Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review
Volume 3, Issue 23
09/13/98
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
Clearwater Academy
The St. Petersburg Times reported that Scientology is opening a new school
in Clearwater, the Clearwater Academy.
"A new private school using educational concepts promoted by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard is scheduled to open today downtown. Clearwater Academy International, at Drew Street and Myrtle Avenue, will have an enrollment of 120 students from pre-kindergarten through the 12th grade, said executive director Pam Chipman. A new $1.5-million facility now holds the combined enrollment and resources of three smaller schools that merged last year -- A to Be School, Jefferson Academy and Renaissance Academy.
"About 150 people attended the event, including several top officials from the Church of Scientology, Clearwater's Assistant City Manager Bob Keller, city Public Works Administrator Rich Baier and Nancy Cartwright. The annual tuition at Clearwater Academy is $7,800. School is in session year-round from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each weekday, except for 6 weeks of off time sprinkled throughout each year."
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Mike Roberto
Clearwater City Manager Mike Roberto has given up his undercover license
plates.
"Roberto said last month that he wanted 'a degree of anonymity' when he asked police Chief Sid Klein to get him a special license tag reserved by state law for law enforcement and public defenders. Referred to as 'undercover tags,' they are issued by the state for use in law enforcement activities that require concealment. These tags cannot be traced.
"When asked about the special tag on his city-owned Ford Explorer last month, Roberto said he needed it for safety reasons and because he might be involved in secret police business. Roberto has given up the special tag. He now has a yellow City of Clearwater tag such as is on other city-owned vehicles."
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Dr. David Minkoff
"Dr. David Minkoff, the doctor who pronounced Lisa McPherson dead at Port
Richey Hospital, has settled with the McPherson estate. The settlement is
confidential, and no other details are available. The remaining
defendants, including the Church of Scientology d/b/a Flag Land Base,
remain in litigation."
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Switzerland
Basler Zeitung reports that the Swiss city of Basel is passing legislation
to curtail recruitment activities of Scientology and other organizations.
"In order to be able to oppose the controversial recruitment methods of Scientology and similar organizations the administration is now recommending a supplement to canton punishable violations by the great council. The new punishment will apply to 'those who bother passers-by on public land in an importunate method.' The police are to receive authority 'to direct recruiters away from individual or general locations, if their making contact with passers-by presents an importunate annoyance or when there are indications that illicit, particularly deceptive or otherwise vile methods are being used in recruitment.'
"Because the new law against sect recruitment is listed in 23rd place on the agenda without commission advisement before the plenum, and in view of the important business in a heavy September session, it may be predicted that the bill will not come up during the first session tomorrow, September 9, but during the session continuation of September 16. The chances that it will be approved by a parliamentary majority, Haller estimates, are good. The reactions of the council members with whom she has been in contact appear to be 'quite clearly positive.'"
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Austria
Kurier reports that the Ministry of Families is being criticized for
failing to create a federal sect center in Austria.
"SP Representative Erwin Niederwieser accused the Ministry of Families of being tardy in the establishment of a federal sect center. 'Apparently neither the premises nor the leading personnel have been assigned for this sect center,' he said. However, the assignment would have had to happen immediately to be able to select the appropriate person and to recruit the individuals qualified from which the selection could be made. If Bartenstein does not do something about it soon, then the suspicion is roused 'that Parliament would be misused for a dispute between Bartenstein and Scientology.'
"This issue is already being resolved. At the moment the negotiation of the rental contract for the property in downtown Vienna is being completed."
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Germany
Berliner Morgenpost reported that the alleged German Scientologist Otto
Dreksler is now involved in an investigation into former East German
police now on the German police force. The police officer who reported
Dreksler was formerly with the East German Stasi.
"The political pressure is mounting for State Senator Jorg Schonbohm. After the affair of the 'false Scientologist,' Otto Dreksler, who was was relieved of duties for alleged membership in the sect and later had to be reinstated, the Berlin Office of Constitutional Protection (state security) is once again in the cross-fire of criticism. On Saturday, Schonbohm told the Berliner Morgenpost that the ranks of state security would be reviewed to see if they were bustling with former 'Stasi' agents. He had confirmed that fact in a report in 'Der Spiegel' news magazine that at least three former Stasi staff had been recruited.
"One of the former Stasi men was the undercover agent is is said to have described Berlin Police Director Otto Dreksler as a Scientology member. Otto Dreksler told the Berliner Morgenpost, 'It is inconceivable that a Stasi man would be given more credibility than a long term police office of the City of Berlin. Now is the time to wrap up my case and to unmask the people behind the scenes.' After the accusation against Dreksler was proven to be unfounded, all parties in the House of Representatives had made demands ranging from personal apology to and explanation of the case."
