Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review
Volume 3, Issue 27
10/11/98
by Rod Keller
rkeller@voicenet.com
copyright 1998
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
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Book List
The New York Daily News reports that an Internet poll contains three
novels among the 100 best of the century.
"'But the spiritual father of the Church of Scientology has nothing on Ayn Rand, who owns the top four, starting with 'Atlas Shrugged.' Michael Berliner, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute in southern California, stressed that Rand and Hubbard's philosophies couldn't be more different. 'It's just a bunch of mystical stuff,' he said of Hubbard's writing, 'and they claim he was from outer space and wrote one of his books after his death. Ayn Rand's have actually changed people's lives.'
"The first-place finisher on the original list, James Joyce's 'Ulysses,' sunk to 12th place on the readers'."
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Court Reporters
A report was posted to a.r.s this week on Scientologists in the court
reporter industry.
"Adkinson-Baker Court Reporters are the laughing stock in the court reporting industry. They can't keep any experienced reporters on staff because as soon as the reporters learn how little they are getting per page for their transcripts, they blaze out of there. Another interesting thing that is happening is one of the temporary agencies, like AppleOne or Remedy Temp, is now coming into play in the reporting industry. They are Scientologists as well. What they are doing is handling depo situations just like sending a temporary worker out and they are massively undercutting everyone's rates. I can't believe that some reporters will actually work for $1.80 a page.
"Our CSR Board can exercise no control over them whatsoever. They can't fine them or pull their licenses because they aren't even court reporters. That's why so many grassroots efforts have come about with reporters trying to get legislation on our state books prohibiting non-CSR's from owning court reporting agencies. If that can't be done, the industry for the most part is doomed, because of the continued rate cutting done by the Scientologists. The Scientologists are also going directly to the insurance companies and establishing contracts with them to provide all their court reporting services, but at a reduced rate. This, in fact, then places the court reporter in a very unusual position by making her seem as though she is no longer a non-biased person, since the company she is working for has a direct contract with the insurance company."
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Dennis Erlich
Dennis Erlich provided an update on his copyright infringement case this
week.
"Currently I have a $70,000 judgment against me from a slimy, vindictive ex-wife who hid and alienated my youngest daughter from me for years and years, only to crawl out from under her rock to give the scienos the declaration they used to get the Writ of Seizure that allowed them to arrest me and burglarize my home, while I stood by helplessly, watching in disbelief. My daughter is over 18 now. I made every required payment to her mother from the time Rosa slithered forth to help the scienos, til Holly was 18. So, on the basis of the $70,000 arrearage, she has requested that the San Diego District Attorney suspend my drivers license.
"The recent hearing in San Jose was great. Roger Milgrim was mind-numbingly boring for about an hour, using blowups of illegible, inadmissible charts to illustrate the 'uncontested' facts of my guilt. Carla Oakley educated Whyte on rulings relating to fair use and the legal term 'limited publication'. Harold described to Whyte, in very simple terms, the history of the case; that I had my life turned upside down for simply trying to expose a fraud; and that I had been placed under an injunction which limited my free speech.
"After the hearing Whyte called us all into chambers and tried to convince the scienos that if the trial goes forward the scienos were in serious jeopardy, and that they best work out a way to settle with me. He talked about a long, unpleasant trial, which would no doubt lead to appeal. They could lose their copyrights on a number of money-making levels. Whyte already said that OT3 was probably in the public domain. The whole transfer document issue will be questioned. We demand to have our document expert review the notary log and the transfer."
"Mary Sue Hubbard can be deposed by Erlich. Original documents must be produced for examination. OT II and OT III may be in the public domain. Settlement hearing ordered for next Wednesday. Erlich document expert will be allowed to examine cult's notary logs. Whyte reaffirmed that Erlich postings were potentially fair use."
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Factnet
Lawrence Wollersheim posted a report on the status of documents seized by Scientology during its raid on
Bob Penny, a former Factnet director.
"Factnet absolutely did not scan or create the HCOB volumes found on Bob Penny's computer. Scientology absolutely knew Bob and Factnet did not scan or create the HCOB volumes found on Bob Penny's computer. Scientology knew and had exact copies of the unique HCOB volumes found on Bob Penny's computer most likely years before Factnet was even in existence. Scientology and its attorneys knowing represented to the Denver federal court that Bob and Factnet did scan or create the unique HCOB volumes found on Bob Penny's computer when they knew that was a lie and had in their possession the very same unique HCOB's and additional knew all the time who really had created and distributed these unique HCOBs years earlier.
