scientology. Her employer acted quickly and fired her immediately.

"The woman left scientology, and even spoke out against scientology a less than a year after the incident, and told about the difficulties in leaving and the dangers of scientology."

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Gerry Armstrong

"In its moving papers, Scientology seeks to have me jailed for 65 days and fined $13,000, plus seeks attorneys' fees and costs, for 13 alleged violations of the Order of this Court entered October 17, 1995. These alleged violations are that I 'created and caused to be widely disseminated by means of the Internet six documentary works which discussed CSI and the other beneficiaries'; that on October 23, 1997 I 'caused to be widely disseminated by means of the Internet a letter which I had apparently written previously to the Hon. Alfonse D'Amato concerning the efforts of CSI to combat religious discrimination in Germany,'; that 'in early October voluntarily and willingly participated in a videotape interview during which I discussed CSI and other beneficiaries of the Order for broadcast on British television,'; that I flew to Berlin, Germany sometime in October, where I gave a speech on or about October 26, 1997 making statements about L. Ron Hubbard and complaining that the Church is misusing the U.S. Legal system and blaming the Church, the U.S. Legal system and even my own attorney for the fact that a contempt citation and arrest warrant has been issued against me; that I 'gave an interview to the Berliner Zeitung, resulting in an article in that publication,'; that 'on October 28 I traveled to Hamburg, Germany where I appeared at an event sponsored by self-styled 'anti-cultists,' during which appearance I committed further violations of the Injunctions, making numerous prohibited statements.'

"In truth there are over 200 posts by me to the internet allegedly in 'violation' of the Order; thus I am facing about three years in jail if Scientology is successful in its efforts to punish me, plus a fine in six figures. I know that Scientology is aware of all my 200 posts, because responses of Scientology's agents indicate that the organization gets every post I make. Since Scientology claims that each copy of any statement made by me in 'violation' of the 'settlement agreement,' as enforced by this Court's Order, is a unique and separate 'violation,' since this Court has supported that claim in its various orders granting Scientology's various summary adjudication motions, and since copies of my posts go to conceivably millions of people, I am facing, therefore, essentially, and for all practical purposes, life imprisonment.

"Because of the quasi-criminal and criminal nature of Scientology's charges and the punishment the organization seeks, I have a right to defense by the Public Defender's office. I have been in contact with Glen Becker of the Marin PD's Office, advised him of my legal situation, and was advised by him almost three weeks ago that I was being sent that day the necessary financial statement form so that the PD may undertake my defense. As this Court knows, there is a massive file in this case, (the record on appeal alone, without a word of live testimony, is ten thousand pages) which will require considerable time for the Public Defender to study and understand.

"Two days ago, Scientology agent WGert posted a message addressed to me to ARS which stated: 'I learned you will get arrested (see the bench warrant I posted). And from what I've heard, L.A. county jail is not a nice place for long haired white boys like yourself.' It is a well known fact that Scientology uses corrupt active and former police officers to carry out its attack on people. It is also a fact that this Court is a former prosecutor, and it can be presumed has contacts into Marin law enforcement and jail personnel. I have been, as this Court knows, assaulted and run into by Scientology agents, and this organization has spared no expense to destroy me. It must be clear to this Court that the threat of 2 days in jail has not silenced me, nor has the threat of 65 days, or even life imprisonment. All the threats based on this Court's illegal order have only made me more determined to tell the truth about Scientology's abuses and this Court's misplaced support thereof. Only two things will silence me: either Scientology's murder of me, or its ceasing utterly to suppress basic freedoms and rights."

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Gold Base

"A recent Riverside Press-Enterprise article is about Scientology finishing a levee to protect Golden era Studios from flooding. They used a rock basket technique developed in Italy. It cost $1.2 million. 'We're here forever,' said Ken Hoden, Golden Era's general manager. 'We're making a permanent commitment to the community.' They're also adding another nine holes to their current nine hole golf course, at a cost of $2 million tax exempt dollars."

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#####

State Department

"The Church of Scientology continued to be the focus of debate. Scientology has come under increasing scrutiny by both federal and state officials who contend that it is not a religion but an economic enterprise. Authorities have sometimes sought to deregister Scientology organizations previously registered as nonprofit associations and require them to register as commercial enterprises. In November the Federal Administrative Court in Berlin, in sending an appeal concerning the deregistration of a Scientology organization in the state of Baden Wuerttemberg back to a lower level for further review, declared that a registered nonprofit association, religious or otherwise, could engage in entrepreneurial activities as long as these were only supplementary and collateral to its nonprofit goals.