Stuttgarter Zeitung reports that Stuttgart is the subject of a mass mailing of Freedom magazine from Scientology.
"In several Stuttgart districts, mail carriers have been distributing the magazine 'Sonderausgabe Freiheit' [Special edition of Freedom] which is published by Scientology to all households. This mail hits many people the wrong way: they neither like to find advertisements from Scientology in their mailboxes nor are they able to understand why the German postal service is distributing the magazines.
"The mail service has a 'general obligation to pick up and deliver and must therefore deliver anything sent no matter who the sender would be. The postal service is only able to refuse its mission when the delivery would be in violation of the criminal code. This is not the case with Scientology. In Stuttgart mail carriers have already been called names several times because they are the ones carrying mail for Scientology, said Gerold Beck. He asked for understanding for the deliverers' situation. Several letter carriers have even refused to deliver the mailings, but they are obligated to do it anyway."
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Gold Base
Scientology prison camp Gold Base is contributing funds for a mural in
nearby San Jacinto, California, according to the Riverside
Press-Enterprise.
"Members of the newly formed San Jacinto Heritage Project want to paint a mural on the sides of the Lopez Market and the San Jacinto Rexall Pharmacy on the eastern end of Main Street along San Jacinto Avenue. Members have said it will be a key step toward beautifying the area, a hodgepodge of retail and commercial buildings. The Heritage Project has raised more than $500 for the mural, mainly $460 from the church of Scientology's Golden Era Productions based north of San Jacinto in Gilman Hot Springs. Golden Era sponsored an arts festival in July to raise money for the mural."
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Graham Berry
Graham Berry this week posted a summary of the status of many of his cases
against Scientology.
"I have just outlined our case to Travolta's lawyer, served DM, served the Attorney General and IRS Commissioner, et al., and last week they lost in their attempt to derail the Berry v Miscavige case and its consolidation with Berry v. Cipriano and Berry v. Barton. Moxon has filed a Rule 11 motion in Pattinson that forces me to put matters and documents into evidence that, had they not filed the motion, I would have had no proper basis for doing so.
"OSA has lost its attempt to save DM from being in deposition by me not once but twice, and probably before the end of the year. Then I shall obtain details regarding his new military assault proof home/fortress being hastily built at The Base with major tax free dollars."
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Bob Minton
Jesse Prince reported on revenge pickets held by Scientology at Bob
Minton's New Hampshire home.
"Bob Minton and Jesse Prince got picketed today using the new Scientology tech release Drive by Protest. It was just one car with two people in it. We stood in the road and got some nice pictures of them. After awhile, it got boring so Bob and Jesse decided to spice it up Steven King style. They both got long handled axes and waited for them on both sides of the road. I swear you never seen windows go up so fast!"
Bob and Jesse picketed the Boston org this week, in which Scientologists crowded and roughed up Bob Minton and ended with Bob hitting Scientologist Frank Ofman with his sign.
"Bob and Jesse were picketing outside the Boston Org when Frank Ofman, a public Scientologist, came out from the Org, and proceeded to slap Bob in the face. Bob, in response, did hit Ofman back with his picket sign. The police did see the video, which clearly shows Ofman hitting Bob, and the officers commented that if Bob had responded by kicking or punching back, he would not have been arrested--he was only arrested because he used the sign he had in his hands. Bob's arraignment will take place at 6 AM tomorrow morning."
"Minton was surrounded by up to a dozen scientologists who proceeded to step on his feet and jostle him. They specifically targeted him leaving Jesse Prince picketing virtually alone. They had their objective in mind. Despite calling the police first and being first physically assaulted by the cult thugs, the police arrested Bob Minton (with a $25.00 bail) on assault. Apparently using *any*thing which could possibly be construed as a weapon forces the Boston police to take someone into custody."
"An unofficial commentary about this incident 'If we hadn't arrived just then Mr Minton and Mr. Prince would likely have received a severe beating at the hands of the Scientologists. Those folks were really worked up. They were out of control, completely out of control. Messrs. Minton and Prince were visibly shaken. No alcohol was apparently involved on either side of the fracas.' One Scientologist was taken to hospital for examination of a small abrasion and released. The Ambulance was not paid for."
Grady Ward reported on the court hearing the next day.