"According to the group of people who have just stepped forward a few days ago, these HCOB volumes were created or typed in the San Francisco area in about the 1986-1992 period. From Europe copies were sent and traded with David Mayo's ACC groups for other Scientology materials that the ACC people had on computer. Copies were also distributed in Europe and at least one copy was sent to Australia. At least one of these copies was then sent to the US. This US copy was sent by one of the receiving US parties to Bob Penny anonymously in August/September 1993."
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Germany
Der neue Tag/Amberger Zeitung (Oberpfalz) published an article on
Scientology courses and the dangers of taking them.
"The machinations of the sect were discussed by Hans Ruckerl, Commissioner for sects and issues of ideology, at a meeting of the Catholic Employee's Movement (KAB) and the Catholic Education Society. In every case, the test reveals to the person who fills it out serious weaknesses which allegedly inhibit his professional progress or the development of his personal abilities. A simple communications course promises speedy assistance. The provider of this course: Scientology.
"As soon as you take one of these courses, you have already lost, says Ruckerl. The search for happiness and success does not rarely end in financial ruin. The maximization of happiness is only possible through taking more courses -- and they are expensive. The organization, which says it has over 30,000 members in Germany, makes its appearance as an ideological group. The ideology is simple: 'We are building a new society.' The sect commissioner also related that a special department is dedicated to the expansion of organizational techniques in commercial business; it arranges management seminars for people in positions of leadership in order to win the most influential people possible as members. The new member is made suggestive, and is made to break off familiar and social contacts if there is a danger that he will waver in his [new] convictions."
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Grady Ward
Grady Ward posted two updates to his copyright infringement case this
week, including notice that his request for half of Scientology's posted
bond has been denied.
"Plaintiff's ex parte application for release of the $10,000 undertaking and defendant Grady Ward's ex parte request for payment to him of $5,000 are denied. Defendant has indicated that he is appealing the September 15, 1998 judgment, and it is not appropriate to release the security until the case is finally concluded."
"The cult has noticed a motion for an order to show cause why I ought not to be in contempt for allegedly violating an injunction. The hearing on this matter will be held this Friday, October 9, 1998 in the courtroom of Hon. Ronald M. Whyte, San Jose. The cult's theory is that alleged postings by me mean the *opposite* of what they plainly say."
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Jesse Prince
Jesse Prince posted to describe his experiences with Scientology attorney
Earle Cooley this week.
"In 1985, when I was Deputy Inspector General for External Affairs for the Religious Technology Center (RTC), I hired Earle Cooley to represent RTC in a RICO lawsuit against David Mayo's Advance Ability Center (AAC), a Scientology splinter group, as lead counsel. This decision was made by a trustee of RTC who is also the managing agent of the entire Scientology empire, David Miscavige. As new as he was to Scientology as an entity, Cooley was eager to please because, in my opinion, he correctly smelled a lot of money.
"The key piece of evidence provided in the RTC RICO case for a preliminary injunction against the aforementioned Scientology splinter group (AAC, David Mayo) was a newly authored rendition of one of Scientology's most sacred (only to them) scriptures, NOTs. David Mayo was principle in the authorship of the NOTs materials as practiced in Scientology today, but surrendered his co-authorship with LRH. After Mayo was expelled from Scientology he authored another version of NOTs for his own movement, and market share of dissident Scientologists from which he found success, much to the dismay of Scientology.
"The fact of the matter is that RTC paid and hired an informant to steal these materials from under Mayo's nose. Earle Cooley coached me for nearly ten hours before I was to appear as a witness in the RICO preliminary injunction hearing in the case against David Mayo. He told me how to answer questions when I was asked by Mayo's attorneys and also what I should say when Earle himself asked me questions. The last question I asked Earle Cooley before I went on as a witness was this, 'What do I say if someone asks where I got the copy that I now submit as evidence to the court, of Mayo's newly authored NOTs materials?' Earle Cooley told me to say that a concerned parishioner dropped it off at RTC anonymously. Cooley was fully aware at the time of the fact that Scientology paid an informant to steal Mayo's NOTs issues. For some weeks before, like me, Cooley had been receiving reports and was being verbally briefed by Marty Rathbun and David Miscavige on every intelligence operation ongoing in Scientology. It seemed I'd hired Mr. Get Smart Cooley to show and teach me how to lie in court. Again, amazingly, the point never even came up."