"Some government officials allege that Scientology's goals and methods are antidemocratic and call for further restrictions on Scientology-affiliated organizations and individuals. In June authorities of the federal and state Offices for the Protection of the Constitution (OPC) agreed to place the Church of Scientology under observation for 1 year because of concerns raised by some offices that there were indications that Scientology may pose a threat to democracy. One State, Schleswig-Holstein, announced in August it had decided not to implement such observation, on the grounds that the situation did not appear to justify such measures.

"Most major political parties continued to exclude Scientologists from membership arguing that Scientology is not a religion but a for-profit organization whose goals and principles are antidemocratic and thus incompatible with those of the political parties, although there has been only one known instance of enforcement of this ban.

"Scientologists continued to report discrimination, alleging both government-condoned and societal harassment. So-called 'sect-filters,' statements by individuals that they are not affiliated with Scientology, are used by some businesses and other organizations to discriminate against Scientologists in business and social dealings. Scientologists assert that business firms whose owners or executives are Scientologists, as well as artists who are Church members, have faced boycotts and discrimination, sometimes with state and local government approval. Other Church members have reported employment difficulties and, in the state of Bavaria, applicants for state civil service positions are screened for Scientology membership. In October a Berlin hotel and a firm renting meeting space reportedly refused to rent space for public events to be held at their facilities when they learned that the Church of Scientology was involved in organizing the events."

Message-ID: <34d32bf2.826275@news.snafu.de>
http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/1997_hrp_report/germany.html

#####

Keith Henson

"Graham has decided to go all out on this one, seeking sanctions, cost, legal fees etc. He got the date for a full scale *trial* moved to Feb. 20. We will have filings, declarations, exhibits, witnesses, including some major ones from out of town, maybe even out of country. The Judge allocated 6 hours of court time to this case on that date. Moxon came off somewhat like Heber on Public Eye. There is a fair chance this may turn into a media circus. Any of you with ideas on how to help that along have my blessing."

Message-ID: <hkhensonEnKnE7.AGK@netcom.com>

#####

Digital Lightwave

"Pursuant to Section 21D (a)(3)(A)(i) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, notice is hereby given that a class action lawsuit was filed today in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, on behalf of all persons who purchased or otherwise acquired the common stock of Digital Lightwave Inc. ('Digital' or the 'Company') between July 17, 1997, and Jan. 23, 1998, inclusive (the 'Class Period').

"The complaint charges Digital and certain officers and directors of the Company during the relevant time period with violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, by, among other things, issuing to the investing public false and misleading financial statements and press releases concerning Digital's revenues, income and earnings. Because of the issuance of a series of false and misleading financial statements and press releases concerning Digital's financial results, the price of Digital common stock was artificially inflated during the Class Period."

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Bob Minton

"ROBERT MINTON, OF 137 FREMONT ROAD, SANDOWN, NH HAS GIVEN $1.25 MILLION TO COMPLETE STRANGERS TO DESTROY A RELIGION WHILE HIS MOTHER LIVES ON SOCIAL SECURITY. HE EVEN PUT A LIEN ON HER HOUSE AND CHARGED HER 10% INTEREST AS THE PRICE OF A LOAN. WHY IS HE SO MEAN AND CHEAP TO HIS OWN FAMILY WHILE SHOWERING RICHES ON RELIGIOUS BIGOTS TO FUND THEIR HATE CAMPAIGNS?

"LIKE MANY HATE MONGERS, HE HAS A HISTORY OF PSYCHIATRIC PROBLEMS. BUT A TROUBLED PAST IS NO EXCUSE FOR LEADING KKK-STYLE RALLIES AND SPREADING POISON ON THE INTERNET ABOUT A PEACEFUL RELIGION KNOWN FOR ITS HELPFUL LITERACY AND DRUG REHABILITATION PROGRAMS."

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#####

Web Sites

'The Church of Scientology has accused two Fort Collins men of separate trademark and copyright violations -- and at least one case could lead to a lawsuit. The church recently threatened action against 27-year-old systems administrator Ray Randolph, who runs a Web site called 'www.scientology-kills.net.' The site also sells T-shirts with the same message.