"He was heard at 10:30 A.M. EDT this morning in Room 404 of the Boston Municipal Court. The D.A. argued for a TRO (a 'stay away' order in MA parlance) to keep Bob 100 yards away from any cult property or Ofman. After a short but vigorous rebuttal by Bob's attorney, Steve Jonas, the Judge agreed to limit the temporary 'stay away' order to 100 yds. and Ofman *only.* Bob will be able to continue to picket the criminal cult at will. The Judge stressed that this TRO in no way reflected her view of any facts of this case, but was customary in any assault and battery charge. (The current charge is somewhere on the misdemeanor side of simple assault and assault with a deadly weapon.) The Judge released Bob on his own recognizance. No bail at all. One of the cult videotapes has already been confiscated by the police."
The St. Petersburg Times reported on the incident.
"The man considered to be the Church of Scientology's No. 1 enemy was arrested Thursday after a scuffle with church members in Boston. Robert S. Minton, a Boston millionaire who has spent nearly $2-million on anti-Scientology causes, was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and jailed briefly before posting $25 bail. According to Boston police, the weapon was the stick from a picket sign Minton was holding as he protested against Scientology outside the church's Beacon Street headquarters. Police said Minton used the stick to strike Frank Ofman, a Scientology public affairs officer. Minton said Friday that he reacted after Ofman struck him with a fist to his temple and slapped his cheek."
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Picket/Revenge Picket Summary
A summary of other pickets at Scientology orgs and revenge pickets by
Scientology this week. From Deana Holmes in Salt Lake City:
"Anyway, at about 9:35, my handler Phil showed up. He drove up and I noticed he had one of his kids (a girl, looked to be preteen) in the passenger seat. After a few moments, he came out with his usual picket sign, and I told him I was leaving, because, 'I want to show you how I am at cause over your MEST.' And then I said that his foot was basically nailed to the floor, because I could come back *at any time*. His response was *astonishing*: 'Why are you being so mean to us?' I said, 'Because this picket is for the RPFers, because there are no holidays in hell.'"
Phil had something new for me. He had STATS! He had charts that claimed to show PES (new starts?) and BIS (bodies in the shop) had gone up since I'd started picketing. I looked at his charts, and they were BOGUS. It was a strict grid, with NO numbering. There was no way to tell what the increments on the grid was. I told him that, and said, 'Have you ever read a book called 'How to lie with statistics'? Come to find out later that Phil showed me Squirrel Stats. The real, important stat is GI or Gross Income. The little bird who told me about this said to ask Phil next time I saw him if he'd ever read the HCOPL 'How to correctly graph a stat.' According to that HCOPL, the increments are to be clearly marked on the side.
"I got a second handler, named Cindy. She rubbed me the wrong way, and was very brassy. I told her bluntly that if she was going to hang out on a public street, she was just going to have to put up with it. Cindy had another platitudinous sign and I marched back and forth with these two handlers. I was so annoyed by this turn of events that I opened my red binder and took out a very special page that I had printed up from Dr. Touretzky's website. I then began declaiming in a LOUD voice the beginning of OTIII, as written in LRH's own handwriting. Cindy had left the door of the bOrg open and my voice drifted in the door as I talked about volcanoes, renegades and Xenu. The woman sitting at the lobby desk had to get up and shut it. I then decided I would walk along the Ramona St. side of the org with my sign, since the classrooms were there. This annoyed Phil and Cindy to no end. Phil called me evil."
>From Keith Henson in the Bay Area:
"A neighbor reports that while I was in San Jose, scn picketed my place Saturday morning. My neighbor went over and talked to them and it took considerable effort to get them to admit they were scientologists. I guess they are aware they are considered bozos."
"According to a neighbor, they picketed my house around 1 pm today, two guys. Late in the day, 10 minute picket of the Palo Alto mission, with a photographer. It was open, but dead looking."
"A client of mine (for whom I have done next to no consulting recently) got a picket by a bunch of scns who even identified themselves as scns. They were carrying the standard Henson-bigot signs and left only after taking considerable verbal abuse and a threat to soak them down with a hose. This happened about two weeks ago, but I just found out about it."
"Short picket, afternoon. I was about to go up and let them know they had been picketed when two kids came out with boxes of scn papers. They may be getting ready for some kind of bash this weekend for auditor's day."
>From Kevin in San Jose:
"I picketed San Jose from about 1:15 to 3:45 or so. Red Shirt played spy vs. spy games trying to inconspicuously observe me from various distant vantage points. Little reaction other than that. My sign was my PVC pipe design with white paper from a roll taped to it and written on it in thin black marker was 'Why Does the 'Bridge' cost $360,000' on on side and the flip side had my personal favorite, 'Stop being victims.'"