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Bob Minton
Bob Minton reported on additional harassment by Scientology of his former
business partners.
"A 14-page DA pack was delivered to my former partner, Jeff Schmidt, and the Nigerian Minister of Finance in Washington, D.C., this week during the IMF meeting. The DA pack was sent by Peter Franks, a private investigator for the Church of Scientology working out of England, and was no doubt hand-delivered by OSA personnel at the DC org. A leaflet [was] handed out during pickets at the home of Selwyn Lewis, my other former partner in Capetown, South Africa. In this latest 'Trash the Critics' operation, the Church of Scientology has said that the mere act of not providing them with information about me makes Mr. Lewis a dishonest businessman who lacks principles.
"It is interesting to note that the Scientologists have decided to completely trash the Nigerians. The purpose of this is clearly to drive a wedge between Jeff and the Nigerian government in order to disrupt his business with them. Further, Jeff will in turn put pressure on me, they hope, to get the Scientologists off his back. In fact, this morning, Jeff told me, 'You are really making my life miserable.'"
"With titillation galore, for some reason Scientology thinks the Nigerian government is interested in their usual scurrilous statements about Vaughn and Stacy. Probably in a concessionary moment to the Moslem faith of the Nigerian delegation, Scientology sought to soften their trashing of Vaughn and Stacy by making such patently absurd statements as the following: 'This story is not an attempt to just trash the Youngs, but to provide an accurate perspective from which to understand how they arrived at the point where they abandoned their own spiritual enlightenment and turned to evil, where they now find themselves in the pay of an extremely unscrupulous attorney (who has been accused by a former associate of having sex with minor boys).'"
"Peter Franks, the English PI working for Scientology, called a New Hampshire company in which I have a substantial investment a couple of days ago. Jeff, who is also a partner in this New Hampshire company, told me about this in Washington, D.C., this week. It seems that the company involved is extremely concerned about being brought into this ruckus with Scientology, and has informed Jeff that they must find a way to buy out my interest in the company."
"John Hockenberry, Dateline producer Sharon Isaak, and their crews of sound and camera people interviewed me today in New Hampshire to follow up on the June 'Crusader' story involving our favorite cult. John Hockenberry, as you may remember, can be an aggressive interviewer. Today he pulled out his Rayco machine to ask me about shotguns, pickets, and other personal matters."
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Picket & Revenge Picket Summary
Deana Holmes reporter on the pickets in Salt Lake City this week.
"I went out from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. It was very overcast and there was the occasional droplet of rain, and the temperature was definitely in the 50s, but I held up and my sign held up. A young man walked around from the back of the org. He very ostentatiously went through the effort of clipping on a microphone and then threading it through his shirt. Then he wanted to talk to me. I was very suspicious of him. I asked him what his case level was, and I thought he was playing stupid. I gave him a Lisa flyer. Not more than 30 seconds later, a man in his 30s, blond but balding on top, came charging out and asked the young man something like, 'Are you one of us?' He apparently said yes, and he was hustled back into the org, Lisa flyer in hand."
"A neighbor came and pounded on the front door. 'They're back!' he shouted. I opened the door and he told me the Scns were back picketing in front of the house. The two picketers were Cell Phone Woman and Fat Mustache Man. I've sighted both of them at the Org in the past. Fat Mustache Man laughed at me last Sunday after I went over and picketed the bOrg after the last set of leaflets hit the street. They stayed about 10 minutes. When one of my neighbors commented on how stupid their signs were, that nobody could read them, I went over to my car, pulled out my sign. It was at *that* point that the two picketers left. Entheta always wins out over theta."
"I did a short (20 minute) picket of the SLC bOrg Monday. The bOrg sent Phil out again today, and I gave him a few words about how revenge picketing was just plain stupid. He had his usual signs, platitudes from Way to Happiness."
Jim Wissick on a picket in San Jose:
"Picketed with Keith from 5:00 to 5:30pm. About 25 cars in the lot. The boarded up window has been repaired. The cult was totally non confront today. A lot of honks and waves of support by the passing cars."