"Randolph's reply, which he faxed to church attorneys Friday, was simple: 'I told them I would not stop selling t-shirts and I would not take the page down,' he said. 'They may very well sue me, but it just feels to me like I'm doing the right thing. I Consider Scientology to be a dangerous movement, and I'm not going to back down,' he added. 'This is a free speech issue. For them to try to silence people through trademark disputes is outrageous.'

"Legal experts said the church must prove that its name is so recognizable that Randolph's 'www.scientology-kills.net' Web site weakens its value or that consumers are deceived into believing the church has OK'd the site. Free-speech issues unique to the Internet also could cloud the matter. One question to be addressed is whether a domain name can contain the sort of editorial statements that Randolph's does.

"The second dispute involves a Web site created by computer engineer Perry Scott, 39. The site features commentary and criticism of the church and quotes unpublished internal church documents. Scott, a former Scientologist, said fair-use laws allow him to quote church documents in order to make his points. 'In order to comment on something, you have to quote it,' Scott counters. 'But what they're really trying to do is silence criticism.'"

>From the NEWS.COM web site:

"The church has threatened to see legal recourse against a Colorado Web site owner if he continues to run a site called 'scientology-kills.net,' which also sells T-shirts bearing the same phrase.

"In the second dispute, the church sent a letter to Tilman Hausherr of Berlin on Monday telling him to remove altered Scientology graphics from his CompuServe home page, which he defends as a parody. For example, the 'S' in Scientology was changed into a dollar sign, and the president of the organization's nose was elongated a la Pinocchio to imply that he's a liar.

"The 'scientology-kills.net' site remains up, but CompuServe representatives in Germany suspended Hausherr's page today after sending him a notice that he was suspected of copyright violation. He is appealing that decision. 'It's just a page making fun of Scientology--it's a form of art. Parodies are allowed under German and U.S. law,' he said today.

"In making its case, the church will have to establish that its name is so well-known that Randolph's Web site dilutes its value or that consumers were deceived into to believing that the church endorsed the site.

"'A trademark right doesn't give you the right to forbid use of the word. What is does give is the right to prevent use of the word in a way the would confuse consumers as to the origin of the goods or the sponsorship of the goods,' said Terry Carroll, and Internet and copyright attorney. 'I would say someone has the right to say truthful statements, negative facts, or matters of opinion regarding a product or service, as long as they are not defamatory,' he added."

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http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,18613,00.html

#####

Boston School

"LRH TECHNOLOGY LOWER GRADIENT TOTS

"Gives self a contact assist. Mimics tones on The Tone Scale and identifies pictures of people in different tones, with easy vocabulary used. Maintains silence when someone is hurt. Gives another a locational with proper acknowledgement. Asks 'what happened' to another to run out minor injuries, and acknowledges what is said. Steers another gently around the room.

"UPPER GRADIENT TOTS - K and 1ST

"Understand the word 'means' and defines words. Understands what a dictionary is for, tells which words he needs cleared and gets them cleared. Understands his own purposes for being a student and generally the purpose of studying."

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U.K.

"The casualties are as follows, and include some high-profile orgs:

"Church of Scientology of the United Kingdom - #01510453 Dianetics Association Limited - #00500962 Dianetics and Scientology Mission of Chichester - #02081183 Dianetics and Scientology Mission of Southampton - #02081186 Scientology Library and Research Ltd - #00791176 Scientology Publications Ltd - #00528711 Hubbard Association of Scientologists Ltd - #00662677 Hubbard Explorational Company Ltd - #00892496 Church of Scientology Mission of Brighton Ltd - #02081182 Church of Scientology Mission of Leeds Ltd - #02082080 Church of Scientology Mission of York Ltd - #01684883 Church of Scientology of California - #FC005823

"[S]ome missions have clearly been subsumed into other corporate entities: the Poole Mission, for instance, is technically a branch of the Bournemouth Mission, which is a distinct entity in its own right. Presumably Sunderland and Hartlepool have the same relationship to Newcastle; however, the latter Mission is not a separate entity. Nor, with the demise of the Church of Scientology of the United Kingdom, is the London org, next to Goodge Street Tube station. Interestingly, with the demise of the Dianetics Association, every Dianetics Centre (proclaimed as such on their nameplates and in their literature) now appears to be wholly owned by Church of Scientology (England and Wales) Limited.