>From Sue Malloney in Minneapolis:
"Three other people and I picketed the Minneapolis org from 5:30-7:10 pm; the Scienos were quite enturbulated the whole time we were there and sent at least half a dozen people out to handle us. About 7 pm a woman came out claiming to be the Vice President of CAN and asking us why we were out there, who's paying us, ad nauseum. I decided to take a cab home. We were all walking down Nicollet Mall towards 12th Street when we notice that 'Ms. CAN VP' and another Scieno who had been out handling us were following us on foot. I got in the first one, and we were just about to pull away when one of my picketing partners tells me through the open window, 'You're being followed!' I look back, and sure enough, Ms. CAN VP and her sidekick were in the cab behind me, no doubt telling the driver to follow us! I told the driver that I changed my mind and got out. Apparently Ms. CAN VP and her buddy also decided they didn't want to take their cab either so they got out of the cab and started following us on foot again as we walked towards where the other picketers had parked! Fortunately we were able to lose them before we got to the car."
>From Bruce Pettycrew in Mesa, Arizona:
"Jeff Jacobsen joined Kathy and I from 10:00 to 11:00 AM. Jeff was picketed at his place of work last night and wanted to show the cult what the inevitable response would be. We were joined by two counter-picketers with large signs bemoaning, of all things, litterers. Their aim was to block our signs, but since theirs were not on poles, and they were out-numbered, we easily kept our two-sided signs in view of the traffic. I assume that onlookers could only conclude that the lying, hurting, fraudulent, Co$ was _also_ a major source of litter. Considering what they publish, this is true."
>From Jeff Jacobsen on Scientology's revenge picket:
"Last night the All Singles Dance where I work was at a nice hotel in Scottsdale AZ. A hotel employee asked about what the picketers from the Church of Scientology were about. The church had called the hotel to say they'd be picketing. There were 9 protesters with one-sided signs. They were on a very dark sidewalk in front of the hotel. As I was taking photos I stopped to read one. It said something like 'J.J. whose church will you picket next?' and had a photo of me. Hardly anyone noticed them, since it was so dark where they were. I consider that the point of this picket was to disrupt the relationship between my employer and the hotel. It made no sense as a picket otherwise because no one could see them out there."
>From J.M. Ivler in Los Angeles:
"It was a nice day to stroll up and down Hollywood Blvd. in front of the Scientology building (the same one that used Tarp Tech during the LRon birthday celebration) wearing my black Scientology Kills T-shirt and passing out leaflets. A little old lady came up and shared her story of how she was involved back in the 50's, but got out, and how her husband is still involved and is still only OT-V and hasn't moved since the mid 80's.
"I picked up a shadow. He asked me my name, I refused to give it, but told him that I post under my name and that he could find me here. It was apparent that he has read the net stuff, and that he was aware of what goes on. I out there because what they did to Bob pulled me in."
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Robin Scott
Tilman Hausherr posted a message for former Scientology executive Robin
Scott, now in prison for growing marijuana.
"For at least the first 3 months of my sentence I was full of resentment and upset and anger at the way in which we had been treated. I made two decisions at that time which were to prove significant. The first was that, since I had no argument with the prison service, I would endeavour to co-operate fully with the prison system, and I set out to become a model prisoner. I also decided that I would absolutely refrain from using cannabis while I was in jail; this was partly to maximise my chances of parole in due course, and partly to prove that cannabis is non-addictive. I have succeeded in both of those objectives. Although I have had the occasional disagreement with individual prison officers, my overall prison record is excellent. I have not once been the subject of an adjudication. I have consistently earned enhanced status in the prison regime, and have worked in positions of trust with good reports. I currently work seven days a week in the kitchens, which is the most responsible and highly paid job in the prison. Moreover, I take an active part in the prison community; many of my fellow prisoners turn to me for professional and personal advice and support. As a minister of religion I speak out constantly against drug abuse - especially heroin, cocaine, alcohol and tobacco. I have stood up repeatedly against bullies in jail, often placing myself in physical danger. Once I intervened when three inmates were tormenting another in the shower-room; on another occasion I was physically assaulted, receiving cuts and bruises to my f ace.
"In January 1998, I attended a two-week course, run by the Probation Service, known as the Offending Behaviour Group. Although I felt that I had already addressed my offending behaviour, I found the course stimulating, enjoyable and valuable in identifying a long-term tendency to financial dishonesty, which is what had got me into trouble in the first place. Soon afterwards I volunteered to go on the drug-free wing, partly because I wanted to live in a drug-free environment, and partly to demonstrate that I was not using drugs. During my time in prison so far, I have had five drug tests to date, all of which have proved negative for all drugs."
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CCHR
Scientology's Citizen's Commission on Human Rights announced an awards
banquet in Clearwater, Florida.
"CCHR Clearwater presents The Fifth Annual Human Rights Award Banquet. September 26, 1998 at the Ft. Harrison Hotel Auditorium. For tickets call Cuch Figueroa 727-442-8820."
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