>From Jeff Jacobsen in Mesa, Arizona:
"Skippy and I showed up about 4pm for a picket. Bruce came a bit later, then his wife not long after that. We picketed until about 5:45. It's amazing how much rush hour traffic there is at this time. I would suppose potentially 2,000 people saw our signs, especially Skippy's 'WWW.XENU.NET' sign that can be read from about 100 yards away."
>From Catarina on a picket in Stockholm:
"I got to the Stockholm org just after 18.00, and Ake was already in position. One staff member was watching outside, and I immediately recognized him as Ken - we both used to work in HCO once upon a time. We stayed outside of the org for a few minutes, but it's in such a lousy location to leaflet since there is very little pedestrian traffic, so we decided to move across the street, closer to the subway entrance and shops. According to Ake, our handler Ken seemed cheerful compared to earlier pickets, he even promised me that my picture would be in the next issue of 'Impact.'"
Catarina also posted a report on a picket in Jernbanegade, Denmark.
"About 13.30 we got to the AOSH in Jernbanegade, and to our surprise and delight Karin had decided to join our little picket. It was only a matter of minutes before a couple of handlers came out to stand in front of us, and they also quickly put people on either side of us to give out 'Think for yourself' fliers and Danish 'Freedom' magazines. They started parading people around the block to ask for our fliers (one Lisa, one Xenu/$cn associated crimes) though not as many different people as last time. One of our main handlers from last time, Julia, came up but with a more aggressive attitude this time. She said to me 'Is this the only way you think you can create an effect?', and it's funny because I really do think it's strange the way three people with a few pieces of paper did affect this organization. Staff rushing back and forth, up to ten people at a time out in the street with us, some OT public coming up, people following everywhere we walked in the city.
"A young guy came up to Karin and tried to forcefully grab her pile of fliers, though she held on hard and he backed off again when she said she would call the police. But soon he stepped in front of me and started shoving me backwards. Then he was called by one of the other staff. It is of course quite possible that this was just somebody loosing his cool, I just don't understand why the other staff remain so passive about it if that's the case, nobody came up to us to apologize or anything like that.
"One of the things mentioned on our flier concerned the terrible story of two small children, the parents scientologists, who got murdered 2 years ago by their nanny who had a background of psychosis. According to the newspaper articles in Danish and Swedish press (such as in Aftonbladet), she was not receiving psychiatric care or medication at the time this happened, yet the Co$ has blamed the whole thing on psychiatry. Marlene of OSA came over with a thin, visibly agitated woman. The woman said that she was the mother of the murdered children and that she was disgusted by us talking about this. Of course she must be devastated by what had happened. But then Marlene actually told us that *she* had gone to tell the poor woman about us! So they found it hard to get rid of us - intimidating us didn't work, 'distributing copyrighted material' didn't work, 'the truth about Lisa McPherson' didn't work - but hey, let's go get this suffering woman and use her to get rid of our 'enemies'. How noble and compassionate. And it did work to some extent, there is no way that I will go on about that story in public knowing that OSA are prepared to use that woman's grief in this manner."
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Russia
The Moscow Times reported that a Scientology rock concert was canceled
this week.
"It turns out that the anti-drug concert 'Rock Fight,' which was scheduled for this week before it was abruptly canceled, was supposed to benefit a foundation run by the Church of Scientology. Kommersant Daily reported that this foundation 'cures' people from drug addiction by sending them to the banya for thousands of dollars."
All the money from ticket sales was supposed to have gone toward helping recovering drug addicts. Originally, the organizers said the funds raised would pay for the construction of a rehabilitation center, but pressure from the Moscow Patriarchate of the Orthodox Church caused them to look for another beneficiary. The church claimed that the fund that was to run the center was connected to the Church of Scientology. The use of scientology detoxification methods has been banned by Russia's Health Ministry. In response to the church's complaint, the mayor's office, which is acting as a co-sponsor of the concert, ordered that the money be given to a different charity. Instead, the proceeds would be given to a Moscow drug clinic."
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Zenon Panoussis
The Irish Times reports that Zenon Panoussis will be appealing the
decision of the Swedish court which awarded Scientology damages for
copyright infringement recently.
"A man who tried to publish the secret holy book of the Church of Scientology has appealed against a Swedish court decision preventing him from doing so. The court ruled earlier this week that Mr Zenon Panoussis must not publish the book and would be fined if he released the document into the public domain on the internet again. The Church argues that the book is reserved for key members of the religion and only a select few are allowed to read it."
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