"You may recall in the small print of the 1993 IRS-Scientology agreement, leaked on 30 December last year, that one of the organisations to which tax exemption was given was Sea Org Reserves (UK) Ltd. SOR was established in the late 1970s during one of Hubbard's periodic fits of paranoia: its stated objective is to provide enough cash reserves to keep Scientology afloat for at least a year if it is deprived of all income worldwide. Much of Scientology's profits appear to have gone to SOR. I looked for SOR (UK) Ltd in the records at Companies House, but could find no trace of it."

"There was no trace in the records of Narconon, Criminon, the Citizens' Commission for Human Rights and the World Institute for Scientology Enterprises (which Scientology agreed with the US IRS would be wound up in 1994, but is still very much alive). The absence of Criminon and WISE was no surprise; they appear to exist in this country in name only. Narconon is the only Scientology entity to enjoy charitable (i.e. tax- exempt) status in the UK, while CCHR operates from a small office in East Grinstead."

"COSRECI's statements of income and expenditure reveal a steady growth in income since 1982:

"INCOME: 1982: 1,409,990 1983: 2,956,999 1984: 2,630,541 1985: 1,932,796 1986: 2,781,407 1987: 3,036,181 1988: 5,262,466 1989: ? 1990: ? 1991: ? 1992: 4,935,704 1993: 5,026,035 1994: 6,015,363 1995: 5,678,380

"EXPENDITURE: 1982: 2,767,995 1983: 2,750,005 1984: 3,973,042 1985: 2,332,860 1986: 3,318,111 1987: 2,147,901 1988: 4,717,092 1989: ? 1990: ? 1991: ? 1992: 6,661,193 1993: 4,840,122 1994: 5,523,557 1995: 5,012,722

"NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES AND WAGE BILLS: 1992: 453 £614,726 1993: 444 £596,492 1994: 445 £850,452 1995: 428 £667,826

"AVERAGE WAGES PER EMPLOYEE (per week): 1992: £26.09 1993: £21.50 1994: £36.75 1995: £30.00"

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Zenon Panoussis

"[S]ince I told the court that I won't be bothered with this litigation any more, the judge thought he could summon to a preparation, rather than have McShame and other liars travel from the US for nothing. A preparation would show if I'm interested in the case or not, and if I didn't show up the case would default against me.

"If a main hearing had been set, the witnesses had travelled, and I had not appeared, the case would also default against me. I sent a friend to the hearing, to represent me and just prevent the default. I might not want to be bothered with the case, but I'm certainly not serving it to the scienos on a silver plate either. I gave my friend very short and precise instructions: a statement of motion in totally eleven words, a very short addition to the enumeration of evidence and for the rest he doesn't know, and everything is 'as stated before'. That is irregular, but there is nothing much the court can do; default judgment cannot be used against a party that has physically appeared.

"The idiot Magnusson reacted by asking the court to reject my friend as a representative. If the court had rejected my representative during the hearing, it would also have had to adjourn the hearing and give me time to appoint a new representative. Considering that they book hearings months ahead, this would have caused a delay of months, where after I could have sent another friend to make an even less regular appearance. Unfortunately the judge thinks further than Magnusson and simply ignored him; he didn't even acknowledge having heard the motion. The hearing was uneventfully over in about an hour and a main and final hearing is set for the 27-29 May."

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Laundry Balls

"Dear Mr. Byrd, Thank you for your comments regarding the Laundry Magic Ball that we are marketing. We did test this product before we advertised it. We found that when using the laundry ball, we were able to use considerably less laundry detergent than normal and the clothes that were washed got clean.

"We value feedback from our customers. Based on your comments and comments from others, we are withdrawing the item from our catalog.

"Sincerely, Craig P. Womack President The Sharper Image"

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Chick Corea

"What led you to move to Clearwater, Fla., which seems somewhat removed from the centers of the music industry?

"It was kind of a desire to get off the beaten path of big cities. I spend most of my time in big cities performing and traveling. And usually when I get home, I like to relax and spend some time with myself, my wife (singer Gayle Moran) and my family. I wanted to have a place where I can relax, write new music and practice. Also the attraction is that since the late '70s, I've been coming down here with my wife once a year or so to do some Scientology courses. There's a large Scientology organization right here in Clearwater that I've been attending occasionally through the years."

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